Head Coach Herm Edwards
Opening Statement
“I’ve been involved with this for four years, the rivalry game, ASU against Arizona, it’s one where the more you get involved with it the more you understand the passion of the fans and the players. I think for the players that have been here, over the course of my tenure, you feel it form them and you understand how important it is and we talked about it Sunday when the players came in. We talked about the rivalry, the cup, we will talk about it all week, and we will go back and show them the history of this and how far it goes back. We will have some former players come talk to them as well. We did that last year and that’s how we’ve always handled this week. It’s guys that have played in this game as actual Arizona State players and how they felt about it. It’s senior day for us that day which is important so there’s a lot that goes into it. When you watch these guys on tape, they're a very competitive group, they play hard, they (coaches) have them playing hard and they have some good players. A game like this, it doesn’t matter what the records are, we know what this thing is about, and our players will know especially the young ones, freshman kids we have, they kind of understand but the more they learn about the rivalry, the better.”
On the offensive problems and how to get on a better trajectory:
“I think the trajectory is the passing game. The running game has been pretty good. Now, last week not so much and they piled up on us and got us in some bad downs and we weren’t able to run the ball like we would like, but with that being said, if you have an efficient passing game, that helps you. If you look at the beginning of it, first play we run, the next play we throw a pass and it gets intercepted, and then the next series we go three and out, and then the next series we go five plays and we punt. Then, we finally get into a groove and we go nine plays... and we miss a field goal. I think the flow of the offense is kind of where we’re at and how we get better. That's the critical part for us, to get it going on offense. We have to be able to throw the football with consistency. Guys getting open with man to man coverage, that’s important, and the chemistry of guys being in and out of the lineup with Jayden (Daniels) hasn’t helped. I told Jayden when he first became a starter his freshman year, he had a pretty good receiver, his name was Brandon Aiyuk, a first round pick and that can bail you out. We don’t have that guy yet, we have some good players but they’re young with not a lot of experience, these guys have been in and out of the lineup the whole season. I’m not making excuses but that’s the reality of it. I think we have to get that thing tuned up and get it going.”
(Reporter) Do you think it’s primarily personnel related, are there confidence issues, or other factors that are at play?
“When you’re not playing the way you imagine you have the ability to play, there’s some confidence in it… sure there is. Confidence is kind of interesting, if you drop a ball ‘ugh’ then, when you catch it, you get your confidence back and that’s what we have to do. When you looked at our offense versus UCLA, passing wise, it was like; ‘oh that’s pretty good.’ We have to get that back. We have the running part but now we need to get the passing game.
On dealing with Senior Day after the extra year from Covid:
“We’re talking about that as you ask the question, ‘which guys are going to walk, which guys are going out?’ We’re trying to figure all of that out and you’re right, it’s kind of interesting. There’s some good news, I’m hearing some guys who I thought were going to leave are going to come back. It’ll be interesting to see when we get it all figured out, we have until Saturday, we’re working on that today as we speak. Tomorrow it will be more defined when we actually talk with the players and we say, ‘are you going to do this, are you going to wait, what are you going to do?’”
On if it’s a challenge as a coach to keep Jayden’s confidence up:
“No, he’s a confident guy and I think what makes you more confident is when you can see it happen in real time when you’re playing in the game. Jayden was in today looking at what we’re thinking about doing offensively. I’ve always said this with quarterbacks, getting some easy completions, seeing a guy catch the ball when you throw it and the guy catches it, that’s always good and Zak (Hill) understands that and I think that with any quarterback, you just want to complete some passes and get a flow going. I think that’s important and this team defensively, they play a lot of man to man, they’re going to bring pressure, they have a good front to bring pressure and they have some young corners and some safeties that cover well, so, we’re going to have to get open and Jayden’s going to have to hit them when they get open.”
On talking with Chase Lucas two years ago about playing at the next level and what’s changed:
“I think his work ethic. I think being a captain put him in a different position on this football team where he has a voice, and he’s playing one of the hardest positions to play besides quarterback. He’s playing corner and you’re asked to cover a lot in man to man coverage and sometimes they’re going to catch some balls on him but that’s just part of it. You have to have selective memory as a corner and you can’t let it bother you or put a burden on you. I think he is playing well, he’s playing at a high level, and he’s one of our team's leaders. It has been fun to watch him from when I first arrived here to right now where he’s matured as a young man and you like seeing it, there’s some growth in that. It’s the system, and it’s the culture that has helped him with that and it’s good for the young guys to see because he’s going to have to pass the torch to somebody else. There’s some guys in the wings waiting, when you think about him and Jack (Jones) they’re going to leave and all the sudden we have some young corners that are watching these guys practice everyday and watching Chase especially because he’s been here, he knows the history better than everybody because he’s been here so long. It’s good for him to have a voice and he uses it in the correct manner which is really good.”
On what he’s thankful for:
“I think we’ve kind of learned how to deal with Covid when you think about the world. Now everyone isn’t in the same position that a lot of people are depending on where you’re at but hope it’s not far from my mind, at all. We all had to go through last year, you folks, us, the people in the stands. I can talk to you this way, now I still have a mask, but I can talk to you this way and I’m thankful for that. When you think about sports, fans are back in the stadium, you watch television and fans are in the stadiums, and I appreciate it, I really do, and I don’t take it for granted. I think when you get to be my age, and I’m not saying I’m old, but you just appreciate the things that I think sometimes we take for granted. It’s interesting when you look at life, especially for me, when I look at names that come across the ticker of great athletes that are around my age or a little bit older that have passed away. You look at that when you’re 25 years old and you see it and say, ‘aww’ but when you're my age you look at it and you go, ‘oh’... I’m just thankful. I’m thankful for every day I have, I really am because life is shorter than we expected, sometimes. We have this calendar in our brains saying, ‘oh, and one day I became 50. I went, ‘wow’ and now I’m getting close to 70 and I go, ‘wow’. I never would’ve thought about it, I don’t think that, but I know that’s going to be the number. I still have some years left before I get there but I’m getting close, I’m on the other side of it. You see it. I’ve been in football my whole life, I’ve played a Thanksgiving Day game, all that kind of stuff. I watched it as a little kid saying, ‘I want to be in the NFL in the Thanksgiving Day game.’ Thanksgiving, I’ll never forget it, Thursday, it’s coming. All your family, all your friends, all your loved ones, hopefully, you can gather them, and last year you couldn’t do that. A lot of people were nervous about that. Now this year you can do that, and I know when we get ready to carve the turkey there are always some people that I am thankful for in my life, and there are people that are no longer here and I say a prayer for them as well, every Thanksgiving. I think we have to be thankful for that.”
On Zak Hill coaching the Quarterback and Receivers and impacting the passing game:
“I just think that we have not been consistent. We are always looking for consistency. If you say running game, you go wow, ‘A+. We have been pretty good running the football and it has been consistent, it has been kind of our staple but really since we have been here, that has kind of been our staple. We have been fortunate enough to have some good running backs and good offensive line players, but I think coming into this we wanted to be a little more explosive at the wide receiver position and in the passing game and we have seen it in little spots. Lately, it hasn't been what you want. I am not criticizing, that’s just what it is, I am not pointing the finger at a coach or a player I don't do that, we have just got to come together collectively and get more out of our passing game.”
On reflecting on the current season:
“It has been like all seasons, there have been some highs, I wouldn't say there have been some lows… there have been some wows and that's football. I think if you look at our conference, every coach would say that whichever team they are coaching, there’s 12 of us including the south and the north, they would all say there has been some “wows” and there have been some “really” and if you look at the records of teams in it… it is interesting. Last week if we can win, we get eight wins. If you look at the conference, compare it to everyone else in the conference, what does it look like? That is what the Pac-12 is all about, I said it when I was first involved in it, it is interesting how it all shakes out in the end.”
On LaDarius Henderson’s character on and off the field:
“He has been tremendous. He came in here as a freshman and had to play tackle, moved him to guard and he is actually becoming one of the leaders and he is going to have to be a leader next year because we’re going to be missing some guys. He has a voice; he is very hard on himself as a player. He is very hard when he doesn't play well, and just to watch him from his freshman year when we played Michigan State, we were like, ‘oh boy, he is going to have to block those guys?’ and he went in there and he played. From that day forward, he has really grown up, and how he has matured as a player; he has a voice. Before he didn't say anything, now his personality comes out and I think they all do you, I tell him all the time, ‘you've earned the right, you have been a starter since you have been here, your voice when you say things, means something to people because you have earned a right by what you have done on the grass since you have been a freshman’ so I think it is fun to watch him grow as well.”
On a play or moment that coach looks back on vs Arizona:
“I think they all have been different in a sense, but you understand the impact of it all when you are out there playing. You can feel the electricity whether we go down there, or they come up here, you can just feel it. It is a different feeling because of the history of it all and how many people are involved in this. Both fan bases are really excited when this game comes. I am glad it is played in the last game of the season and some of these traditional games aren't that way anymore. It is good to be the last and I think fans appreciate that it is the last game of the season and no matter what your record is, it doesn't matter, this is the one and that is the fun for me.”
On false start penalties:
“We had three of them by skill players, don't lose sight of that: running back, wide receiver, two running backs actually, and three were on offensive linemen. It is just concentration, it’s as simple as that. We practice it, we have the loud music, we do everything, we go to a silent count… I think when you look at it, it’s rare to say it in college football because it is happening so much. There is this fine line of defensively what you can do in movements and what you say as you move. I think that is going to have to be looked at because it is happening all over college football. When I talk to coaches that is the big thing on the ticket right now, is this happening? Why is it happening? And it is happening at an alarming rate. You guys are covering our games, I get it but it is happening throughout college football, this is not just ASU. It happens more on the road than when you at home obviously, but we have to do a better job of concentrating, that's all I can do I can't do anymore. I can't coach it, you practice it and that's what you do, you practice that you don't false start. There is the snap count, now you look at the ball, guards are going to hit the center, now you go under center, okay you can go under center, go under center if that is bothering you… but you can't go under center all the time because you want to be in the gun for some stuff so there is this happy medium of where it is at and we were fine in that game until the last quarter and then all of a sudden it appears again.”
On getting ready for the Territorial Cup:
“We got home at 5:00 and I didn’t go home. I did not go home, I stayed here. I started watching tape, so it is what it is. At every level, there is a rivalry game. At this level, this historically goes back a long time, and I think it is interesting how both parties have different stories. You live with somebody that went to Arizona and you live with somebody that went to Arizona State, there are different stories of the games they went to and witnessed, and it is interesting to me when I hear the stories and I hear it from both sides, I have friends on both sides.”
On the job Jedd Fish’s has done at Arizona:
“He has done a nice job of playing with a team that has a lot of energy. They run a little bit of a New England offense which is multidimensional in what they do with players, and how they attack different defenses. He has a lot of young guys that are playing, he is building a program there, you can see it. They play very hard in all three phases of football. They are very competitive and it’s interesting to watch because I know what he is trying to do when you play that many young guys. I think if you look at the first game compared to now, there is development in those young guys, they have a lot of snaps under their belts now and they are confident and will get better. It is a hard task, but he has done a really good job, that whole coaching staff has done a good job and the players are responding well too.”