Brian Ward Opens Up on Personnel, Matchup vs Utah, More

The Arizona State defense has been firing on all cylinders over the last three weeks.

ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward talks to his defense during a spring practice at Kajikawa Practice Fields in Tempe on April 24, 2024. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

TEMPE -- Arizona State DC Brian Ward delivered his weekly media availability following Tuesday's practice - discussing players such as Prince Dorbah, as well as the upcoming matchup against a challenging Utah Utes offense, and so much more.

To watch the availability in its entirety, view below.

Below is a partial transcript of the 10 minute talk.

"Seeing Arizona state for what it really is, there's perception, and then there's reality. The reality of Arizona State is it's a great place to live, and so it's a great place to be a student athlete, and the quality of life is really high here. And the reality is, too is our guys look forward to come to school and come to work and coming to football every single day, every time they come into that facility.

There's no monopoly. There's not three there's not three months of cloud cover. There's not 300 days of non sunshine. I've been in those places, those can weigh heavily on your mental health and your want to reach day in and day out, especially as you get now into October, November, you've been doing this every single day since the moon of July. It's the teams that are excited to come to work every day.

"Yeah, he's a he's a really good athlete. I'm really familiar with him. I recruited briefly when I was at Wazzu - I came down here and watched him work out when he's at Saguaro, playing for Coach Jason bonds. He's athletic. He plays like he's the best player on the field. Plays with a lot of confidence. They got a big online they got a really good offensive line. Probably got four or five guys playing the NFL on that offensive line. They're always being in physically tight areas, and their skill players are just really efficient, effective players. So it's a unique speed on offense, and it's gonna be a challenge for us."

On Kyndrich Breedlove, Nickelback Position

Sep 20, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears running back Caden Knighten (22) carries the ball against Arizona State Sun Devils safety Kyndrich Breedlove (5) during the first half at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

"Yeah. I mean, he just keeps getting better and better and understanding, you know, his position, you know. And really, any position on the team shouldn't be playing 70 snaps a game and you know. And again, we're going to get other guys on the field playing nickel this week, because it's only going to help. Going to help him be more effective, more efficient when he's out on field, so he can stay more focused. Fatigue is, is the enemy of focus, you know?

I mean, so we got to make sure that that we keep our guys, and if you ever seen Kyndrich or anybody else break down a lot of times, it's going to be taking too many reps."

Read more on major takeaways from Arizona State's clutch-time victory over TCU here, and more on why Arizona State fans should be feeling confident about the outlook of the season following the win here.

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