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What ASU football coaches thought about freshman QB leveling opponent
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- What ASU football coaches thought about freshman QB leveling opponent
Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo have made it clear that they'd rather their true freshman quarterback not try to knock a 235-pound defender into the front row. But they can't blame him for trying either.
That was ASU's 190-pound true freshman quarterback Jake Fette, who trucked 240-pound senior linebacker Isaiah Glasker and ended up with a 7-yard gain on a third-and-10 play in the third quarter of Saturday's 27-20 loss at No. 9 BYU . It brought up a fourth-and-3, which ASU converted on the way to a touchdown that tied the game at 17-17.
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The play sent the ASU sideline into celebration. Cam Skattebo would have been proud.
The quarterback admitted that going into a solidly built defender shoulder-first can't be a common occurrence, given the risk of injury, but it was a play in which every extra yard mattered.
"They weren't too happy about that," Fette said after ASU wrapped up practice on Nov. 3. "It being third-and-long, just trying to fight for extra yards to put us in fourth and manageable so we'd have a better chance of converting."
The day marked Fette's first appearance in front of the media, going into game week as the newly minted No. 1.
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Fette's play, along with that of true freshman running back Cardae Mack, has breathed new life into a Sun Devils team that lacked intensity for the better part of three games, two of those lopsided conference losses to Baylor and Texas Tech.
Fette's second start, and the first at home, will come at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 when the Sun Devils (4-4, 2-3) host Colorado (3-5, 1-4) in Big 12 play at Mountain America Stadium.
Fette, a four-star prospect out of high school, started the spring as well as fall camp as the No. 3 quarterback behind junior Cutter Boley and senior Mikey Keene. Boley struggled and was eventually benched in favor of Keene. When Keene injured his knee late in the first half against Kansas State , it was Fette's turn. The Sun Devils trailed 17-14 when Fette entered the game and emerged with a 28-17 victory.
Fette says he has performed admirably under tough circumstances the last two games because he has prepared all along as if he were the starter. He also credits the camaraderie he has with his teammates.
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"It's from the building, the preparation, getting with (Marcus) Arroyo and meeting over everything, having confidence in my teammates and my teammates' confidence back into me," Fette said. "It really makes me feel better about it all."
Arroyo says he has seen that confidence, even a swagger, since he first started recruiting Fette, a three-sport athlete at Del Valle High School in El Paso, Texas.
"That's who you're looking for," Arroyo said of a quarterback with confidence. "When you're out, two years ago, I'm going through the top 15 guys in the country that I loaded up on and liked, and he was the first one. It was regional. I basically started here, headed east, El Paso. Those guys are catalysts. They have a personality about them, a confidence about them. The guys around them unite around them. They create a spark, have a lot of those qualities and traits that are typical of that position."
As far as Fette's run, which went viral on social media channels, Arroyo likes the fire in his player but says it is important for Fette to pick and choose his spots.
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"That piece of the game is what we look for, the ability to extend plays and beat the extra man and have him get out, run his own read; those are the nails in the coffin," Arroyo said. "When a guy can extend the play, it's huge. He's ultra athletic, which is what we've seen. You just have to be smart. In the heat of the game, it's easy for me to say. You're playing hard, you're accustomed to doing that. He'll learn. It's still not smart; it's like, `Dude, don't do that.' "
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What ASU football coaches thought about freshman QB leveling opponent
