Brian Ward Breaks Down Arizona State's Defensive Line

Brian Ward has been a revelation at Arizona State over the last two seasons after taking over as defensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season.

Ward has consistently coached defenses beyond their means over 27 games in the role, and has officially signed a contract extension to remain with the program long term.

Ward's increased visibility has expanded to the media world - as he joined Brad Denny's "Speak of the Devils' podcast last week to discuss a myriad of subjects, including defensive personnel - specifically the defensive line positions.

On the defensive tackle position:

"Yeah, I mean, we just feel great about our defensive tackles. I mean obviously start with C.J. Fite and Jacob Kongaika. You know, Zac Swanson, I know he got banged up at the end of spring, but he's going to be ready for fall camp... My'Keil Garnder came in, you know, he's a transfer from Oregon and he's a local kid who I recruited when I was at Washington State. He was one of the best young defensive tackles that I had ever evaluated. So I'm really excited about his future."

On the EDGE spot:

"In our edge position, you got Prince (Dorbah) and Clayton (Smith) and (Justin) Wodtly and Elijah O'Neal who got the bulk of the reps last year... we're feeling really good about our defensive line and I just feel really good about our depth. We got a lot of experience up there, you know, coming back and if we can stay healthy up front, we're going to be pretty solid."

Fite, Smith, Dorbah, and the rest of the Sun Devil defensive line comprise what could be the deepest the program has been in the trenches in many years - with Fite potentially being the leader of the group coming off of an All-Big 12 Second Team selection a year ago.

Ward's guidance has clearly been instrumental in the personnel consistently playing at a high level, but there is another gear that this group can hit - even beyond being the top ranked rush defense in the conference in 2024.

Fite, Swanson, and the rest of the defensive line is set to run into action on August 30 against Northern Arizona.

Read more on projecting the 10 best players on Arizona State's roster going into the new season here, and on Sam Leavitt being selected as the Big-12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year here.

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