(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Arizona State Football head coach Herm Edwards held his weekly press conference on Monday to further discuss the team’s 70-7 win over Arizona on Friday while looking ahead to the team’s final regular season game against Oregon State on Saturday night.
Edwards happy to see “memories made” for walk-on players
While redshirt junior running back and walk-on Jackson He may have stole the spotlight on Friday night by becoming the first Chinese-born player to score a touchdown in FBS history, Edwards also wanted to recognize the other walk-on players who received their first taste of college football.
“We had other walk-on guys play as well,” Edwards said. “It wasn’t just Jackson He. 61 players played in this football game. As a coach, when you get into a game like this, you realize that all these guys, scholarship players along with some walk-ons, have not played a lot. We wanted to give them an opportunity to play.”
Edwards held film sessions over the weekend and said he specifically focused on the young players and the key plays they made on each aspect of the ball.
“There were a handful of walk-on guys that played on both sides of the ball that are not on scholarship,” Edwards said. “The backup quarterback (Trenton Bourguet) is not a scholarship player. There were some receivers in there. There were some offensive linemen in there. There were some defensive players in there, too. That was kind of fun to watch them play and the excitement they had of playing the game.
Edwards said that Friday’s game will be a moment many of the younger players won’t forget.
“There were some memories made (for the young guys) and I don’t know if they are going to play again,” Edwards said. “But we had an opportunity to get them into the game and I can’t thank my coaches enough for realizing that we needed to get those guys into the game.”
Oregon State a “much improved football team”
Last season, Oregon State went 5-7 on the season and 4-5 in conference play. Despite being 2-4 in 2020, the Beavers have played competitively against every single one of their opponents. They have won games in impressive fashion over Cal and Oregon and all of their four losses have been within margins of ten points or less.
“(Oregon State) is a much improved football team,” Edwards said. “Coach (Jonathan) Smith has done a marvelous job of recruiting players that fit his style on offense and defense. (It’s) a very complicated offense.”
Through six games, the Beavers offense is seventh in the Pac-12 in points per game (28.2), seventh in yards per game (398.0) and fifth in rushing yards per game (188.8).
Junior running back Jermar Jefferson is second in the conference in rushing (151 ypg) and tied for the lead in rushing touchdowns with seven.
“(Their offense is) multi-dimensional,” Edwards said. “A lot of tight ends, a lot of receivers, a lot of motions. They boot, waggle; they do it all. A lot of eye candy for the defense. It can get you in some bad situations if you don’t read your keys.
“This is a team that every year seems to get more talent now they are on the coach’s watch and he’s starting to develop a good program up there.”
Edwards not making big deal of traveling on the road for a third time this season
One of the more interesting storylines to Arizona State facing Oregon State is that the Sun Devils will have to travel for a third road game this season for a night contest that will certainly be under frigid conditions up in Corvallis.
Up to this point, ASU has hosted only one home game and that was back on Saturday, Dec. 5 against UCLA. The other two home games scheduled vs Cal and Utah back in November were canceled while ASU dealt with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Beavers will be hosting their fifth home game of the season.
While Edwards feels for his senior class in that they will not be able to have a proper sendoff at home, he knows that his team must adapt quickly to the fluid situation.
“You feel bad for the seniors but that’s just part of what we are dealing with,” Edwards said. “Nothing is written in pen. I always say everything this year is written in pencil because you might have to erase it and change. You gotta deal with change and gotta deal with all of sudden, you are headed in one direction and then it could change.
“You just deal with the cards you are dealt with and you don’t make a big deal out of it. I have never done that. We’ll get ready to play and try to go win this football game.”
