(Photo: ASU Athletics)
UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley is big, fast, strong and about as athletic as any quarterback in the nation. In the week leading up to a Thursday night showdown at Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona State head coach Todd Graham has raved about Hundley’s ability to avoid sacks and shake off prospective tacklers.
Yet, if any team has provided a blueprint on how to take down the Heisman contender, it is the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Despite the athleticism of UCLA’s 6’3, 226-pound passer, ASU managed to record nine sacks against Hundley in 2013 and five in 2012.
“We’re trying to learn off of what they did last year,” ASU sophomore defensive tackle Viliami Latu said. “We’re trying to put that in this year and we’re basically running our games off of what they did last year.”
Of course, that’s easier said than done, as the starting defensive line will feature an entirely different group of starters than the lineup that faced UCLA in 2013. Gone are Will Sutton, Davon Coleman, Gannon Conway and Carl Bradford, instead replaced by a group that will rely heavily on rotation.
Latu has been told he will start and rotate often with freshman Tashon Smallwood, while Jaxon Hood will start at nose tackle and rotate often with Demetrius Cherry.
While senior defensive end Marcus Hardison has been the most consistent player on the line in 2014, it’s Hood that has the most experience against Hundley as he’s faced him twice collegiately and multiple times in high school as well.
“He’s a fantastic sandlot football player,” Hood said. “He can scramble back and forth through tackles and just launch the ball 60 yards. I don’t know any other quarterbacks in the country that can do that right now.”
The challenge for the inexperienced Sun Devils front will be to limit the damage that Hundley is able to do. That starts with a dynamic pass rush that will likely feature plenty of De’Marieya Nelson, who has been told he will play more defense than he has through the first three games of the year.
“You’ve just got to make sure you wrap him up,” Nelson said of Hundley. “You can’t arm tackle him, you can’t just put pads on him. You’ve got to run through him.”
Behind a struggling Bruins offensive line, teams have had some success so far against Hundley, as he’s already been sacked 10 times, despite missing significant time against Texas and facing underwhelming talent against Virginia and Memphis.
Still, the Sun Devils aren’t underestimating the challenge it will be to bring Hundley down.
“He is very difficult to sack,” Graham said. “He is just a hard person to bring down, he makes you tackle him and gets the ball out really quick in their regular passing game. Hundley’s ability to extend plays and hurt you with his legs makes him one of the most explosive players in the country.”
With his first career start coming on Thursday, Latu said that limiting Hundley’s ability to extend plays is the No. 1 priority for ASU.
“Contain him,” Latu said. “He’s a big guy and it’s going to be pretty hard to tackle him, but if we contain him, keep him in the pocket and have the defensive line put some pressure on him, I think we’ll be pretty good.”
ASU will try their hand against Hundley and the Bruins on Thursday night with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. PT with television coverage provided by Fox Sports 1.
