Breaking Down What Kenny Dillingham Said About Utah
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TEMPE -- In today's episode of the Arizona State Sun Devils Insider Podcast, we take a look at what head coach Kenny Dillingham had to say about this week's matchup with the Utah Utes, how he views Sam Leavitt's progression this season, and more.
To listen to today's podcast, view below.
Below is a partial transcript of Dillingham's interaction with media on Monday.
On Finding Ways to Start Games Better
“Yeah, we just got to start faster. We got to have better plans early, and we made an emphasis of it in our team meeting this morning. We got to start practice faster, like we got to have an urgency when we start this time. So we're going to change some things up, not a bunch, but, you know, make little tweaks to try to, you know, create some urgency at the start practice, because it is taking us a while to get into our rhythm. And, you know, we can't fall behind 17 points and expect to win many games.”
On Challenge Utah Offense Presents
“Yeah, well, you know, it's not the Utah of old from a scheme perspective. I mean, this is a triple option football team, and this is a team that uses the quarterback as a plus one. The quarterback will pull runs, and so now they have the really good O line, the physicality they've always had, and now their quarterback can pull it and run off triple option, which creates another layer of difficulty to defend these guys. And so I really think they took another step forward in terms of difficulty to play, especially schematically, with all the triple option stuff and all the quarterback run game, all the motions, all the shifts, and then defensively, they've been one of the best for a long time, so there's no need to change much there. Just keep being a top 15 defense almost every single year that they've been there.”
On Sam Leavitt’s Recent Performance
“Yeah, last week was really good. You know, I think it's how you can go back. But like, I like to go by where people are now. Last week, he was really, really good, really efficient on early downs. Got the ball up fast. We weren't forcing first and seconds. Weren't scrambling in first and seconds. So I thought I thought I was, I was really, really impressed by how he's played really the last three weeks.”
Read more about Arizona State basketball coach Bobby Hurley speaking directly to fans ahead of the start of the 2025 season here, and on previewing key individual Utah players ahead of the Sun Devil football game on Saturday here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.