	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 5, 2015

Todd Graham

Tempe, Arizona

TODD GRAHAM: Well, really proud of our guys' effort on Saturday. Obviously on to the next game. I want to congratulate our volleyball team. I mean, big-time win over Stanford. I think that's 15 years, and want to congratulate them. That was a huge, huge win, incredible season that they're having.

Questions?

Q. Just in regards to Matt Haack, his one punt there at the end kind of seemed to change the momentum of the game and then he flipped the field earlier in the contest. What kind of impact has he made?
TODD GRAHAM: Yeah, he is a tremendous talent. We've talked about that all along. I really -- you know, he had a punt there early that -- he can be a weapon. I mean, he has really, really got unbelievable talent, and it's just getting that technique now, and he had it all come together. I think he got -- I like the fire from which he competed this week, and it was big for us. I mean, he was the -- I mean, he was definitely a game ball guy. The punts that he flipped the field as well as pinning the one on the 1-yard line was critical in the game. Really proud of him.

But that's something that he has the ability to do that every week. He really has a lot of talent. The key is just being consistent. He had a great game, best game he's had since he's been here, and really proud of him.

Q. I want to get your thoughts on Mike Bercovici's leadership leading up to the game and also his performance on the field and the leadership on the field that day?
TODD GRAHAM: Yeah, Mike is -- I mean, nothing -- our guys have stayed really consistent. Mike has been a really consistent leader. How you lead is by example, so I thought he did -- again, as he's done every week, he's done a great job leading our football team. The difference was is that we were able to put a complete game together, so we played well on offense, defense and special teams. But he's the leader of our team, hands down, and has great poise, composure, and he commands the respect of everyone.

He did a great job leading.

Q. I want to get your thoughts on getting the victory now, being in a very good position with so much conference time left.
TODD GRAHAM: Well, I mean, obviously our backs were against the wall, and our guys -- I think their character -- your character gets exposed when you face great adversity, and I think our guys showed what they're made of.

But it's single-game elimination. You've got to go win the next one and win the next one, so obviously it was a huge, huge win for us, and very proud of our guys, but we've got seven more steps to get to the game we want to be playing in, and the next one and the most important one is Colorado, and I can tell you we've got a lot of respect for Coach MacIntyre, the job he's done. If they don't turn the football over, they could have really easily beat Oregon last week. Did a tremendous job. They are vastly improved, and you can tell they play and compete with a great passion.

You've got to move on to the next week, and the key for us is to bring it every snap, every player in the game, and I think that was the -- we were able to -- we gained a lot of confidence in that game, and our guys played that way as a unit. We've got to continue to keep getting better.

Q. You guys moved the ball a lot better against UCLA than they did through the first four games. How big of an impact was having Mike Norvell down on the sidelines as opposed to up in the box?
TODD GRAHAM: Like I said after the game, one of the things we wanted to do was we just kind of felt like it was just our energy level and how we were playing, the focus that we needed. So Coach Patterson and Coach Norvell came back down, and I thought that was a huge difference for us obviously in our players. Just everyone was pretty focused on their job at hand. I think Mike is a dynamic leader, and he's an inspirational leader, and so the players respond to him. So I liked having him back on the field. Then I thought Coach Patterson did a tremendous job, as well.

Q. When you recruited Tashon Smallwood, how did you envision him coming here and playing what role, and just how has he played or how has he improved from last year to this year?
TODD GRAHAM: Yeah, he's just matured. Mental matured, strength. Basically guys come in as true freshmen and they don't have much training as far as being able to compute at this level, and he had a tremendous freshman year, but he's night and day different. He's been very dominant on the defensive line up there, but my envision was moving and attacking and getting in the backfield and creating negative plays, and he's done that. He's a different guy. You can tell that the maturity that he's had, the instinct that he has, the knowledge of the blocking schemes, all those type things, and then the knowledge of what we're doing. He has a really good understanding of what we're doing, and he's pretty fierce, and he's just scratching the surface on how good he's going to be.

Q. Was No. 90 just given to him? Was that just a coincidence?
TODD GRAHAM: No, no, I put him in that because I was hoping that he would play like the No. 90 before him. He's getting there, but he's still got a ways to go to get to that. He's getting there, though.

Q. What have you thought about your team's blocking and ability to get off blocks on the perimeter this season?
TODD GRAHAM: You know, I think we were pretty exceptional Saturday as far as getting off blocks and making plays. You know, the time we didn't get off blocks we got held and they got penalized for it. Our guys have -- we've improved vastly, I know, defensively, and our ability to get off blocks. Obviously on some wide receiver screens and things like that, we need to improve out there, but the key is just getting those things down.

Offensively I think it just depends on what possession you're looking at. We did a heck of a job on the inside run, direct runs, we've really, I think, improved blocking. That's the key that makes everything go for us is our direct runs, but that's an area -- what I talked to our players about today, I talked about it, we talked about in this game that giving everything you've got on every single play and doing that all week long. We did. I say that all week long. I know you guys get tired of me saying that. But we always have the best practice we've ever had. Everybody thinks I say that every week. Well, actually it was true last week.

And in my mindset is one that -- our guys do practice well, but it was a different deal last Tuesday. It was really different, and I think there was a sense of urgency, and pretty sick and tired of not playing to our potential.

You know, I think that that's the number one thing we've got to improve upon is fundamentals. When I look at the film, we can get better fundamentally with our pad level, with our stance, with our alignment, with our hand placement, with our initial pad under pad and placement on blocks, block protection or what we call block destruction and tackling. We missed some tackles, you know, that were -- they didn't have many long runs, but the one they did would have been a seven-yard run, ended up being a 29-, 30-yard run, and that was half their yardage. They had like 62 yards rushing, and half of it was on one play. So most of their rushing yards came at like the end of the half. So we were pretty dominant there.

But we've got to really shore up our tracking with the secondary and just fundamentals. The biggest thing we've got to do is our habits. We really made vast improvement last week. Now we need to double that this week and keep going.

People don't realize we practice three days a week, okay, seven games left, that's 21 practices. There's a sense of urgency about getting better, so we've got to get better fundamentally so you're on the right track there. That's what I've emphasized to them.

Q. Now that you've seen it live and seen it on tape, I wanted to get your reaction on Kalen's touchdown run and the way that run unfolded, what it said about your team?
TODD GRAHAM: I thought it capped off the night. It wasn't just -- Kalen wasn't going to go down, but it was every guy on offense carrying him to the end zone, and that was kind of what the night was all about. There really wasn't one person. There really wasn't one phase. It was offense, defense, special teams, every guy out there giving everything he's got on every single play. Obviously we never doubted ourselves, and these guys believe in each other and believe in what we're doing, and our program is based on a value system. It's not one that is going to waver or react back and forth, because it's frustrating when you're not playing to your potential, and it's frustrating when things are just -- you just can't seem to get things clicking.

That play just epitomized the whole game. I mean, it was just a play where you see our guys finish to the end of the play, and then you see some of their guys stop. So that was -- that was kind of a play that epitomized, I thought, our guys' will and focus and determination that we were going to get it done.

And like I say, there wasn't a lot of -- there wasn't much trickery. There wasn't much to it. We really didn't. We didn't really do anything new. We just lined up and played.

Q. Your pass protection was kind of under fire in that first week. Since then --
TODD GRAHAM: Kind of?

Q. Since then how do you think you guys have done there?
TODD GRAHAM: We've got a lot better from that week, I can tell you that. I think everyone had nine sacks that week, so what did we have, one or two last week? One. Well, there you go. No, I think it's gotten a lot better. I think -- I think one of the things -- one of the things that almost is de-emphasized nowadays, you even look at the game from especially college and the pros, practice is almost devalued. I mean, this game is played around fundamentals, and I think it hurt us a lot just having -- it wasn't major injuries, it was just injuries. And you've got to -- especially when you don't have -- if you take V, and V missed a practice or two in fall camp, it wouldn't have been that big a deal because he's got five years of fundamental work, and then he's got all these -- so you can have all the fundamental work you want, it's playing in games and going against speed and power and those type things.

I think that slowed our development a little bit because the lack of experience and the lack of being able to work fundamentally, and I think we're just now -- I thought our guys played their best game when it came to their fundamentals and getting better at protecting our quarterback. I think Coach Norvell called a masterful game. I thought he really did a great job at getting the ball out quick and really did some -- he really did a good job. I watched the game with him, and I'm pretty good at critiquing him, and he really did a good job, really did, especially down there late in the game and the last drive. I mean, a lot of people wouldn't throw a hitch screen out there. I thought the reverse was a big call, just stuff like that. I mean, I just thought it was a team effort.

I thought almost every person -- there's very few times that you can have that, going from like four weeks of being frustrated where you have one person here, one person there, one coach here, one coach there, where most of the time it would be me messing it up, but, you know, I thought our coaching staff got better. I thought we -- I thought in all three phases, I thought every player gave everything they've got, and there was a determination about that that was really special, and so we've got to match that and continue to take that each week to the next level.

Q. I guess you kind of just touched on it a little bit, but how nice was it to finally see the team play to its potential?
TODD GRAHAM: It was about as nice as it gets. You know, obviously it's really cool for those seniors. You know, I'm really -- DJ was one of the first guys we brought in here, and you know, and him and Mike and I, we were all talking about, these kids have gone to the Rose Bowl twice in their career and won both times, been to the Coliseum and won, so it was pretty neat for them and for us, because the reality is we're actually serious about competing for championships. We had not had this -- not been able to put it together.

So this game was -- it was vital. Our backs were against the wall. We had to get it done to stay alive.

We're still alive, and we've got to go -- we've got a lot of work left to be done.

Q. The players last Tuesday, they said a lot about that practice, too. What is it about -- what happened in that practice that really stood out so much to you where you could tell it made a huge difference?
TODD GRAHAM: You know, just a different level of intensity. It's usually intense. But I think there was probably, you know -- I could tell everybody knew the sense of how important everything we'd worked for was -- we had to go win. But we really don't -- the biggest difference was our intensity as coaches. That's being honest. That was the difference was the intensity there, and we quit -- we'd spent a lot of time -- sometimes with the schematics and things like that, and we just said, you know what, let's just -- man, let's just simplify it down and let's get after it and let's go put it together.

You know, that was really -- the difference was just the intensity and the effort and the focus and being determined that we were going to have -- we were going to have a great practice and prepare ourselves to win.

Q. You've been really high on your linebackers all season, really since last year. How have you felt about Salamo Fiso, Christian Sam, Moeakiola?
TODD GRAHAM: Salamo, I couldn't be more proud of him. If you knew what he did as far as what he calls and how smart he is, the volume of what he does, and he is at a different level than he's played. I think he's playing at an All-Pac-12 level. He's a guy, you look at the numbers he's putting up, are Player of the Year caliber numbers, and he's been phenomenal. A lot of it has been absolutely phenomenal. I thought DJ Calhoun and Christian Sam played their best game this last week, so really pleased there.

And been working James there at spur, as well, and there's another guy that because of how well everybody else has played, he doesn't play as much, but a guy that's a really, really quality player, as well.

But I think Laiu has been off the chart, I mean, All-Pac-12 level, on the season.

But Salamo Fiso in my opinion is our leader. He's the leader on that field. I mean, he is the guy that calls everything. He's kind of the quarterback. Obviously he and Jordan work together. They're the two communicators back there, and Salamo is making plays, really playing at a high level in his efficiency, and the other guy that I think has really stepped up big time in the leadership. On the line it's Demetrius Cherry; at linebacker it's Salamo Fiso; and at the back end obviously Jordan is a big leader for us. Our two corners have been stellar, really stellar, and Gump got in a couple of plays. I think he's going to help us. We've just got to learn what he's doing. But he's got some promise there, as well.

Q. You guys had the bad snap in the first quarter, then Mike Bercovici got the interception, but it seems like overall you guys did a better job keeping the ball. How do you feel about your ball security this week?
TODD GRAHAM: Yeah, obviously we were one play away from having 100 percent ball security. Obviously the guys did a really good job of taking care of the football. We had a ball hit one of our guys and Gump made a heads-up play by recovering it, which was a little bit scary, so there's some things we've got to clean up. The snap really was not -- we should have caught the ball. You know, just some little bitty things that we -- but that should be all ironed out this time of year. We need to have 100 percent ball security, and that's obviously our goal, and the key for us moving forward to be successful and to be 1-0 each week is that, 100 percent ball security, and that is the No. 1 factor to getting that done.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297