Goethel Enjoys Fruits of Hard Work

Coming out of Vista (Calif.) High School, the 6-2 229 Travis Goethel was a heralded linebacker and one of five talented players in his position to join the Sun Devils in 2006. Ever since he arrived in Tempe, he has quickly made his mark. Last weekend against USC, the true freshman returned to Southern California and collected a career-high six tackles.

“I had a lot of family and friends there,” said Goethel, who noted that his parents also like to take the ride to Tempe to watch him play. “They’ve come to all the games out here (in Tempe). It’s not that far of a drive for them.”

Though ASU has not been playing particularly well the last few games, Goethel, said he had felt prepared to play hard against the Trojans. “The whole week last week we’d been practicing hard,” he commented, “having good practices [and] I just wanted to go out and contribute to the team and do the best job I could.”

Now looking forward to this week’s homecoming game verses Stanford, Goethel and the other Devils have been hard at work. As he stated, “Their record might not be that great . . . but they still have scholarship athletes. We have to practice hard and go out and give them everything we have.”

Though ASU has not had a great season, the younger players have time on their side. As explained by the freshman himself, “We’ve had a couple games where things didn’t go our way but we just keep going at it, packing the wood…we’ll get there. “I’m just looking to keep on improving and doing well in games.”