ASU junior running back Demario Richard wants the Sun Devils’ opponents to know something, and he isn’t shy about letting them know it.
“You still got to come to Arizona State and play us,” he said. “You still have to come and line up against the three new faces (on the offensive line) that nobody has seen…you still got to come here in 115-degree heat and still play us and beat us.”
Pundits and fans alike point to the offensive line as a possible weak point with its several new starters, but Richard is happy with what he has seen and the way offensive line coach Chris Thomsen has shaped them as well as some of the younger linemen.
“I just know were comfortable in how we’re doing and how everything is going to be done,” he said. “How coach Thomsen is shaping (redshirt freshman) Steve Miller and (freshman) Cohl Cabral, Quinn Bailey, I love what coach Thomsen is doing and how he’s doing everything. Our whole offense is comfortable…that’s what really matters.”
Making the offense comfortable is the fact the offense is taking shape behind center.
The quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins and redshirt freshman Brady White continues but Richard has noticed their ability to command the offense as well as their ability to lead the team as a whole.
“(They) can run a practice without (offensive coordinator Chip) Lindsey right now,” Richard said. “They know the whole script, they know the whole book, they can run the whole offensive practice right now if we had to…
“They could run a practice and coach Lindsey could sit in the booth by himself…I’m comfortable with whoever wins the job.”
As for whoever wins the starting quarterback job, Richard said it doesn’t particularly matter to him.
That’s because the offense has been coming together and the unit is growing more comfortable in Lindsey’s system. Among those growing more comfortable are Richard and fellow junior running back Kalen Ballage.
“Now that we’re comfortable in the offense that we’re with, it’s going to be hard for defenses to match up with me and (Ballage) on the field at the same time,” Richard said. “They’ve never seen it, so now we’ve actually been practicing it and…it’s hard. You can ask any of the defensive players if you’ve got both of us on the field it’s going to be hard to stop.”
In addition to the combination of he and Ballage, Richard said he was impressed with the crop of newcomers that have joined the program and thinks some can make an immediate impact.
“All the freshman surprised me,” Richard said. “ N’Keal Harry, Robbie Robinson (has had a) big impact. This freshman class has come in and been ready to do what’s been asked of them to do. They’ve been making plays on offense, defense, special teams, I’m just really excited to see what they bring to the table.”
The other thing Richard wants to bring to the table. He’s mentioned before he feels as though he’s been slept on and said: “they’ll be woken up soon.”
He wants ASU to be on the map the way LSU and Alabama are and feels that with the right amount of hard work and time, it’ll happen.
He pointed to the back wall of the team meeting room, emblazoned with the words “National Champions” on the wall. Then he pointed to the front of the room where it said “Pac-12 Champions.”
“We’re just trying to change the culture, that’s it,” Richard said. “It’s time for this class to take it and run with it. There’s no doubt we have the talent to do it, we have the discipline to do it, we have the coaches to do it. There’s no doubt about it if we do it – and we’re the underdogs and we do it – come on man, if Arizona State isn’t on the map after that, I don’t know what else we have to do.”
The road, though, at least Richard feels, to that land of national prominence, leads through Tempe.
