During Arizona State’s first media day, an event that featured only returning players, the team’s cafeteria buzzed with conversation.

Senior cornerback Timarcus Davis joined the paparazzi for the first interviewees, his fellow secondary members (and twins) Keon and Kejuan Markham. Redshirt sophomore running back Daniyel Ngata showed off his Powerade cocktail of Lemonade and Mountain Berry, taking a long sip of appreciation and swearing by his unique creation. Redshirt freshman cornerback Isaiah Johnson preached the superiority of ATL Wings over other local chicken drumstick establishments.

The noise bubbled for over two hours as the players ate lunch after their morning workout and talked casually with local reporters.

What they said was louder than any of the tweets they scrolled past this offseason, unfavorable record predictions they ignored, and transfer portal discourse they endured.

ASU has lost playmakers. They saw their quarterback, who started all but one game for the past three years, depart for another opportunity. The receiver group – gutted and left with options yet to hit a breakthrough. The defense alone lost eight starters.

But take it straight from the players: ASU is very much alive and eager to prove the outside noise wrong. If it’s any indication from Monday, the voices within the program hold much more weight than those standing on tiptoes for a glimpse inside.

SAM linebacker Merlin Robertson: “I feel like pretty much the whole team has bought in, so everybody's on the same page. You know, there's no love lost. Some of our brothers left, and we wish them the best, and we're happy for them. You know what I mean? But our team here, we cut out all the outside noise, and we’re locked in together, man, as a locker room.”

Quarterback Trenton Bourguet: “We control what we can, and all that outside noise is going to fuel us at the end of the day.”

Defensive end Travez Moore: “ASU took a chance on me when I entered the transfer portal from LSU. They took a chance on me, so why not take a chance on them?”

Offensive guard LaDarius Henderson: “It’s less egos. We have less people worried about the individual and more about the team effort.”

Safety Kejuan Markham: “The work we’ve just been putting in and with everything that’s been going on, we’ve just been putting our head down, grindin’ for real.”

Cornerback Isaiah Johnson: “My body fat is pretty low. It’s been low since I’ve been here; when I first got here, it was around 5 percent. Now it’s down to 4.4 percent. I’m trying to get bigger, man!”

Cornerback Timarcus Davis: “Robby (Harrison) is strong as hell. He probably eats a lot, too. I’ve seen him squat 600 pounds.”

Moore: “The coaches made him stop because they didn’t think it was too easy for him, but he was like ‘add more weight.’ So I’m like, man, this dude’s different. He a tank, for real.”

Cornerback Macen Williams: “One thing I worked on was flexibility, like my ankles and stuff. For some weird reason, I wasn't breaking right. Like, I don't know, I played football my whole life, and I know when something's wrong.”

Running back Daniyel Ngata: “I’ve been working every day on catching the ball and focusing on the catch point. That’s going to bring me up a level in this game. In high school, I would get the ball more receiving than rushing and run freaking go routes through the linemen. But that was an Air Raid offense, and now we’re probably not even top three in the progression. Being available out of the backfield when needed is important.”

Williams: “I played games last year. And sometimes there were games where my confidence is on 10; there'll be games where my confidence is on seven, eight. I’ve been trying to train my craft to the where if I go on this field, I have trust in myself to do what I know I can do.”

Wide receiver Elijhah Badger: “I feel very comfortable at both the Z and X positions. It’s mainly the same thing; you just got to turn it around and think of it like that… I was watching my post route in the Las Vegas Bowl the other day. There should be a lot of balls like that for me.”

Johnson: “Nah, EK is fast. He’ll just be jogging and then like cut it on. He’s one of them type fast.”

Tight end Jalin Conyers: “I think we're gonna run a pretty significant amount of 12 personnel. I think we're gonna be a vital point of the offense and they're gonna look to the tight ends a lot.”

Williams: “Our team gets a little creative. And I love that for us because it makes us prepare for anything.”

Fullback Case Hatch: “We still have a lot to learn on the tight end side, but I believe this is one of the best units we’ve ever had.”

Bourguet: “I have a big coach’s whiteboard at my house in the living room, and I’ll have guys over to run through plays every night. I will be on the couch eating dinner and getting mental reps on the offense, so when fall camp hits, I’ll be ready.”

Ngata: “I think the biggest thing right now for the offense is trying to get these quarterbacks comfortable in their own style. You know, I'm trying to adjust to the quarterbacks, and that comes with over-emphasizing everything we do.”

Badger: “I think it’s been going really well, actually. We will get some off days together and get that connection going.”

Henderson: “The offensive line, we’re already strong, already experienced, already nasty. Now we’re making it our goal to be the smartest people on the field.”

Ngata: “I think a successful camp would be all the offense executing the plays well… there’s no better way you can go into the game just thinking the whole team’s in sync.”

Johnson: “I’m really excited to show you guys what I can showcase.”

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