ASU Football: Fields excited to be back as Pierce praises fast, deep defense

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

Arizona State Football defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce and senior defensive back Evan Fields spoke to the media after spring practice on Monday. Here are the highlights from what both said during availability.

Fields’ return, “little things” in a fast group highlight defense

ASU returns quite the speedy secondary for the upcoming 2021 season.

Pierce is thrilled about the endless opportunities he has in his first season as the sole commander of the defense, but still has other goals in mind.

“The speed is great,” Pierce said. “We also talk about building our core values and principles with our defense with speed, hustle, effort and team unity.”

Renewed hope is in the air at spring practice. For Fields, who is using the NCAA’s decision to grant fall athletes another year of eligibility due to COVID-19’s affect on the 2020 season, it’s the land of roses that is on his mind.

“Coming back just felt like the best decision for me to come and play with the team one more time,” Fields said. “Getting to the Rose Bowl is the main goal and I’m trying to get better to help the team achieve that.”

Pierce praised Fields for his effort in the Sun Devils’ Week 1 game against USC, when he recorded 17 tackles and forced two fumbles, and the ASU veteran gave a ringing endorsement back when asked about Pierce as his coach.

“Having a guy who has that knowledge of playing the game at the highest level takes it a long way,” Fields said. “He’ll help us with our physicality, mental game and he’s a great motivator.”

The little things are still the main focus for ASU’s defense, which forced seven fumbles in just four games last season. With physical speed standing out, perhaps due to fresh bodies, Pierce hopes to keep that speed at its fastest by harping on the details.

“[I’ll make them faster] by making sure they’re mentally sharp, making sure they know their assignments, their alignments, the adjustments to it and making the game slow down for them mentally,” Pierce said. “The more that happens, those guys will be really fast and they’ll be flying.”

Not letting one thing go unnoticed is crucial. Technique, details and fundamentals are the day-to-day drills that will sharpen the defense and will help deploy all the tools the toolbox come game time, according to Pierce.

With an athletic secondary, temptations to send more pressure toward the quarterback could sprout. But Pierce had a reason for why he does not see that happening too often.

“You want the quarterback to hold the ball so that it will allow us to do a lot of things that’s different and that we can vary with our front,” he said. “The goal for whoever is rushing the quarterback is that they can’t hold the ball for longer than three, four or five seconds. We want to see that ball come out quickly.”

Sun Devils’ depth to create competitive environment

Depth could be a factor when gauging how ASU might stack up with the rest of the Pac-12. With multiple players using the extra year of eligibility and a 23rd ranked 2020 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports, the Sun Devils have plenty of options. With a roster as such, there will be no room for error.

“If you’re not sharp with your assignments, alignments and adjustments, it’s next man up,” Pierce, who is ASU’s recruiting coordinator, explained. “It can be anybody on our team and we’re going to have that mentality of next man up and that is a character that has stayed on those players each and every day.”

With such a vaunted recruiting class comes faster and more athletic players that Pierce has been able to draw to Tempe over the last four years.

“It’s a beautiful thing to see,” Pierce said. “Even when you look at our offensive line, seeing those freshmen come in with the athleticism that they now have and we have with our second and third units, it’s impressive.”