Koetter’s Post Game Quotes

The ASU head coach reviews the Washington State game, as well as other team issues.

Koetter mentioned that the injured Riccardo Stewart is sore, and has a stinger; an injury the safety has a history of. Nevertheless, he’s feeling much better than he did on Saturday, although he’s sick (with flu-like symptoms) on top of everything else. His CAT scan, X-rays and MRI. All came up negative. He will however have another MRI because the first was not as clear as Dr. Erickson wanted. Koetter added that Stewart would not play against Arizona. When asked about Stewart’s football future, he replied: "That's a decision that's going to have to be made in the weeks and months ahead."

The game against the Cougars marked the 11 consecutive game for the Sun Devils. "It's obviously been hard,” said Koetter. “How much that figures into everything in the grand scheme is still to be determined. We're definitely a tired and beat up team, both physically and emotionally."

The ASU skipper said that ASU’s special teams didn’t play very well on Saturday. When playing the Cougars, he noticed a recurring trend. "Two years in a row, it really shows up in the game and on film that Washington State is a faster team than we are." On that note, he did add that the Sun Devil corners didn't get their hands on the opposing receivers on two deep balls. Usually, the defense plays an even amount of zone, zone blitz and man-to-man coverage. On Saturday, ASU played 75 percent of the snaps in zone coverage. "Just because we haven't been doing a good job in man."

The team did leave seven players, who went to Stanford, back home. The players are: Loren Wade, Daniel Varvel, Emmanuel Franklin, Terry Richardson, Zach Krula, Adrian Ayala, and Frank Maddox. ASU will practice this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:05, and will take Friday and Saturday off. There will be a scout team scrimmage on Thursday.

Seven of the Sun Devil coaches will go on the road recruiting for the final two evaluation days. Koetter however will stay in Tempe. He mentioned depth at the defensive line and speed across the board as two of the biggest recruiting needs. As of now, there are 20 spots to fill, but Koetter believed that the number would probably end up closer to 25. Currently, there are 81 on players on scholarship - 13 of them seniors.

Josh Barrett, Rudy Sanchez and Preston Jones are the scout team players of the week. Koetter did mention other players on that squad that have caught his eye. "The two guys that jump out at you every day as far as making special type plays are (wide receiver) Rudy Burgess on offense and (safety) Josh Barrett on defense." Other scout team players receiving accolades from Koetter were fullback Kellen Mills and cornerback Chad Green.