Revisiting David Shaw's Comments About Arizona State

What's food without some spice to it, right?

When news broke of the NCAA launching an investigation into the Arizona State Sun Devils football program over allegations of illegal recruiting practices, Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw didn't shy away from making his thoughts known.

"It’s a disrespectful thing to do. That doesn’t sound overly harsh. But for me being a lifer in this profession and a coach’s kid, I believe in respecting our profession and respecting the other people in the profession. Doing things that you’re not supposed to do just to gain an advantage, I take offense to that.”

Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick also added: “If there was ever a time when everyone following the same rules was critical, it’s now during a pandemic and during a time of such national scrutiny on college athletics.”

Now, the Sun Devils (still led by a majority of people involved in the investigation) are set to face the Cardinal for the first time since Shaw's comments.

While Edwards has yet to (and likely won't) revisit those comments this week, his response on the Doug and Wolf Show on Aug. 23 was interesting:

“I really didn’t hear anything. I heard somebody said Coach (Shaw) said something,” Edwards said. “Didn’t say anything to me at the (Pac-12) coaches’ meetings.

“C’mon guys. I’m 67-years-old, man, you think I worry about stuff like that? That ain’t who I am, man. I’m focused in on our football team. I don’t worry about that noise outside . . . I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”

While Edwards will unlikely have Shaw's comments on his mind come Friday, there's no doubting a handful of his players will want to have his back when the Sun Devils take the field.