ASU Football: Damarious Randall is ready to redeem himself

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

When Arizona State safety Damarious Randall looked at his phone after a 62-27 loss to the UCLA Bruins last week, there were plenty of angry tweets from fans. The senior safety responded to none of those tweets and instead tweeted an apology for his play in the defeat.

On Tuesday, Randall said that he tries to brush off the negative tweets and stay focused on sticking by his teammates.

“That just goes with the fact that there are bandwagoners,” Randall said. “They are with us whenever we are winning and they are against us whenever we are losing.”

It wasn’t all ASU players that were the subjects of vitriol from angry Sun Devils fans. Randall took the majority of the heat as he struggled to make a few key tackles during the Thursday night game, including one missed tackle that sprung UCLA’s Ishmael Adams for a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown.

“I just missed a few tackles that I could’ve made,” Randall said. “I felt like I wasn’t playing up to my potential.”

One potential reason for the poor play, according to Randall, was a hit he absorbed in the second quarter on an 80-yard touchdown play for UCLA. While trying to make a tackle on Bruins wide receiver Eldridge Massington, ASU nose tackle Demetrius Cherry collided with Randall springing Massington free.

“I think I was knocked out for a second maybe, because whenever they came out to the field I actually woke up and I looked over to the scoreboard and said ‘How did they get 13 points?’” Randall said.

Randall was taken to the locker room, evaluated for a concussion and cleared to return to the game, but he admitted that the hit probably had him “shaken up a little” for the rest of the game. The safety practiced without limitations on Tuesday.

Also at the root of the tackling issues, per Randall, was a perceived need to force turnovers and help out an offense that didn’t feature its usual firepower.

“We actually went in to the game knowing that we were going to have to create turnovers because our offense was lacking our quarterback, Taylor Kelly,” Randall said. “Once we started turning the ball over on offense, we had a sense of urgency where we had to create turnovers and that probably led to missed tackles, trying to make bigger hits.”

With a road trip to play the No. 16 USC Trojans next up for the Sun Devils, Randall isn’t too concerned that things will get corrected defensively for ASU.

“It’s really just simple: See the ball, get the ball and actually make tackles this time,” Randall said. “It’s not like we can’t tackle, we were probably just thinking too much about it.

“It’s a mental adjustment. At this point up in your life, if you cannot tackle, you just cannot tackle. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much you can do physically, it’s just more mental.”

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