“My name is Samson and I am from Mars.”

That is the greeting ASU sophomore quarterback Samson Szakacsy displays for visitors to his various social networking pages, and while the long-haired, charismatic signal-caller hails from southern California, just a few minutes spent with him reveal an other-worldly personality strong enough to match his claim of origin.

Szakacy’s personality, one that forms sly smiles on the faces of teammates when his name is brought up, is defined, he says, by a strong desire to constantly try new things.

“I don’t know what I really want to do as far as career-wise if football or whatever else doesn’t work out, but it’s just interesting to learn about everything,” the 6-foot-4 sophomore said.

If he hasn’t learned all that ASU has to offer academically, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Szakacsy has jaunted through majors at a near dizzying pace since he arrived in Tempe in 2007.

“I came in here as a communications major,” he said. “I switched from communications to journalism. I switched from journalism to English.

English back to [communications], and then to sustainability.”

Catch all that?

“He’s definitely a unique guy with all his endeavors off the field,” senior linebacker Nixon said.

Szakacsy decided to change to his most recent major, global sustainability, after a conversation he had with a friend last semester.

“A buddy of mine told me about sustainability, and I said, ‘OK, that sounds interesting,’” Szakacsy said. “So I did some research and I decided to switch, and I love it.”

Szakacsy said he isn’t is yet immersed in the program fully enough to know what he wants to do on the sustainability front, but he is excited about what he has seen of the business side of the major and learning what is needed to help companies “go green.”

“I’m just going to play around with everything and see what I like the most,” he said.

During midterm week earlier in the semester, senior quarterback Danny Sullivan walked into his weekly press conference, and, like many of his peers at the time, lamented about a midterm he had just taken. His was in his Spanish class.

Szakacsy also had a midterm that day. One he was a little more excited for.

Asked to name his favorite class, Szakacsy’s eyes lit up.

“Sign language is the best class ever,” he said, speaking slow for emphasis.

For a 21-year-old who greets those he’s know for even a short time with a hug or quick compliment, sign language has given Szakacsy a new way to communicate. A way, he says, he has developed a deep appreciation for.

“Robin O’Brien, my teacher, is the coolest lady,” Szakacsy said. “She teaches the entire class in sign language, and that is a skill that is an art in itself to be able to teach in a language that we don’t know.”

Soon, the quarterback may be doing his interviews in a brand new format.

“I walk around signing everything when I talk now,” he said. “I just want to get to a point where I don’t even speak English anymore and I can just sign to everybody.”

Resting his vocal chords, though, might put a cramp in another passion Szakacsy holds dear: music.

With a recording studio set up in his house, Szakacsy has found that the melodic sounds of his guitar coupled with the talents of people he makes music with are a soothing balance to the controlled chaos that happens on the football field every day.

Szakacsy’s group Bent Twig, which he started with his friend Gregory Christine, a walk-on center at Washington, has its debut album “Daily Thoughts” for sale on iTunes.

He is also half of Walking Charly, an experiment he started with a friend in California that is attracting some attention.

While he is at school, though, Szakacsy loves to jam with some of his musically inclined teammates.

Junior punter Trevor Hankins began talking to the quarterback about doing some collaboration last season, and during fall camp the music began to flow.

“During camp when we were in the dorms, we both had our guitars, and we stared going at it,” Hankins said. “Hopefully in the offseason we’re going to get at it a little more. … [We play] everything. He’s got a very, very special skill about him with the guitar.”

While Hankins and Szakacsy enjoying collaborating in the Jack Johnson-style acoustic mold, the pair may be soon recruiting a new sound from another teammate.

“I’m trying to get [junior tight end Ryan Skorupka] to play,” Szakacsy said. “He does a little country. I’m trying to get him to come over and just lay down a couple tracks and record him. It’ll be a little ‘yee-haw!’ for the house.”

Fighting on

There is seemingly no end to the scope of Szakacsy’s interests. He has even dabbled in acting at ASU.

“I walked in a couple days ago and he was working on one of his acting performances that he had for a class,” Nixon said. “It was a little interesting seeing that go on in the locker room.”

Still, Szakacsy admits some frustration over perhaps the biggest passion he has been unable to pursue the way he wishes he could.

The sophomore pushed Sullivan hard for the starting quarterback job during spring practice and the majority of fall camp, but a lingering elbow injury, which Szakacsy said he has struggled with since his junior year of high school, kept him out of mix and relegated to the sidelines.

“You come here and it’s college and you want to prove yourself and do great,” Szakacsy said. “Then have this injury and you’ve got to get surgery, and then you have the surgery and you start going, ‘Yeah, I’m throwing well in the spring, summer.’ Then, bam! [The injury] is back.”

But while the laid-back southern California native has been disappointed by his continued run-ins with the proverbial “brick wall,” things could be worse, he said.

“Perspective is a huge thing for me,” Szakacsy said. “I realize I’m still at a Division-I university, while there are people out [struggling] in third-world countries, so my problems are slim compared to a lot of people’s.”

Szakacsy’s positivity paid off last weekend when, after being entered into the game in a goal-line package, the quarterback threw his first-career touchdown pass on his first-career pass attempt.

“It was a payoff after three years of sitting,” he said. “It just made me more hungry to be honest. Now I just want to get as healthy as possible as fast as I can so I can get in there and help out more.”

Among those perhaps most thrilled to see Szakacy’s perseverance pay off was Sullivan, who said his backup has been a staunch supporter regardless of the situation this season.

“It was fun to watch him get out there and thrown that touchdown pass, because we had been joking about it all week,” Sullivan said. “He finally got the chance. Having him on this team is fun and he keeps everyone loose.”

Whether his health allows the quarterback to leave a lasting mark on the football field is yet to be determined, but one thing is certain. With all the footprints he is planting on different paths in life, we haven’t heard the last of Samson Szakacsy on this planet.

Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu.