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The only podcast covering all things Arizona State athletics! We bleed maroon and gold, and love talking about the Sun Devils no matter what sport.
Tom Hardon (00:01)
Welcome in Sun Devil Faithful to another episode of Echo from the Buttes. I'm your host for tonight, Tom Harden, standing in for David Hellman. With me I have Austin Bundy and Andrew Hazlett. And guys, we've made it. We are just about on the eve of week one of the football season. What do you guys think?
Austen Bundy (00:24)
I'm fired up man, I'm ready to go. Wanna see some Sun Devils dominate an inferior opponent for once and get a real strong start to the season going.
Andrew Hayslett (00:33)
I'm excited as well, just can't wait to be out there in Mountain America Stadium come Saturday evening.
Tom Hardon (00:40)
It's going to be a packed house. We heard from ⁓ Graham Rossini this week that this game is officially a sellout. It's the first season opening sellout since 1998 when this team entered with equally high expectations. that's something that I love to see. We've got a brand new class of freshmen who are coming in, people who are getting their first exposure to Sun Devil athletics and
to see the students, see the fans, see the community just roll out and come in full support. This is what we want to see night in and night out, week in and week out.
Austen Bundy (01:22)
Yeah, exactly. mean, NAU is known to be little scrappy. I mean, they're an FCS team, but I feel like this environment at Mountain America Stadium is going to be way too much for them. I'm looking forward to seeing our quarterback, Sam Levitt, get out there and really dominate for a little bit. Hopefully, he's got the second half off. But ⁓ it'll be real exciting to see these guys playing football for the first time since we all watched him in Atlanta at the Peach Bowl in January.
Andrew Hayslett (01:49)
Yeah, like you said, I'm excited to see what they can do. For me, what I want to see most is, I'll touch on it later, how the running backs are going to be. That's kind of what I'm looking forward to. How are they going to be used? We didn't see an official starter named yet, so talk more about that later. But talking to the pressers on the practices.
from Kenny to Marcus Arroyo to Brian Ward. They're all saying how this NAU team is sneaky. They like to do a lot of confusing things with formations, motions, on both sides of the ball. So that's something I'm looking out for on Sunday or Saturday.
Tom Hardon (02:37)
Yeah, awesome points right there. Talking about the scrappiness of the lumberjacks, something that I found really interesting leading up to this week, this is actually the first time that NAU and ASU have met when both teams are ranked in their respective polls. NAU is coming in ranked number 19th in the main FCS media poll. And they had a really surprising run to the...
to the playoffs last year losing in the first round to Abilene Christian, but they put up the kind of offense that is a really, they really want to try and overwhelm me on offense. They're not afraid to spread her five wide or run the jumble package. They'll jump back and forth between both sets. They want to create ⁓ an atmosphere that is confusing to the defense and really forcing a lot of constant communication.
Andrew Hayslett (03:35)
Yeah, coordinators and Kenny all talked about that and they want to have everyone over communicate all game long just to avoid mistakes because if you over communicate you don't make mistakes and if you under communicate mistakes can easily happen. You saw in the Super Bowl one year where Malcolm Butler made that interception. I know you're a big Patriots fan Tom.
Tom Hardon (03:59)
one of my favorite moments ever.
Andrew Hayslett (04:02)
I don't remember who it was came over to Tim and said this is the exact same play in practice where you got burned now go make the play Over communication leads to good stuff versus under communication
Tom Hardon (04:19)
Yeah, that's exactly the right point there. And Brian Wright, being a former quarterback himself, he's going to be drawing up those plays that try and drive down the field. He wants to send a message and show that NAU is not to be taken lightly.
Austen Bundy (04:39)
Yeah, I don't think Sun Devils should really underestimate their opponent here. I mean, as much as we all saw what damage the Haboob did to Mountain America State and we all want to think that ASU is going to be the big storm coming through and wiping out the Lumberjacks. They really can't sit back on their laurels. They really need to assert dominance early. They need to establish the run game from the beginning and ⁓ give Sam Levitt some options to be able to provide some space for Jordan Tyson and the rest of the receiving
so that way they can really spread their wings and ⁓ show everybody what they've been working on in practice and the new packages that they're going to throw out there. This is an opportunity for Kenny Dillingham to really go out there and show that ASU is a versatile offense and to allow the defense ⁓ an easier night when it comes to getting pressure to the quarterback and not having to worry about protecting ⁓ a slim lead when we get into the second half.
Tom Hardon (05:38)
Yeah, so one thing that's been kind of thrown around, do you expect that on the first couple of plays on offense, does Kenny say, go ahead, take the deep shot?
Andrew Hayslett (05:52)
⁓ I know Kenny is an aggressive guy. He says that. He said in one of his pressers that he's gonna lay everything out there because that's what he is. He's not gonna hold any plays back because he wants to win games and I don't know if that's his strategy for winning games.
I think we'll definitely, I tend to think that we will see two running backs in the game running the ball before we see a big shot. That's kind of my bold prediction, but we'll see.
Austen Bundy (06:30)
Yeah, Kenny's whole ⁓ recipe for success last year, I mean he had Scadaboo obviously, but the whole thing for him was long drawn out drives, really establishing the run game and bleeding teams out, bleeding that clock down and leaving them little option to play the game that they wanted to play. And just like Andrew said, if the running backs have proven themselves in practice and they can get out there on the field and actually ⁓ dominate on the line of scrimmage, giving Kenny ⁓
four to five yards per play. mean, you're going to be getting first downs after first downs and moving down the field without having to rely on Levitt to have to throw things out. If you can avoid getting to third and short in most cases, I feel like ASU is going to be set up for a lot of success there. Although I would not be surprised if Kenny decides on the first drive to give Levitt
and Tyson maybe one shot just to kind of air one out down the sideline, test out the secondary a little bit. ⁓ That's one situation where I feel like he would like to maybe get the student section going a little bit with a little fireworks just to get things started.
Tom Hardon (07:45)
I'd like to see that as well, especially if the Devils are driving towards the student section, that would be a perfect opportunity just to invigorate the crowd and get everybody on their feet. And ⁓ speaking of the lumberjacks on defense, they are undersized, so those opportunities are definitely available to take that shot and really exploit them.
And as far as the running backs, Kyson Brown listed at the top of the depth chart ahead of Kanye Yudo. ⁓ Surprised you guys or not really?
Andrew Hayslett (08:22)
I'm not surprised at all. Kyson Brown's just had a great camp. ⁓ There was some sort of question asked to Marcus Arroyo about Kanye's integration to these orphans and he said it was like reading off of a menu in a different language. The food is still the same but chips and salsa is not listed under chips and salsa. You said something about that but that was the point he was making.
I could go for some chips and salsa right now to be honest. But regardless, just, he just hasn't adjusted all the way yet. Not saying that he's a bad runner or anything because he's a good runner. We saw that last year at Army, but what Arizona State runs and what Army runs are two different schemes. ⁓
Tom Hardon (08:55)
That makes two of us.
Andrew Hayslett (09:11)
and there's going to be some adjustment, he just hasn't quite adjusted to that yet. think he'll adjust to that soon enough. something that I saw on the depth chart that was interesting is that there's two different running back slots. I thought they might be all under one slot, but it's interesting to see both Relic Brown and Kaisen Brown.
listed as starters, which kind of getting ahead of myself a little bit with that same thought is that there's four receivers listed as quote unquote starters and two tight ends as well. So that's just interesting for me to see.
There's a lot of possibility for everything. We don't know who that first guy is going to be come Saturday. It could be Kanye, could be Rolik, it could be Kyson. I don't know. Kenny himself, I honestly thought at some point this weekend or this week leading up to this game, he would have said ⁓ Kyson is going to be the starting back. He has. So that just to me shows that
this situation's kind of fluid and we might see all three running backs for significant portions this game.
Austen Bundy (10:36)
You have to wonder if maybe there's a little bit of gamesmanship involved in there. If Kenny's trying to play with the opposing defense's head a little bit, not give them any hints as to what they should be scheming for, and kind of...
maybe sending a message to the rest of the conference to the rest of their schedule as like you can't watch tape and assume you know which of these guys are going to get the bulk of the carries because all of them are going to be ⁓ big weapons and same with which wide receiver is going to be ⁓ thrown to the most because Sam has chemistry with just about all of them. mean obviously Jordan Tyson's is the number one target. We saw that last year. That's probably going to translate again this year. But the fact that Kenny is thinking about these things of not letting the depth
chart be a little bit of a giveaway for opposing defenses and defensive coordinators who can go ahead and take a look at these things and try to decode ⁓ what Arizona State is going to be doing on offense, who they're going to prioritize, and what situations of the game. ⁓
So I think I give Kenny a little credit for using every advantage he can and ⁓ keeping things behind a veil that he can control. I think that's a very smart thing of him to do.
Tom Hardon (11:48)
Yeah, I agree with you there. Call it games and chip, call it misdirection, call it whatever you want to do. I think it's just trying not to be predictable, trying not to show all your cards right away. You want to keep something close to the chest and keep teams guessing throughout the season because these big 12 teams, we're going to see them year. If not this year, we'll see a bunch from the next year. And they're going to have a lot of that tape to go off of for our guys that do come back for 2026.
And on the receiving side of things, definitely a very, very stacked wide receiver room. I love the fact that we have those four positions. We've got four, ⁓ definitely with Tyson and McLean, ⁓ very established guys in our offense. Moss, I'm excited to see what he does as a transfer. I'm excited to see what Jaren Hamilton can do. And Shamama Taylor.
He's almost a fifth wide out every time he's on the field anyway.
Austen Bundy (12:53)
I feel like Mateo is the type of dude that you want to deploy in those goal to go situations because everyone's going to think you're going to try and go to the running back or you might have Tyson in a one on one. But Mateo is one of these guys that you can use in a
in a post route, you want to send him to the corner, if you want to have him come across the middle as a screen anywhere, ⁓ he's got the size and he can body guys off the line of scrimmage. He's the type of dude that you want to use ⁓ in situations where you've got, I don't know, third and goal from the six maybe and you need somebody who needs to get a little bit of space off the line of scrimmage to either open somebody else up in the end zone or you have an option to throw across the middle. ⁓
And hit him up there for a touchdown, but he's a very versatile weapon that I feel like not a lot of defense is key in on enough I mean we saw just in the big 12 championship game how many times he was targeted and tore up Iowa State when Jordan Tyson wasn't around So the fact that Sam Levitt can find and have chemistry with a lot of these additional weapons I think it's just gonna make ASU that much more deadly now that Jordan Tyson is back and healthy
Andrew Hayslett (14:05)
Yeah, think Shaman Mateur is going to have a pretty good year at tight end. Probably slide into an all-conference team at some point at the end of the year. Maybe not the first team, but he's probably going to be around those second, third, back half teams. Because he's a very solid tight end at the end of the day. But for me, I'm looking at Malik McLean kind of on the opposite end of Jordan Tyson.
⁓ 65205, the tallest guy of the receiver room. I'm excited to see what he can do with just his size, ability to stretch the field as well as Jordan Tyson.
We saw that a little bit in those last two games at the end of the year with the Big 12 Championship and the Peach Bowl. So I think that's probably the most underrated receiver at this point.
I could be wrong but I think that's the guy that's going to take the step forward at this point. Jalen Moss I think is going to be electric from the slot as well and Jaren Hamilton we've seen some of the plays he can make in practice.
Tom Hardon (15:21)
If Mott's in NCAA 26 is any indication of how he'll be on the field, I already like what I'm going to see out of him.
Flipping over to the defense, Andrew, you've been there for a lot of the practices leading up to this game. What have been your takeaways from the defensive side of the ball so far?
Andrew Hayslett (15:45)
These guys are getting takeaways a lot. ⁓ That's my takeaway. Is that something they kind of struggled with a little bit last year? Dillingham mentioned that in his Monday press conference, I believe. But yeah, I look...
at a lot of these guys. A few days ago, Crew Jackson had a few interceptions and he's listed as the fourth linebacker in his possession. It shows the depth of this team. Any of these guys can make a play at any moment and that's what kind of should scare some of these offenses that Arizona State's gonna face. You look...
There's a lot of talent on the defense. lot of guys who haven't redshirted in the starting lineup. CJ Fight, Jacob Rich Kungaika, Keyshawn Elliott, Jordan Crook, Keith Abney, among others. These guys have shown they're talented enough to get playing time throughout their whole college career. Not saying that using a redshirt is showing that you're untalented, but... ⁓
just not being able to have it registered and just saying, hey, you have to play me all those years I'm here. Shows you're talented and that's what I see on the Stevens. Like a lot of just true talent.
It's very solid and I think has taken the step up from last year to this year. I would say more often than not, the defensive has had, they've won practice in terms of the ball movement, I would say. I mean, last few days it's been more offensive than defensive and now.
into game week now we've seen more scout team teams being used against the offense and defense going against the offensive scout team so it's interesting to see those battles
Austen Bundy (17:53)
Yeah, for sure. mean, you see guys who are, like you were saying, guys who are red-shirting and willing to sit back and learn rather than let their ego get in the way and demand playing time. That shows the type of character that Kenny's looking for on the team, and he's a big character guy. ⁓
He wants to have guys on the team with an attitude of way before me and if we have a lot of these guys who have sat back watched and developed under The guys who were starting last year. I mean, that's that's a pretty positive sign I'm pretty hyped to see what a lot of these guys are gonna have now that they get their opportunity And turnovers are gonna be key this season because as I was saying before Kenny loves to bleed the clock these opposing offenses are gonna be sitting here and being like do not let ASU
steal a possession from us. If ASU steals even just one extra possession a game, that's if they play their cards correctly, that's going to be another five minutes off the clock. We've seen Kenny drain an entire quarter on one drive before. So if ASU's defense is able to step up and get a couple of turnovers in each game, that's going to be gigantic in their efforts to keep a win streak going and get back to the the Big 12 title game and back to the college football playoff.
⁓ I think ASU's defense more than ASU's offense is going to be the X factor this year in determining whether or not they take a step forward from how good they were playing last season or whether or not this will turn into some sort of ⁓ regression year.
Andrew Hayslett (19:26)
I wholeheartedly agree with what you said there at the end, Austin.
Tom Hardon (19:31)
Yeah, the takeaways are a big factor and returning nine starters on defense, that certainly doesn't hurt. ⁓ To me, I think I've made this point before, I've heard a lot of other people make this point. The best defense that our offense might face all season is our own defense here in camp. And we saw how our defense made.
Sam look uncomfortable as he was dropping back to throw, forcing those mistakes, forcing those turnovers. If our defense is forcing our own offense to make those mistakes and not get comfortable in the game, just imagine what we're going to be doing against everybody else in the conference. It's exciting to see. It's exciting just to kind of fantasize a little bit, just to see what we're going to do against Texas Tech next month.
or sorry, I guess yeah, almost next month in October.
Austen Bundy (20:30)
Yeah, I feel like ASU can't
afford to ⁓ get into too many shootouts like they did last year. I mean, they had the offensive firepower to get themselves out of those things. But if the defense is going to be sound and keep them from getting into those 28-28, 34-34 games going into fourth quarters, ASU is going to see a little bit of a smoother ride than they did last season, a little bit less of those dramatic finishes, having to have the last possession and ⁓
potentially worry about the secondary giving up a big play like we had been seeing for years on end prior to last season. It feels nice to be on the other side of the table now having a solid defense and hopefully not having to worry about teams burning us for 15, 20 yards at least twice every drive like we used to see prior to last season.
Tom Hardon (21:24)
Well, and know, burning for 15, 20 yards, that's something that quarterback Ty Pennington is hoping to do for NAU. He is a legitimate dual threat quarterback. He was their second leading rusher last year, passed for almost 2,400 yards. And NAU's three-headed rushing attack is all returning this year. They accounted for, I think it was just over 1,500 of their total rushing yards last year.
not your typical NAU team that you see coming in. What do you guys make of that?
Austen Bundy (22:04)
Andrew, I'll let you go first.
Andrew Hayslett (22:06)
I don't, I know that was being talked about a little bit in the pressers is about I think, it up being Tim Healy that asked Kenny Dillingham a question on Monday about
quarterback running him not remembering his name off the my head but Ty Pennington yeah, that's about him and Kenny said yeah, this is something that they'll have to Take into account this is just dual threat ability and
Tom Hardon (22:27)
by Pennington.
Andrew Hayslett (22:42)
We haven't, I don't know Christian Hunt's game real well, but Sam Levitt, he's a little bit of a dual threat, but I don't think he's as much of a dual threat as Pennington. Yes, we have seen Levitt run a little bit, but that was not really more of designed runs. I felt last year it was more of a scrambling run. So it's interesting to see how.
he'll line up those two kind of what the defense is seeing in practice versus what they're going to see in Pennington now in the game. That's what I'm looking forward to.
Austen Bundy (23:25)
Yeah, think with a dual threat quarterback, the biggest thing is going to be a successful pass rush. Because even though ⁓ he's got his legs and if he gets loose, it could be a problem. But if ASU's pass rush is effective enough to contain him or to throw him off his game and to force him to only use his legs, ⁓
I think ASU is going to have the advantage on that because an inexperienced quarterback, even if he's got a dual threat and he's going up against a power conference foe, ⁓ I think there's going to be a little bit more of a mental game that goes into that. If he's having to constantly scramble, if he's having to constantly get thrown off his reeds, ⁓ that's going to be a major advantage to ASU if the pass rush can continue to get through to him. If he's got enough time to where he can pick ASU apart,
And then when the eventual pressure does get to him, he can scramble and he still has a little more energy. That's when ASU may have a few problems. But if you can tire him out, make him use his legs a lot early and get him uncomfortable in those situations, get him out of the pocket, ⁓ the fatigue is going to set in real soon. And at that point, it's going to limit the type of plays that NAU can pull out of its playbook against the ASU defense.
Andrew Hayslett (24:44)
Yeah, I know Kenny was saying that he likes to run a lot of those play actions, those naked, those boots, those types of plays. like he said, think the key to success is limiting those.
Tom Hardon (24:44)
And what's also not. Go ahead, Andrew.
Austen Bundy (24:49)
you
Tom Hardon (25:08)
And let's also not forget that, you know, NAU's offensive line is going to be on the smaller side compared to most other D1 programs. And it won't be a matter of if they break down under our larger defensive line, but when they break down. if they, you know, I think their key is going to be to try and strike early and strike as fast as they can, try and get points on the board.
as quickly as they can to force us to match that. But I think in the long run, we're going be able to outlast them and just grind them down to really just be a little bit of a shell of their offense. One place where NAU does have size, though, is graduate transfer Jason Rains coming in at wide receiver from Stanford. He's one of the players that I highlighted as a player to watch.
He's definitely got the size standing in at 6'3 and 210. Very limited role at Stanford. He's only recorded three catches for 22 yards in his career, but I think he will be the major throwing target for Pennington as the offense takes the field.
Austen Bundy (26:30)
He's gonna be one to watch out for I feel like you got a limit him to Some sideline catches don't let him get out in the middle of the field there because if he's got the size it's he's gonna be putting those balls up high for him to grab and I feel like ASU secondary is gonna want to jump in front of a lot of those but if they're up if they're up too high you're not gonna be able to jump across those routes as easily as you would as somebody who's putting those balls more
towards the chest area of your defender. If ASU can somehow utilize the double team effectively on him, and that's where the pass rush is going to have to be key in this situation because if you give him too much time to run the route no matter
is on the field, that's going to become a problem. So I feel like you need to rush Pennington into those throws and make him choose a different option than their top receiver and that's where ASU's defense is going to have to frustrate him and limit the types of plays that they're going to be successful with.
Andrew Hayslett (27:35)
Yeah, I'd look as a comparison from to him as a Noble Johnson is a very similar size. He's listed as 63205 as mate. I know.
I know he was not in a scout team jersey so as the starting defense wasn't looking at him this week but in the past that's kind of a similar size guy to go along with. ASU does not have any defensive back that real size. I'm looking here all of the ASU guys around.
Six foot you ever take that's that's a few inches few pounds less, but I don't think that's a real problem There because corn facts are a little undersized compared to your receivers. That's that's not not a problem at all
Tom Hardon (28:28)
Yeah, if it comes down to jump balls, it's going to be interesting. I think just being able to have that closing speed, I think we'll be able to really keep them in check. But any running game, as I mentioned before, apart from Pennington, they've got Seth Cromwell and Darvon Hubbard. And Seth Cromwell was my running back to keep an eye out for. Just some build alone, he reminds me a lot of Scataboo.
almost identical frame to him, 5'10", 2'15". I think Cam was listed at 2'19", but he was a transfer in from Division II Missouri Southern State last year, and he ripped off 100-yard games in three out the last four games of the year, and probably his best performance of the season. Put up three touchdowns in 132 yards at Cal Poly. Very physical runner.
get up the middle, find those gaps very quickly, and then he's got that opening speed that will just burn defenses away.
Austen Bundy (29:37)
That's somebody you can't ignore if you're looking to stop NAU from getting chunk yardage on early drives. ASU's defensive line is going to have to plug up that hole and make sure they're not giving him any space to break loose. ⁓ I feel like if ASU is going to be the most successful
in frustrating NAU's offense on Saturday night, that's the part of the game you're going to have to focus in on is the running game. Because if NAU is going to start establishing, just like I said with our running backs, if they're going to start getting four or five yards on each run, it's going to be a long night for ASU because sooner or later, NAU is going to be able to break out the air game if ASU's defensive line is going to have to shift their resources to the center of the
field or they're gonna have to ⁓ keep too many eyeballs on the running backs and potentially the screen game there ⁓ if these guys are gonna start ripping off plays against you. ⁓ I feel like if ASU
is going to establish any sort of early lead. They've got to, it sounds obvious, but you got to limit the amount of time NAU is on the field. And the run game is going to be something that I think NAU is going to lean on to buy more clock, if it makes sense, ⁓ even though the clock's going down. But they're going to try and buy more time on the field with their running game. ⁓ So that way ASU's offense has less time to operate and therefore it'll throw off Kenny Dillingham's
plan of establishing whatever game plan that he's going to throw forward. It's going to be similar to him last year where he uses the running game to burn clock and then Sam Levitt finds somebody in the end zone once they get across the 45. ⁓ But stopping NAU's run game is going to be top priority if they're going to be able to establish the game plan that they want to.
Andrew Hayslett (31:40)
Yeah, I'd look at those big boys up the middle to stop the run. You've got CJ Fight, Jacob Rich, and Geica. And in that sparky position on the depth chart, you've got Justin Watley and Elijah O'Neil listed as...
the or starter there. So it will be interesting to see how that position will be used. I don't know, feel like it's just going to wind up being a substitution for kind of fight and gai-ka throughout the game to start at least. Maybe Smith and Dorber on the ends. But yeah, I just stopped that run. I don't think Kenny Dillingham's process of calling the game is going to change. I think he's going to...
just stay with his plan. don't think it's going to change even if Maneuil gets off to a good start. I think he's going to stick to his offensive plan, take off clock, because eventually that's not going to... I just don't think that can be sustained. Arizona State has a lot of depth on the defensive line.
dozen guys that will rotate in and out I think throughout the game to keep them all fresh because if they're all fresh they'll get stops and that will be hard for any of you to get that ground game if ASU is just constantly rotating guys in and out keeping them fresh. So yeah.
Tom Hardon (33:13)
I agree with that. We're three deep on the depth of the track behind Kanganika, two deep behind fight. We've got a lot of guys that we can just plug and play on a situational basis and really just load up and keep everybody fresh too. That's really going to be.
Austen Bundy (33:30)
Yeah, I think staying healthy
is going to be the biggest thing for ASU right now because ⁓ you don't want to see these guys, these starters go down. But the fact that we are that deep on the defense to be able to plug and play guys if, God forbid, somebody goes down or multiple guys go down in a game. ⁓ It's a lot better of a situation than we were even last year. There were a couple of times where our depth was a little questionable. If we lost a starter on defense or even on offense, we weren't sure who was going to be able to step up and.
fill in in those crucial spots but now that this depth chart is filled out a little bit more and there are some more reliable guys who can step in in those instances that's a big confidence booster I think for Kenny Dillingham.
Tom Hardon (34:11)
Yeah, thankfully our depth is what it is, and we really haven't had any injuries come through camp. The only one that I've really seen of note this week was Michael Gardner clearing his Achilles. And unfortunately, the breaks just weren't going for him. He was already rehabbing an injury from last year that kept him off the field for a good chunk of the season when he was at Oregon. And I think this is almost a blessing in disguise for him. Gives him time to get fully healthy.
but still stay involved with the team, still stay, keep in the, keep in the scheme and really ingrain himself into this program, get ready to go for 2026.
So we've touched on the offense. We've touched on the defense. Let's take a look at the special teams. And I'm really excited to see Jesus Gomez. I think we've really got our guy kicker after a revolving door last year, almost to the point where we had to have open tryouts for kickers. But.
Hopefully, Gomes isn't needed for much more than extra point duty this week. But what do you guys think on our special teams?
Andrew Hayslett (35:31)
you
Austen Bundy (35:34)
Jesus take the wheel right? ⁓
Tom Hardon (35:37)
Absolutely.
Andrew Hayslett (35:39)
Yeah, Jesus was a guy who I know landed on preseason watch lists at when he was at Eastern Michigan. I'm not quite sure about postseason, but I know he was definitely on some Phil Steele preseason watch list. He's a guy who can kick balls pretty far, you
He's had multiple field goals successful over 50, 55 yards. So he is a very solid kicker. He's done it in big stadiums before. He's done it in Arizona State before. He's done it at Washington. Yeah, that walk off kick where Herm Edwards got fired on the end zone, which was a time, but.
Tom Hardon (36:15)
I was there for that.
Andrew Hayslett (36:29)
Now coming back here, he knows how to do in this stadium and I think he's got what it takes to be successful. He's kicked in cold weather with those match in games and now he's going to come to Tempe where the weather's warm. Ball's going to go a little bit farther when the heat. So yeah, I think he's got the talent to be the guy where...
Kenny doesn't have to worry about it all day this year. I know he's said that he's joked around with the team and how much confidence Jesus has going back to even spring ball and he's still joking around with it now. So his confidence is not wavered. I know he said it's going to change his philosophies a little bit, but we'll see how that is on going for fourth down, which...
I like Kenny's aggressiveness sometimes, it's a little too much for my liking. And hopefully the ability to rely on Gomez brings his aggressiveness down so we don't see many turnovers on downs unnecessarily.
Austen Bundy (37:45)
Yeah, Andrew, think you make a great last point there that Dillingham was probably making some of those calls last season out of desperation, kind of knowing the kicker situation that he had. So for me, when it comes to Jesus, I feel like I want to see him make those simple chip shots. I just want to see him get the ball through the uprights on those simple kicks. Give me the 25, 30, 35 yarders all day long.
to see him ⁓ put those one after the other through the uprights and get some confidence. We all know he's got the ability to kick the ball far and we're probably going to have to see him do that a couple times this year but I would rather see consistency and accuracy from our special teams just to know that when you're in a situation where ⁓
Kenny may want to be aggressive, but the smart play may just be take the points and move on. You want to know you've got somebody that Kenny can take a moment to think it through and be like, OK, I know we've got a guaranteed three points here. I may not be feeling as confident about the offense going out there and trying to get this first down or trying to get the touchdown to put a stake in the other team's heart. ⁓ But if that allows Kenny to think and play a little smarter with the play calling, then I'll take that all day long.
Tom Hardon (39:04)
Having that reliability will be essential not only this week, but all throughout the season. And that's something that we didn't have last year. I lost track of how many many drives ended because of turnover on downs last year, but it was far too many for my liking. I'd still like to see a little bit of that aggressiveness, but in the right situations. I don't want us to default to always going for it on fourth down when we're in what should be a makeable
35 to 40 yard field goal because Kenny can't rely on his kicker.
We've got a couple of dynamic returners with Rolik Brown and Jalen Moss who are going to be fielding kicks. I'm excited to see that duo and see what they can do. I think that they're both equally capable of breaking off long returns, finding those gaps, and really forcing the opposing coverage teams to adapt and
kickers to kick away from them.
Austen Bundy (40:12)
Yeah, for sure. I feel like with special teams it's going to be less so about how far can you get the ball out of the end zone or out of the receiving zone, whatever it's called now. ⁓
Tom Hardon (40:25)
I think that's only in the NFL
though, I don't think it's in college is it?
Austen Bundy (40:29)
Did they, ⁓ no, you're right. Didn't they just move up the spot? They didn't include the receiving, whatever zone that is now. It's just they moved up the kick.
Tom Hardon (40:38)
Yeah, I think that's kicking off in the 35 and then I believe touchbacks are still at the 25 and then punt touchbacks are at the 20.
Austen Bundy (40:46)
Got it, okay, yeah, that sounds about right. ⁓ Either way, I feel like it's gonna be ball security. That's gonna be the biggest thing I wanna see from our special teams is when they're bringing out these punts and these kick returns, I wanna see ball security. I do not wanna see them ⁓ muff any punts. I don't wanna see them give up any turnovers in the open field when they're returning these things. Protect the football first and foremost. The yards are secondary at that point because the whole point is you've got the ball back.
You don't want to be playing hero ball or trying to hit stick somebody or spin move around like you're playing college football 26 out there. Just make sure you protect the football and you make sure that the offense, the offensive possession is going to happen at that point.
Tom Hardon (41:31)
Exactly, smart football, that's the biggest key.
Andrew Hayslett (41:35)
Yeah, I'm I look forward to seeing either of those two guys for both positions. It's listed as an or right now. I I Don't know who who's gonna be this the Starter for what I I really don't care. I think they're both good
the end of the day. Jalen Moss ⁓ last year was a second team punt returner in the Mountain West if memory serves me correctly.
so we know he's good. You and I, at that one Saturday night practice, we saw Relique Brown break one for a bit. They weren't tackling, so he might have ran that one back all the way. I spoke to Relique a few practices ago. He told me the thing that he focuses on is just being fearless, just knowing his talent's good enough, just being fearless with the
ball, but still ball control, ball security. And he knows, he knows that he's going to be successful. He's fully confident in himself. And I think either of the two options are going to be good.
Relique told me that he is doing more punt returning than kick returning. This is the first time he I believe this is what he told me is the first time he's doing punt returning At first he didn't he told me he didn't really like it now He he likes it a little bit more than kick returning. So it's interesting to see regardless
I think both guys are more than capable and I do believe we'll see both guys at both of those positions at some point this year.
Tom Hardon (43:24)
All right, I think ⁓ we've covered everything leading up into the game. It's time for our predictions. We'll go around the room. Let's give a final score prediction and one offensive and one defensive MVP. Austin, let's start with you.
Austen Bundy (43:40)
I know when we did our introductory episode I was saying that I could totally see this being one of those ⁓ classic ASU opening week slugfest where they underestimate the opponent and things are closer than we want them to be going into the second half but I'm gonna give our guys a little more credit and I have some more confidence in them. I still think we're gonna win this game. I still think we're gonna win it by a hefty margin. I think it's gonna be something around ⁓
35-17 ASU, offensive MVP.
I'll keep it simple. I want to just keep it with Sam Levitt. I want to see him be efficient. I don't want to see many incompletions. This is the type of defense that you should be able to make your your make your passes ⁓ score a few touchdowns whether he's going to do that through the air. Maybe he does it with his feet a couple times. I just want to see him have a solid start and be consistent and ⁓ accurate for the most part on defense. I'm not sure if I'm going to have a specific
MVP but I'll give it to a group of guys give me the safeties because I don't want to see any of these NAU receivers going up over the top and ⁓ making any of these big Sports Center highlight plays. I want to make sure that if NAU is going to try and pass the ball you're keeping things underneath you're not letting them get down the sideline on you. ⁓ If you want to give NAU these dink and dunk five yard passes ⁓
fine by me as long as the run game is being stuffed and they're not going to take any chunk yardage out of you down the field.
Andrew Hayslett (45:23)
Yeah, for me on offense, I'm gonna get to my score last. My offensive ⁓ MVP is gonna be Jordan Tyson. think this is, he's going to have a game week one. He's gonna remind everyone this guy's legit. I don't think ASU people are talking about Jordan Tyson enough in terms of reporters. He's a great receiver. ⁓
every practice he makes some sort of crazy catch without fail. It's like wow how does the human body just move like that? It's just so incredible to see what he can do. Yes I know it's practice but just what he's doing doesn't seem humanly possible. So Jordan Tyson is going to have a huge game week one on defense.
I think my MVP is going to be CJ Fight. I think he's going to have a ⁓ good breakout season up the middle as a defensive line. I think he'll get a sack or two this week. That's my prediction for him. And I think the final score is going to be 35-17 offense and not going to be as high as it is.
It could be because I think they're gonna the stars are gonna be pulled out and I think same thing on defense They might have the the backup guys might allow a touchdown or two To get that score a little higher than it actually is But I still project an Arizona State win to start off the season
Tom Hardon (47:07)
My prediction, I'm going to go a 45-17 win. We have not failed to reach the 40-point mark since 2010. And I see that trend continuing this season. I think we're going to see starters pulled early to mid-third quarter. NAU, think, get a couple scores late in the game against our second team defense. But I also think that Jeff Sims will come in and.
make his case for the second team offense as well. My offensive MVP, I got to go with Sam as well. I really want to see him spread around his targets. don't want him to be one dimensional and focusing just on Tyson as much as I want to see Jordan come back and have that breakout game after last year's injury. I want to see Sam to spread the ball around and
utilize all the weapons he has at his disposal. My defensive MVP, I'm going to go with Xavier Nelford. I want to see him just be a ball hawk. I want to see him come in with physicality, some deflections, maybe an interception or two, and just drive the game for us on defense.
Austen Bundy (48:26)
Solid picks.
Tom Hardon (48:28)
All right. Well guys, great show tonight. Seven o'clock kickoff from Mountain America Stadium. ⁓ Andrew and I will both be in the stadium. Austin, you'll be watching from the friendly confines of wherever you are. And excited to be back out among the Sun Devil faithful and curious on to open up another season. Thanks everybody for listening and go Devils.