Arizona State's Clayton Smith Discusses Defense, Proving Self

Arizona State is now just seven weeks away from beginning a season that will inevitably come with expectations that haven't been seen in Tempe in a decade-plus.

While the offense that is lead by Sam Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson, four returning starting offensive lineman, and other high-level pieces, the defense deserves requisite respect in their own right.

Brian Ward's defense returns elite talent and depth at all three levels - even the defensive line that struggled with consistent pass rush as times.

Starting DL Clayton Smith joined Arizona State reporter Justin LaCertosa at the Sun Devils' portion of Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday, discussing some interesting topics.

On Xavion Aflord's goal of being a top 10 defensive unit this season and what the defensive line has to do in aid of achieving that goal:

"I mean, for us it just starts with doing our job up front. Doing our 1-1-1 and making sure the guys on the back end and the backers can trust us and make sure that we're making their reads clean, we're making sure that we're getting to the quarterback on time... it's just us doing our job."

"Just that I can put together a full year. I feel like the past two seasons I've had strings of games where I was on fire and I just need to make sure that that's for an entire season. So just putting together a consistent season week in and week out that's all I'm concerned about, I feel like everything else will take care of itself."

Smith joins an extraordinarily talented defensive line as mentioned previously, as Prince Dorbah returns fully healthy following struggles with injuries last season, 2024 All-Big 12 selection C.J. Fite, and Elijah O'Neal, among others.

Smith's ceiling is quite high if the week-to-week consistency that was mentioned comes to fruition - he secured one more year in the desert that wasn't expected - that has to be for a reason.

Read more on Leavitt being named the preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year here, as well as Leavitt, Tyson, Fite, Alford, and Ben Coleman being named to preseason All-Big 12 honors prior to the appearance at conference Media Days here.

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