Head Coach Todd Graham
Opening Statement:
“It’s an exciting day for us, welcoming 18 new Sun Devils to our program. Quite a few of those guys are already here; I believe five of those guys enrolled and already going to work. I want to start off and thank my staff, especially Donnie Yantis and the recruiting staff. Donnie has been the best that I’ve been around. He’s done a tremendous job and had a significant impact; he’s done a tremendous job as our recruiting coordinator. I know with the transition of coaches, our coaches that have been here, in particular Coach (Keith) Patterson, Coach (T.J.) Rushing and Coach (John) Simon. Those guys have done a tremendous job during this process. Going into this class, we had a limited amount of seniors that graduated, so we didn’t have a full slate to sign, but to come out of this thing and address the things that needed to be addressed. Just a couple of general statements about the class, this class was mostly about explosiveness, speed and skill. We felt good about our depth, even though we only signed one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman that could be an offensive lineman or defensive lineman. He’s currently lining up on the defensive side of the ball. We signed two interior defensive linemen and one exterior lineman. This class’ main focus was on dynamic playmakers. Pass rushers on defense; obviously defensive backs were the priority in this class and then we only signed seven players on offense because two guys (Ryan Newsome, John Humphry) are two really dynamic receivers who had to sit out this year, but they counted toward this class. We feel really good about where we were at receiver. Then obviously speed, when you talk about the quarterback position; did some really special things there. I want to thank our professors that donate their times on the weekends are absolutely phenomenal. The people on campus, Alonzo Jones, our Championship Life Team did a tremendous job and we couldn’t do this without them. Our academic staff, our compliance staff, everyone’s done a great job and I’m indebted to them. They do a tremendous job of helping us in this process with these student-athletes. Every year I talk about this, we couldn’t travel the way we travel and get to as many places as we do without the help of Bill Kent, a tremendous supporter who helps us with air travel, transportation. I want to thank those guys; we couldn’t do it without them. I love this process, I love recruiting, I love getting to go into the homes and meet the families. I want to wish the young men who chose to go elsewhere the very best. I’m really excited about the 18 men, one of the things that’s exciting to me about this class is their combined 3.06 GPA. This is a scholar baller class; we have four guys who will apply to Barrett Honor’s College. That’s something with character, smart, character, tough is what we’re about. I’m really proud of the staff and this class.”
On Evan Fields…
“This young man was very highly sought after. A young man out of Oklahoma City, Evan is a guy that can play multiple positions in our defensive backfield. He’s a four-star player, he was probably one of the most dynamic players that we watched. He’s going to have a tremendous impact as a guy who can cover, a guy that has a great physicality and can play up around the line of scrimmage. A guy that can play bump and run coverage, really a special player. Great mom, his mom has entrusted us with him and he’s a very special young man. He’s a guy I wanted to start out with, with our biggest need being defensive backs. This guy is the headliner for this group in a group of DBs.. He’s a guy I wanted to start out with, a guy who’s going to apply to Barrett Honor’s college and get it done on the field and in the classroom. A guy that I’m really proud of and looking forward to great things next fall.
On Alex Perry…
“Obviously you recognize the name. It’s Armand’s (Perry) brother. I’m really proud of Alex; a four-star player that has great physicality. A guy that does nothing but win championships. That’s something we pride ourselves into. We like guys who come from championship football teams. I don’t know how many state championships are represented today by these 18 players, but if you add it up it’s a whole bunch. Obviously he was a state champions. Has great physicality and great speed, which is an area of need for us up around the cornerback position. Alex is a four-star player and a guy we think is going to have a big impact for us.
On Kaelib “KJ” Jarrell…
“KJ, another four-star player, an Army All-American. KJ is a guy we project as one of our three guys playing safety and a guy that has great versatility and can cover. He’s got great speed and great size as well. A guy that’s only won four state championships in a row. You can see what his numbers are, he’s a guy we felt very excited about when he decided to join our team. We think he’s a guy who can be impactful for us as well and play multiple positions. ”
"All three of those guys are 4-star players, whatever that means, to us, we thought they were guys that were special. This group of five is real special, these defensive backs we have coming in here. So KJ, we're excited, we think he is a guy that can be impactful for us as well and very versatile in being able to play multiple positions.
On Ty Thomas…
“Ty is a guy that man, I just fell in love with watching his film. He's a guy that plays the game the way it should be played. His uncle was Zach Thomas, the great linebacker that played for the Dolphins for years and he plays just like his uncle. He plays with tremendous passion, he's another guy that is a Barrett Honors College student. He's on campus right now getting ready for spring ball. He's a guy that had plenty of opportunities in the Big 12 conference and chose to come with us. A guy that fits what we're about, the values of our program. So he's a guy that we really felt great about his versatility. He's a guy that reminds me a lot of Jordan Simone, that type of player: a great special teams player, a guy that plays with tremendous passion. So, Ty Thomas.
On Langston Frederick…
“Langston is a guy, probably is one of the most underrated guys in our class. Obviously, we came on board and Coach Bennett was very instrumental in this, in this young man coming here. Another four-star prospect, so I guess four-of-the-five are four-star prospects. I thought only three of them were but he's a guy that is a great tackler, multiple positions. He'll play corner for us, a guy that has great physicality up around the football and a guy that is very physical in the way he plays the game. Great tackler is what we love about Langston and all five of these guys are guys that I really think will have an opportunity to play for us next year in a very, very critical year. And a critical year for us because of the amount of guys that we had graduate at that position. So we're really excited about these defensive backs and we wanted to start off with those guys. “
On Tyler Johnson…
“Alright, we go to the linebackers. Start off with this young man, Tyler Johnson. Tyler is a guy that is probably as talented as anybody in our signing class and probably one of the most dynamic players we've signed since I've been here. What I mean by that is extremely versatile. A guy that could really play both sides of the football. He could be a guy that could play receiver on offense but he is going to line up a Devil backer for us. A guy that is a dynamic pass-rusher, four-star player, I think the number two player ranked in the state, just a tremendous athlete and a young man, I know every time Coach Patterson talks about Tyler, he gets excited and he's a guy that will be playing Devil backer for us and a guy that is going to be very impactful to what we're doing. One of the things in this class we wanted to do, is we wanted to improve our ability to rush the passer. So, obviously the number one thing was coverage and eliminating big plays so the secondary was the number one focus. Then the number two focus on defense was impacting the quarterback. This young man is going to impact the quarterback.“
On Kyle Soelle…
“Kyle Soelle is another young man out of Saguaro High School, a guy that we identified early that I think has a tremendous upside at linebacker. A guy that's got a great suddenness and speed, instinct. Another guy that could probably play both sides of the football. He's a guy that very, very athletic, he's got a great frame, going to provide great length and size to our linebacker position. And again, another guy that is a part of a state championship football team.“
On Dougladson Subtyl…
“Dougladson Subtyl, Doug's a guy with a tremendous story. You guys will love getting to know Doug. He's a guy that was a part of our class last year and obviously had some more academic work to do and then has completed that. He was the number one defensive end, I think, in the country last year in Junior College. I think he led the nation in quarterback sacks, very dynamic in his ability to rush the passer and a guy, we think, is going to have an immediate impact. Another guy that is already on campus and working, he'll be a part of spring ball. You'll enjoy watching this young man, tremendous heart, tremendous character and his story is amazing, what he has been able to overcome to get to this point. So I'm really, really proud of Doug Subtyl.“
On Shannon Forman…
“Shannon is a young man that we found and we were kind of surprised by, to see that he was a guy that came on late. He had a big senior year. He had some things in his junior year, I think some injuries and things that held him out. But he is a dynamic three technique, a guy that looks in the mold of what you'd see like Will Sutton and Tashon Smallwood. That type of quick twitch. He's a guy that is out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana where we've had a lot of success with players there, especially defensive linemen. This is a guy that I think, is another guy that is really underrated who wound up getting a lot of offers late but a guy that came out here and loved it. I'm looking for great things from him. Big powerful and explosive three technique. He was his district MVP as well.“
On D.J. Davidson…
“DeVonta Davidson. DeVonta is a young man that we recruited and that wound up qualifying late. A young man from right here at Desert Ridge, he's a guy that I talked about earlier that could wind up playing offense or defense. He's got tremendous size, he'll start off at nose-tackle for us, a defensive tackle position. I think he was the number two-ranked defensive tackle when he came out of high school and he's a guy that we think has got a great promise. Great size, great strength, explosive, very explosive guy to be at his size and can really run.
So that's the defensive guys. Going through those guys, we felt like the 11 guys that we signed, you know, we wanted to be explosive and obviously meet our need. I felt like we did that.”
On Brandon Ruiz…
Obviously, we graduated the best kicker in the country last year. Then to be able to stand up here today and be able to announce Brandon Ruiz to you, I couldn't be more excited. I know Coach Slocum is even more fired up than I am. But this guy here could've gone anywhere in the country. Number one kicker in the country, a guy that has got big shoes to fill but he's got the talent and the skills to do it. So we're looking for great things from Brandon, a guy that I think will be very, very impactful to our team. This young man is going to score a lot of points at Arizona State.
On Ryan Kelley…
Okay, offense. On offense, we talked about, you know, we want speed and explosiveness to add and starting with the quarterback position. Ryan Kelley is a young man that we targeted several years ago. A guy that has tremendous talent and a great fit for our system. You know, a guy that is extremely smart and disciplined. He's a four-star prospect who's one of the higher rated quarterbacks on the west coast. He's Under Armour All-American and he's a guy that we think has a great promise here for us and bodes well for the future of our quarterback position. And so we’re real excited and really proud of Ryan and his leadership throughout this recruiting process. “
On Blake Barnett…
“Obviously, you guys know about Blake. Really excited to add – I really think this quarterback class is probably – and we’ve had some really good quarterback classes here – but this is probably as good or might be the best quarterback class that we’ve had. Blake’s a guy that was a five-star player coming out of high school – Elite 11, MVP, all of the accolades and obviously transferred to junior college and then transferred here from the SEC Conference, so he’s a guy that has a great pedigree, but we think it fits in the mold of what we’re about, and the character and the discipline that he has. A smart guy and a very athletic guy – a guy that can really move and run and a guy that we’re excited about him being here this spring, and he’s here and ready to practice for spring ball, and ready to compete at the quarterback position, so really, when you look at those two guys, it’s hard to get two better quarterbacks than that in a class.”
On Eno Benjamin…
“If there was a headliner of our class on offense, it’s Eno Benjamin. This guy does it all. He was the 5-A player of the year in the state Texas. To be able to get a young man out of Texas like this is pretty amazing. He’s the No. 6-ranked running back in the nation, and he’s a Barrett Honors College Student. So pretty amazing, when you look at this young man, and what he’s all about, he’s an Army All-American participant as well. This guy is dynamic. He’s a guy that blew up late, as far as people coming on him and he remained committed to us and loyal to us through the whole process. Man, just a joy to be around. If I gave an award for the guy that was kind of the leader in this class as far as just his spirit and his attitude. Man, he wanted to be a Sun Devil. He has just been phenomenal through this process, and he’s on campus and getting ready to compete this next fall. He’s got a little ankle he’s healing up from, but Eno Benjamin is going to do some fantastic things here at Arizona State, and he’s a guy that – when you look at the two running backs we signed – Eno being sixth running back in the nation, and then Trelon being the 10th-ranked.”
On Trelon Smith…
“So Trelon Smith out of Texas, we signed two pretty good running backs out of the State of Texas and we feel really good about it. Trelon’s a guy that has tremendous explosiveness, he’s the No. 10-ranked running back in the country. A guy that fits our system. At the running back position, we like to have different types of runners and types of backs and our guys have to be able to catch the football, and we’re a very running back centered offense. And so, you come here, you’re going to put up yards, especially yards receiving as well. So both of these backs are guys we think are going to fit with an already talented backfield, and make us even more explosive offensively, so Trelon Smith, we’re excited about.”
On Curtis Hodges…
“Curtis is a young man that we identified in the summer. This guy is 6-7. He gives you an added dimension out at wide receiver. He’s got unbelievable potential. A guy that we identified last summer, and wanted to be a Sun Devil, and a guy that we think has tremendous promise, and we think this guy can develop into being a very unique weapon on offense and a very special young man that we’re excited about having in this class. We only signed one wide-receiver because of the guys, Ryan (Newsome) and John (Huphrey), that we had as transfers. So take those three wide-receivers, those two running backs and those two quarterbacks, we felt like we did some good things offensively in our skill area and getting faster and more explosive.”
On Mark Walton…
“Mark’s one of those guys that is extremely underrated. A guy that had some injury things. I think he lost 40 pounds his junior year. He’s a guy that’s just come out of nowhere that we found late in the process, and a guy that is going to be a tremendous player. You talk about his size, he’s 6-5, almost 6-6. He plays wide-receiver, even played some safety, rushed off the edge for Yuma. He played high school ball down at Yuma. He’s a guy that’s going to line up and play tight-end for us, and a guy that we found late, and just exemplifies what we’re all about as a program, and we’re excited to have Mark join this class.”
On Corey Stephens:
“This guy get’s the Sun Devil Award. Kind of how we do our numbers, as a program, we have so many numbers on offense, so many numbers on defense as far as scholarships, and then we have so many on special teams. And then we have two scholarships that are Coach Graham scholarships. When I find guys that I just think are winners, and guys that I think you just can't miss on. Corey Stephens is one of those guys. He’s a Barrett Honors College student. He will be a center/guard for us, and a guy that loves and wants to be a Sun Devil. From the time I met him, this guy was a no-brainer, so he’s a guy that gets the Sun Devil Award. Corey is a special guy, and he’s obviously the lone offensive lineman that we signed in this class.”
Overview…
“That will wrap up the introduction of this class. Again, I can't say enough great things about Donny Yantis, and the job that he did, and our staff. Obviously, these last three weeks has been a challenging time. It always is, that’s what January is, but it’s been fun, and I’m real excited our team. Our guys in our winter program right now are fired up, and I want to thank them. The people that are the best recruiters for us are our players. They’re the ones that host these guys when they come in. They give us a lot of feedback, and we’re very particular about the young men that we bring here. We want people that fit our program, and that it’s a great honor and privilege to be a Sun Devil. So I want to thank my players on this football team for the work that they’ve spent in this recruiting process. And every time I sit down with a parent, I ask them what’s the best thing about your visit here, and every time they talk about our players. They talk about how transparent they are, and they talk about how honest they are, and talk about the culture that we have here, so we’re very proud of that.”
On the team’s success recruiting in Arizona…
“ I think that they won. I spoke with D.J. Foster the other day and I remember him coming here and him trusting us. D.J. had nothing to go on. But. I think we have built it. Building a reputation does not take a month, it takes years and we have built a reputation here and a culture in this program that I feel is very respected and that’s our emphasis. That’s our focus. We have to get the best and the brightest with the best character that fits Arizona State University, right here in this valley and in this state. This has been a breakthrough year for us.”
On the number of Arizona signeess…
“Yes. I have only been here five years and I have seen it steadily improve every single year. High school coaches do a tremendous job of coaching and preparing the players and its competitive. There are a lot of people coming here to recruit. But, on the same hand I think it is a different day and time for Arizona State University. If you look at the commitment our program has made and what is going on with our facilities. You look at the success. I think that when you can offer them exactly what someone else outside of here can, it is a pretty obvious deal to stay here. One of the things I noticed and liked about this group of new guys is that they talked about this and the pride that comes with it. This is Arizona State University and that is something I think is big. When you can put that many guys together, that really helps tremendously. We are going to get the best and the brightest wherever they are from but we think that we should start here first. The further I move away from this place, the more mistakes you can make. This is a special group of guys and I think that they made a great decision coming here.”
On lack of junior college recruits in this class…
“I am not going to sit up here and say we are only going after junior college guys or high school guys. We are going after the best and the brightest that best fits us. Every year is different. You are going to get different numbers and different positions each year. You know I love the junior college guys and what I like about iunior college guys is that they have taken the narrow path, the tough path and there is a lot of different reasons for that. We had some junior college guys that we were recruiting but we didn’t get them. Which doesn’t mean we just go and sign random junior college guys. I rather have a guy for five years than three. So, if you are going to sign a kid that is going to be here for only 2-3 years, then they really have to be impactful and that’s how that works. We have not done anything different or changed our philosophy. We are still recruiting the best and the brightest.”
On Tyler Johnson and how he compares to other players…
“Our whole program is about relationships and one of the things we do in recruiting is to focus on building relationships so I think that if you are honest and genuine and straightforward, those are the people that you attract. Coach Patterson did a tremendous job building a relationship with Evan and it helped that his high school coach was a teammate of Coach Patterson and I. That helped a lot in building that trust. I think he came here because we did a great job building that trust between him and our program. He did not waiver once throughout the whole process. Tyler, is hard to compare anyone too. Charles Clay is a guy I coached at the University of Tulsa who rushed the passer for us, played 3rd down running back, and is now an all-pro tight end for the Buffalo Bills now. They are comparable but it is more a gift that they both possess. Guys that can rush the passer are all blessed but this guy is a special athlete. This is a guy that we will be able to do a lot of things with. A guy that big that can run a 4.5 is amazing. I am really excited with how we can use him. It’s really hard to find anyone to compare him to because he is so special and unique.“
On Blake Barnett’s eligibility…
“We are happy for Blake to be cleared and to be able to participate.”
On coaches transitioning…
“It was interesting. Recruiting doesn’t stop. I had to interview seven men and it can last up to five or seven hours so it was a challenge, but it is something that you prepare for. You can tell by the caliber of the coaches we hired that we were ready to put the time and effort into meeting with them to see if they would be a strong addition to our team. We are always trying to be proactive thinking about where we are at. We were happy for Jay Norvell getting a head coaching position. That is something that you really want for you assistant coaches and nobody deserves it more than he does. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with Rob Likens, Josh Hansen and Billy Napier. I think we have a dynamic team especially with Coach Bennett who has tremendous experience. We are looking to improve with all of the changes were making, but we recruited these players to run certain systems. Change is the one constant in college football.”
On what coach is most excited about…
“If you ask me what I am most excited about, I am excited about hiring great people and great teachers. I know we did that and we will have to work hard this spring to progress. I plan to make this season the least amount of change as possible. We focus on our plays and terminology so that the guys understand the systems that they will be running.”
On the offensive line…
“One of the things that we feel really confident in is our depth in the offensive line. We were very young, but we were very confident in the depth. We would have liked to sign a tackle, but we wanted the right tackle. We signed two defensive tackles, one of them is a guy who can move over and play guard on offense. We are not done yet, we are still looking. We went after top guys who we were ready to compete for.”
On a lot of local signees…
“My deal is that we get guys who best fit what we are doing and what we are about. A gas tank away is the most critical area for us, it is our recruiting base. If you look at that gas tank away, we did pretty well. It was just the way it fell, it is not that we weren’t competing. Some of it had to do with the positions without a location focus. We had many guys in California and other states, but it just came down to the demand in positions. Arizona is more important to us than anywhere else. If I could sign nine from here each year, that would be ideal as far as signing players.
On proposed changes to signing day dates…
“These coaching staffs, there’s a lot of people that research, diagnose, evaluate and do all these things to protect our interest. The players have very little that protect their interest. I always tell the young men, you need to make sure you ask questions and do your research. But we also should do things from rules prospective that protects their interest. I think that if they move that up, I’m fine with the December deal. But also I think kids should be able to take official visits sooner, and not impact the school year either. Most of the players are peer pressure to commit by September first. You can’t even take an official visit then. I think that’s some of the things they are looking at as well. I’d like to see it where they can take an official visit in June. I don’t advise a young man to commit to a place that he’s never seen. Then you talk about the cost that it costs the parents to come unofficially. I’m an old high school football coach. I look at the best interest of the recruit too. I always tell them that, its by the time they get recruiting figured out its over with. It’s so very important. It’s one of the most important decisions of their lives. When it comes to the rules I hope its something we keep in mind.”
On getting recruits under the radar…
Donnie values his energy, his focus, and his passion. I don’t think people understand what his job is. A recruiting coordinator can’t leave the building. We were a coach down so we were able to put people on the road. They never leave the building, their job is really to organize and support the nine recruiters and head coach that are going out. Donnie has just been absolutely phenomenal. Coach Cassidy, myself, and gene went through that process. We couldn’t have hired a better person. He’s just getting started. Recruiting is about diligence. It is about passion. It is not about having some good salesman. You reek what you sell. You’re not going to hide from how you do things. Donnie has just been tremendous. I can’t say enough about him. He’s helped me tremendously. One of the things that we do, and I think you have to do now a day because of how much change there is in college football. I am the lead recruiter. For me to do that, Donnie has been unbelievable at helping me be diligent and doing that. Everyday he’s wearing me out. He’s been the MVP of this deal as far as I’m concerned as well as the coaches are out there hitting the road, and anytime you have any type of change when you have a kid committed and anything changes and everyone attacks that. You better have been proactive, if not then you are going to be reactive.
On potential for secondary to make a difference immediately…
I think that all five of those guys are going to compete. You basically have 15 players in the secondary. Most people will carry 14-16 players. Usually people carry eight corners. Then seven-to-eight safeties based on their scheme. We signed five, which is a third. At the talent level those guys are at, they will be at the two deep and competing to play.
Opening Statement:
“It’s an exciting day for us, welcoming 18 new Sun Devils to our program. Quite a few of those guys are already here; I believe five of those guys enrolled and already going to work. I want to start off and thank my staff, especially Donnie Yantis and the recruiting staff. Donnie has been the best that I’ve been around. He’s done a tremendous job and had a significant impact; he’s done a tremendous job as our recruiting coordinator. I know with the transition of coaches, our coaches that have been here, in particular Coach (Keith) Patterson, Coach (T.J.) Rushing and Coach (John) Simon. Those guys have done a tremendous job during this process. Going into this class, we had a limited amount of seniors that graduated, so we didn’t have a full slate to sign, but to come out of this thing and address the things that needed to be addressed. Just a couple of general statements about the class, this class was mostly about explosiveness, speed and skill. We felt good about our depth, even though we only signed one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman that could be an offensive lineman or defensive lineman. He’s currently lining up on the defensive side of the ball. We signed two interior defensive linemen and one exterior lineman. This class’ main focus was on dynamic playmakers. Pass rushers on defense; obviously defensive backs were the priority in this class and then we only signed seven players on offense because two guys (Ryan Newsome, John Humphry) are two really dynamic receivers who had to sit out this year, but they counted toward this class. We feel really good about where we were at receiver. Then obviously speed, when you talk about the quarterback position; did some really special things there. I want to thank our professors that donate their times on the weekends are absolutely phenomenal. The people on campus, Alonzo Jones, our Championship Life Team did a tremendous job and we couldn’t do this without them. Our academic staff, our compliance staff, everyone’s done a great job and I’m indebted to them. They do a tremendous job of helping us in this process with these student-athletes. Every year I talk about this, we couldn’t travel the way we travel and get to as many places as we do without the help of Bill Kent, a tremendous supporter who helps us with air travel, transportation. I want to thank those guys; we couldn’t do it without them. I love this process, I love recruiting, I love getting to go into the homes and meet the families. I want to wish the young men who chose to go elsewhere the very best. I’m really excited about the 18 men, one of the things that’s exciting to me about this class is their combined 3.06 GPA. This is a scholar baller class; we have four guys who will apply to Barrett Honor’s College. That’s something with character, smart, character, tough is what we’re about. I’m really proud of the staff and this class.”
On Evan Fields…
“This young man was very highly sought after. A young man out of Oklahoma City, Evan is a guy that can play multiple positions in our defensive backfield. He’s a four-star player, he was probably one of the most dynamic players that we watched. He’s going to have a tremendous impact as a guy who can cover, a guy that has a great physicality and can play up around the line of scrimmage. A guy that can play bump and run coverage, really a special player. Great mom, his mom has entrusted us with him and he’s a very special young man. He’s a guy I wanted to start out with, with our biggest need being defensive backs. This guy is the headliner for this group in a group of DBs.. He’s a guy I wanted to start out with, a guy who’s going to apply to Barrett Honor’s college and get it done on the field and in the classroom. A guy that I’m really proud of and looking forward to great things next fall.
On Alex Perry…
“Obviously you recognize the name. It’s Armand’s (Perry) brother. I’m really proud of Alex; a four-star player that has great physicality. A guy that does nothing but win championships. That’s something we pride ourselves into. We like guys who come from championship football teams. I don’t know how many state championships are represented today by these 18 players, but if you add it up it’s a whole bunch. Obviously he was a state champions. Has great physicality and great speed, which is an area of need for us up around the cornerback position. Alex is a four-star player and a guy we think is going to have a big impact for us.
On Kaelib “KJ” Jarrell…
“KJ, another four-star player, an Army All-American. KJ is a guy we project as one of our three guys playing safety and a guy that has great versatility and can cover. He’s got great speed and great size as well. A guy that’s only won four state championships in a row. You can see what his numbers are, he’s a guy we felt very excited about when he decided to join our team. We think he’s a guy who can be impactful for us as well and play multiple positions. ”
"All three of those guys are 4-star players, whatever that means, to us, we thought they were guys that were special. This group of five is real special, these defensive backs we have coming in here. So KJ, we're excited, we think he is a guy that can be impactful for us as well and very versatile in being able to play multiple positions.
On Ty Thomas…
“Ty is a guy that man, I just fell in love with watching his film. He's a guy that plays the game the way it should be played. His uncle was Zach Thomas, the great linebacker that played for the Dolphins for years and he plays just like his uncle. He plays with tremendous passion, he's another guy that is a Barrett Honors College student. He's on campus right now getting ready for spring ball. He's a guy that had plenty of opportunities in the Big 12 conference and chose to come with us. A guy that fits what we're about, the values of our program. So he's a guy that we really felt great about his versatility. He's a guy that reminds me a lot of Jordan Simone, that type of player: a great special teams player, a guy that plays with tremendous passion. So, Ty Thomas.
On Langston Frederick…
“Langston is a guy, probably is one of the most underrated guys in our class. Obviously, we came on board and Coach Bennett was very instrumental in this, in this young man coming here. Another four-star prospect, so I guess four-of-the-five are four-star prospects. I thought only three of them were but he's a guy that is a great tackler, multiple positions. He'll play corner for us, a guy that has great physicality up around the football and a guy that is very physical in the way he plays the game. Great tackler is what we love about Langston and all five of these guys are guys that I really think will have an opportunity to play for us next year in a very, very critical year. And a critical year for us because of the amount of guys that we had graduate at that position. So we're really excited about these defensive backs and we wanted to start off with those guys. “
On Tyler Johnson…
“Alright, we go to the linebackers. Start off with this young man, Tyler Johnson. Tyler is a guy that is probably as talented as anybody in our signing class and probably one of the most dynamic players we've signed since I've been here. What I mean by that is extremely versatile. A guy that could really play both sides of the football. He could be a guy that could play receiver on offense but he is going to line up a Devil backer for us. A guy that is a dynamic pass-rusher, four-star player, I think the number two player ranked in the state, just a tremendous athlete and a young man, I know every time Coach Patterson talks about Tyler, he gets excited and he's a guy that will be playing Devil backer for us and a guy that is going to be very impactful to what we're doing. One of the things in this class we wanted to do, is we wanted to improve our ability to rush the passer. So, obviously the number one thing was coverage and eliminating big plays so the secondary was the number one focus. Then the number two focus on defense was impacting the quarterback. This young man is going to impact the quarterback.“
On Kyle Soelle…
“Kyle Soelle is another young man out of Saguaro High School, a guy that we identified early that I think has a tremendous upside at linebacker. A guy that's got a great suddenness and speed, instinct. Another guy that could probably play both sides of the football. He's a guy that very, very athletic, he's got a great frame, going to provide great length and size to our linebacker position. And again, another guy that is a part of a state championship football team.“
On Dougladson Subtyl…
“Dougladson Subtyl, Doug's a guy with a tremendous story. You guys will love getting to know Doug. He's a guy that was a part of our class last year and obviously had some more academic work to do and then has completed that. He was the number one defensive end, I think, in the country last year in Junior College. I think he led the nation in quarterback sacks, very dynamic in his ability to rush the passer and a guy, we think, is going to have an immediate impact. Another guy that is already on campus and working, he'll be a part of spring ball. You'll enjoy watching this young man, tremendous heart, tremendous character and his story is amazing, what he has been able to overcome to get to this point. So I'm really, really proud of Doug Subtyl.“
On Shannon Forman…
“Shannon is a young man that we found and we were kind of surprised by, to see that he was a guy that came on late. He had a big senior year. He had some things in his junior year, I think some injuries and things that held him out. But he is a dynamic three technique, a guy that looks in the mold of what you'd see like Will Sutton and Tashon Smallwood. That type of quick twitch. He's a guy that is out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana where we've had a lot of success with players there, especially defensive linemen. This is a guy that I think, is another guy that is really underrated who wound up getting a lot of offers late but a guy that came out here and loved it. I'm looking for great things from him. Big powerful and explosive three technique. He was his district MVP as well.“
On D.J. Davidson…
“DeVonta Davidson. DeVonta is a young man that we recruited and that wound up qualifying late. A young man from right here at Desert Ridge, he's a guy that I talked about earlier that could wind up playing offense or defense. He's got tremendous size, he'll start off at nose-tackle for us, a defensive tackle position. I think he was the number two-ranked defensive tackle when he came out of high school and he's a guy that we think has got a great promise. Great size, great strength, explosive, very explosive guy to be at his size and can really run.
So that's the defensive guys. Going through those guys, we felt like the 11 guys that we signed, you know, we wanted to be explosive and obviously meet our need. I felt like we did that.”
On Brandon Ruiz…
Obviously, we graduated the best kicker in the country last year. Then to be able to stand up here today and be able to announce Brandon Ruiz to you, I couldn't be more excited. I know Coach Slocum is even more fired up than I am. But this guy here could've gone anywhere in the country. Number one kicker in the country, a guy that has got big shoes to fill but he's got the talent and the skills to do it. So we're looking for great things from Brandon, a guy that I think will be very, very impactful to our team. This young man is going to score a lot of points at Arizona State.
On Ryan Kelley…
Okay, offense. On offense, we talked about, you know, we want speed and explosiveness to add and starting with the quarterback position. Ryan Kelley is a young man that we targeted several years ago. A guy that has tremendous talent and a great fit for our system. You know, a guy that is extremely smart and disciplined. He's a four-star prospect who's one of the higher rated quarterbacks on the west coast. He's Under Armour All-American and he's a guy that we think has a great promise here for us and bodes well for the future of our quarterback position. And so we’re real excited and really proud of Ryan and his leadership throughout this recruiting process. “
On Blake Barnett…
“Obviously, you guys know about Blake. Really excited to add – I really think this quarterback class is probably – and we’ve had some really good quarterback classes here – but this is probably as good or might be the best quarterback class that we’ve had. Blake’s a guy that was a five-star player coming out of high school – Elite 11, MVP, all of the accolades and obviously transferred to junior college and then transferred here from the SEC Conference, so he’s a guy that has a great pedigree, but we think it fits in the mold of what we’re about, and the character and the discipline that he has. A smart guy and a very athletic guy – a guy that can really move and run and a guy that we’re excited about him being here this spring, and he’s here and ready to practice for spring ball, and ready to compete at the quarterback position, so really, when you look at those two guys, it’s hard to get two better quarterbacks than that in a class.”
On Eno Benjamin…
“If there was a headliner of our class on offense, it’s Eno Benjamin. This guy does it all. He was the 5-A player of the year in the state Texas. To be able to get a young man out of Texas like this is pretty amazing. He’s the No. 6-ranked running back in the nation, and he’s a Barrett Honors College Student. So pretty amazing, when you look at this young man, and what he’s all about, he’s an Army All-American participant as well. This guy is dynamic. He’s a guy that blew up late, as far as people coming on him and he remained committed to us and loyal to us through the whole process. Man, just a joy to be around. If I gave an award for the guy that was kind of the leader in this class as far as just his spirit and his attitude. Man, he wanted to be a Sun Devil. He has just been phenomenal through this process, and he’s on campus and getting ready to compete this next fall. He’s got a little ankle he’s healing up from, but Eno Benjamin is going to do some fantastic things here at Arizona State, and he’s a guy that – when you look at the two running backs we signed – Eno being sixth running back in the nation, and then Trelon being the 10th-ranked.”
On Trelon Smith…
“So Trelon Smith out of Texas, we signed two pretty good running backs out of the State of Texas and we feel really good about it. Trelon’s a guy that has tremendous explosiveness, he’s the No. 10-ranked running back in the country. A guy that fits our system. At the running back position, we like to have different types of runners and types of backs and our guys have to be able to catch the football, and we’re a very running back centered offense. And so, you come here, you’re going to put up yards, especially yards receiving as well. So both of these backs are guys we think are going to fit with an already talented backfield, and make us even more explosive offensively, so Trelon Smith, we’re excited about.”
On Curtis Hodges…
“Curtis is a young man that we identified in the summer. This guy is 6-7. He gives you an added dimension out at wide receiver. He’s got unbelievable potential. A guy that we identified last summer, and wanted to be a Sun Devil, and a guy that we think has tremendous promise, and we think this guy can develop into being a very unique weapon on offense and a very special young man that we’re excited about having in this class. We only signed one wide-receiver because of the guys, Ryan (Newsome) and John (Huphrey), that we had as transfers. So take those three wide-receivers, those two running backs and those two quarterbacks, we felt like we did some good things offensively in our skill area and getting faster and more explosive.”
On Mark Walton…
“Mark’s one of those guys that is extremely underrated. A guy that had some injury things. I think he lost 40 pounds his junior year. He’s a guy that’s just come out of nowhere that we found late in the process, and a guy that is going to be a tremendous player. You talk about his size, he’s 6-5, almost 6-6. He plays wide-receiver, even played some safety, rushed off the edge for Yuma. He played high school ball down at Yuma. He’s a guy that’s going to line up and play tight-end for us, and a guy that we found late, and just exemplifies what we’re all about as a program, and we’re excited to have Mark join this class.”
On Corey Stephens:
“This guy get’s the Sun Devil Award. Kind of how we do our numbers, as a program, we have so many numbers on offense, so many numbers on defense as far as scholarships, and then we have so many on special teams. And then we have two scholarships that are Coach Graham scholarships. When I find guys that I just think are winners, and guys that I think you just can't miss on. Corey Stephens is one of those guys. He’s a Barrett Honors College student. He will be a center/guard for us, and a guy that loves and wants to be a Sun Devil. From the time I met him, this guy was a no-brainer, so he’s a guy that gets the Sun Devil Award. Corey is a special guy, and he’s obviously the lone offensive lineman that we signed in this class.”
Overview…
“That will wrap up the introduction of this class. Again, I can't say enough great things about Donny Yantis, and the job that he did, and our staff. Obviously, these last three weeks has been a challenging time. It always is, that’s what January is, but it’s been fun, and I’m real excited our team. Our guys in our winter program right now are fired up, and I want to thank them. The people that are the best recruiters for us are our players. They’re the ones that host these guys when they come in. They give us a lot of feedback, and we’re very particular about the young men that we bring here. We want people that fit our program, and that it’s a great honor and privilege to be a Sun Devil. So I want to thank my players on this football team for the work that they’ve spent in this recruiting process. And every time I sit down with a parent, I ask them what’s the best thing about your visit here, and every time they talk about our players. They talk about how transparent they are, and they talk about how honest they are, and talk about the culture that we have here, so we’re very proud of that.”
On the team’s success recruiting in Arizona…
“ I think that they won. I spoke with D.J. Foster the other day and I remember him coming here and him trusting us. D.J. had nothing to go on. But. I think we have built it. Building a reputation does not take a month, it takes years and we have built a reputation here and a culture in this program that I feel is very respected and that’s our emphasis. That’s our focus. We have to get the best and the brightest with the best character that fits Arizona State University, right here in this valley and in this state. This has been a breakthrough year for us.”
On the number of Arizona signeess…
“Yes. I have only been here five years and I have seen it steadily improve every single year. High school coaches do a tremendous job of coaching and preparing the players and its competitive. There are a lot of people coming here to recruit. But, on the same hand I think it is a different day and time for Arizona State University. If you look at the commitment our program has made and what is going on with our facilities. You look at the success. I think that when you can offer them exactly what someone else outside of here can, it is a pretty obvious deal to stay here. One of the things I noticed and liked about this group of new guys is that they talked about this and the pride that comes with it. This is Arizona State University and that is something I think is big. When you can put that many guys together, that really helps tremendously. We are going to get the best and the brightest wherever they are from but we think that we should start here first. The further I move away from this place, the more mistakes you can make. This is a special group of guys and I think that they made a great decision coming here.”
On lack of junior college recruits in this class…
“I am not going to sit up here and say we are only going after junior college guys or high school guys. We are going after the best and the brightest that best fits us. Every year is different. You are going to get different numbers and different positions each year. You know I love the junior college guys and what I like about iunior college guys is that they have taken the narrow path, the tough path and there is a lot of different reasons for that. We had some junior college guys that we were recruiting but we didn’t get them. Which doesn’t mean we just go and sign random junior college guys. I rather have a guy for five years than three. So, if you are going to sign a kid that is going to be here for only 2-3 years, then they really have to be impactful and that’s how that works. We have not done anything different or changed our philosophy. We are still recruiting the best and the brightest.”
On Tyler Johnson and how he compares to other players…
“Our whole program is about relationships and one of the things we do in recruiting is to focus on building relationships so I think that if you are honest and genuine and straightforward, those are the people that you attract. Coach Patterson did a tremendous job building a relationship with Evan and it helped that his high school coach was a teammate of Coach Patterson and I. That helped a lot in building that trust. I think he came here because we did a great job building that trust between him and our program. He did not waiver once throughout the whole process. Tyler, is hard to compare anyone too. Charles Clay is a guy I coached at the University of Tulsa who rushed the passer for us, played 3rd down running back, and is now an all-pro tight end for the Buffalo Bills now. They are comparable but it is more a gift that they both possess. Guys that can rush the passer are all blessed but this guy is a special athlete. This is a guy that we will be able to do a lot of things with. A guy that big that can run a 4.5 is amazing. I am really excited with how we can use him. It’s really hard to find anyone to compare him to because he is so special and unique.“
On Blake Barnett’s eligibility…
“We are happy for Blake to be cleared and to be able to participate.”
On coaches transitioning…
“It was interesting. Recruiting doesn’t stop. I had to interview seven men and it can last up to five or seven hours so it was a challenge, but it is something that you prepare for. You can tell by the caliber of the coaches we hired that we were ready to put the time and effort into meeting with them to see if they would be a strong addition to our team. We are always trying to be proactive thinking about where we are at. We were happy for Jay Norvell getting a head coaching position. That is something that you really want for you assistant coaches and nobody deserves it more than he does. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with Rob Likens, Josh Hansen and Billy Napier. I think we have a dynamic team especially with Coach Bennett who has tremendous experience. We are looking to improve with all of the changes were making, but we recruited these players to run certain systems. Change is the one constant in college football.”
On what coach is most excited about…
“If you ask me what I am most excited about, I am excited about hiring great people and great teachers. I know we did that and we will have to work hard this spring to progress. I plan to make this season the least amount of change as possible. We focus on our plays and terminology so that the guys understand the systems that they will be running.”
On the offensive line…
“One of the things that we feel really confident in is our depth in the offensive line. We were very young, but we were very confident in the depth. We would have liked to sign a tackle, but we wanted the right tackle. We signed two defensive tackles, one of them is a guy who can move over and play guard on offense. We are not done yet, we are still looking. We went after top guys who we were ready to compete for.”
On a lot of local signees…
“My deal is that we get guys who best fit what we are doing and what we are about. A gas tank away is the most critical area for us, it is our recruiting base. If you look at that gas tank away, we did pretty well. It was just the way it fell, it is not that we weren’t competing. Some of it had to do with the positions without a location focus. We had many guys in California and other states, but it just came down to the demand in positions. Arizona is more important to us than anywhere else. If I could sign nine from here each year, that would be ideal as far as signing players.
On proposed changes to signing day dates…
“These coaching staffs, there’s a lot of people that research, diagnose, evaluate and do all these things to protect our interest. The players have very little that protect their interest. I always tell the young men, you need to make sure you ask questions and do your research. But we also should do things from rules prospective that protects their interest. I think that if they move that up, I’m fine with the December deal. But also I think kids should be able to take official visits sooner, and not impact the school year either. Most of the players are peer pressure to commit by September first. You can’t even take an official visit then. I think that’s some of the things they are looking at as well. I’d like to see it where they can take an official visit in June. I don’t advise a young man to commit to a place that he’s never seen. Then you talk about the cost that it costs the parents to come unofficially. I’m an old high school football coach. I look at the best interest of the recruit too. I always tell them that, its by the time they get recruiting figured out its over with. It’s so very important. It’s one of the most important decisions of their lives. When it comes to the rules I hope its something we keep in mind.”
On getting recruits under the radar…
Donnie values his energy, his focus, and his passion. I don’t think people understand what his job is. A recruiting coordinator can’t leave the building. We were a coach down so we were able to put people on the road. They never leave the building, their job is really to organize and support the nine recruiters and head coach that are going out. Donnie has just been absolutely phenomenal. Coach Cassidy, myself, and gene went through that process. We couldn’t have hired a better person. He’s just getting started. Recruiting is about diligence. It is about passion. It is not about having some good salesman. You reek what you sell. You’re not going to hide from how you do things. Donnie has just been tremendous. I can’t say enough about him. He’s helped me tremendously. One of the things that we do, and I think you have to do now a day because of how much change there is in college football. I am the lead recruiter. For me to do that, Donnie has been unbelievable at helping me be diligent and doing that. Everyday he’s wearing me out. He’s been the MVP of this deal as far as I’m concerned as well as the coaches are out there hitting the road, and anytime you have any type of change when you have a kid committed and anything changes and everyone attacks that. You better have been proactive, if not then you are going to be reactive.
On potential for secondary to make a difference immediately…
I think that all five of those guys are going to compete. You basically have 15 players in the secondary. Most people will carry 14-16 players. Usually people carry eight corners. Then seven-to-eight safeties based on their scheme. We signed five, which is a third. At the talent level those guys are at, they will be at the two deep and competing to play.