Coach Edwards Pac-12 Conference Zoom Recap

Sun Devil Football 2020 Practice Reports

(Compiled by Christina Fankhanel, a senior from Cave Creek who is studying journalism and mass Communication and specializing in public relations.)

Herm Edwards shared his excitement and strategy for the upcoming delayed Pac-12 football season during a press conference webinar with 2020 Pac-12 football coaches on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Edwards said that it would be business as usual for the ASU football team as they prepare for their first game, with a 9 a.m. PT/10 a.m. MT kickoff against USC on Nov. 7. He said the team is already a morning team and their body clocks will be ready for their breakfast time kickoff.
 
Since the season was delayed, camp was pushed back as well. Edwards said that the starters are close to being set, but there is still some competition for certain positions. He added that everything changes once the shoulder pads go on. 
 
 

"I think they all understand how important it is right now and the fact that we were shut down for quite some time and at certain moments, and certain times during that shut down it just felt like are we ever going to get to play? Once we got the start date and got the clearance by the medical professionals and obviously the presidents, they were excited," said Edwards.

"I think that any time anything is taken away from you that you really enjoy, you realize the importance from it, and I think our guys understand that, you know we get an opportunity now to play football again and whether it's 6, 10, 9 it doesn't matter, every game is important and I think they know that too."

Edwards has reminded the team that there are now two opponents to prepare for, the one you prepare for that you see on tape, and the ones that you cannot see.

"It (COVID-19) has hit a couple of college teams and a couple of professional teams as well," Edwards said. "It is an equal opportunity virus, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter. If you put yourself in a position where you can catch it, how many other people is it going to affect and it can be catastrophic to a football program."

Edwards gave his praises for the program's daily testing for COVID-19 that will occur and explained that when looking at the conference, there is no margin for error, with any team when it comes to cancellations of games.

Being that there are no warm up games, Edwards expressed some concern for potential injuries, but shared that all of the teams are in the same position considering training camp and conditioning started at the same time.

Edwards concluded his press conference update by saying that at the end of the day, he believes that execution on the field is what will win the games.