New ASU OC Zak Hill earning trust of players while installing offense

New Arizona State offensive coordinator Zak Hill is doing his best to earn the trust of his players during an unusual offseason due to the coronavirus.

As difficult as it may be without hands-on contact, Hill is tying to use his limited resources as best he can with trust building as his top priority.

“That’s the tough thing during this time, being a new staff,” Hill said on the Pac-12 Perspective podcast.

“If we don’t earn the players’ trust as coaches, they they aren’t going to truly buy in.”

One way he is earning that trust is through team Zoom meetings, but the time limits on such meetings force coaches to rely on players to complete the work on their own.

“That’s only like 20% of your learning,” Hill said. “Then you need to take that learning to the next level.”

Learning includes multiple offensive concepts the team has been installing from two-minute drill, four-minute offense and overtime concepts to play calling in the huddle, no-huddle and other situational knowledge.

Hill said that everything is on the table for an offense led by sophomore quarterback Jayden Daniels.

“It’s not just one thing. We have the ability to do whatever because the situation changes in football every down. There are advantages to huddling, letting Jayden be able to talk to guys,” Hill said.

“Jayden is going to have to work some pro-style quarterback mechanics.”

Daniels will be tasked with taking on more responsibilities in terms of leadership and production with the loss of running back Eno Benjamin, who was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals, and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers.

For Hill, there isn’t much he can change about the past, and the future is still quite unknown. His task has to keep the offense focused on the present.

“The biggest thing was to get their mindset right on the motivation of what they are doing right now,” he said.

“We are going to be playing a game at some point and what do I need to be doing in preparation to that point.”

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