ASU coach Todd Graham watches over his players as they stretch at the beginning of practice on Thursday, Sept. 18. (Photo by Evan Webeck)Damarious Randall woke up Monday night at 12:02 a.m. Thinking about the big game Thursday? Nope. He was late for midnight release of FIFA 15 at the Tempe Marketplace Gamestop.
Luckily for the redshirt senior safety, he made it there by 12:07 and was able to snag a copy of the game the night it was released.
Now, fans might be thinking, 'Why is our star safety focusing on FIFA when there's a big game on Thursday?' Have no fear, though, FIFA actually helps Randall when it comes to football.
Watching film is a sedentary task. It gets slow, and Randall sometimes gets tired. So he has a routine. Watch film, take a nap, play FIFA to wake up again, watch more film and spot things he didn't the first time around.
"(FIFA) really keeps me going," Randall said. "How you find more things on film is to watch it when you're fully alert. ... I'll get up and play FIFA a little bit, and that's when I start watching film and I find something else, and I'm like, 'Damn, I didn't see this the first time.' "
It does more than keep Randall awake during film sessions. Every time he loses a match, he does 50 push ups. He did 50 last night — he went 2-1 online in his first FIFA 15 matches before going to bed around 2 a.m.
The FIFA love doesn't stop at Randall. It's a team-wide passion, and if you're not playing, you're missing out — especially in fall camp.
"A lot of people (weren't) playing," Randall said. "But up at camp, that's the only thing we did, so you either had to learn to play FIFA, or you were going to be in your room, bored, because that's what everybody was doing. It was basically FIFA camp."
Randall thinks highly of his FIFA skills. Although nearly the entire team plays now, there are still only a handful of players that give Randall a run for his money. Sophomore kicker Zane Gonzalez played soccer in high school, and he's one of the best on the team. Randall also named redshirt sophomore receiver Fred Gammage and freshman quarterback Manny Wilkins.
"It just brings a different excitement," Randall said. "Through camp, it was all football, football, football. But whenever we got off time, FIFA is very, very competitive on the team. We got a couple guys that are very good, then we've got like 20 mediocre guys."
Additional notes
— In its final practice before the UCLA game, ASU shut things down more than normal. The media viewing time was shortened from about 50 minutes to about 20. UCLA reportedly also closed its doors to media and fans in the lead up to Thursday's game.
— Although injured quarterback redshirt senior Taylor Kelly won't play, the other captain who was injured against Colorado will. Coach Todd Graham said Tuesday that redshirt sophomore Spur Laiu Moeakiola will play against UCLA. He and freshman Christian Sam were splitting snaps in defensive walk throughs today.
— Graham also said sophomore Ami Latu could see time on the defensive line, at three-technique. He praised Latu last week for his work up front.
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
