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ASU FOOTBALL

Plummer: Support ASU’s Edwards or ‘root for the team down south’

Former Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer has heard enough negativity following the hiring of head coach Herm Edwards.

Jake Plummer...

Jake Plummer (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)

(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)

Former Sun Devil quarterback Jake Plummer has heard enough negativity.

The noise since Arizona State reportedly decided to hire head football coach Herm Edwards as Todd Graham’s replacement hasn’t waned since the announcement went official and the school held its introductory press conference. Two days after ASU and Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director Ray Anderson spoke on the hire, Plummer had tired of hearing concerns from the naysayers.

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First, he vented on Twitter.

Then, to explain his feelings further, he joined Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

“Sounds like a lot of the Sun Devil fans out there are, rather than joining than jumping on the boat or the ship or the bus or whatever, to get this thing going in the right direction — whatever direction it’s chosen to go by Ray Anderson and the powers that be — a lot of them are going the other way,” Plummer said Wednesday. “If I was playing right now, it’d be very unsettling to see to think, ‘Wow, we don’t have a lot of support from the fans that sit in the stands and cheer for us. They don’t really support us.’

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“Sun Devil fans, step up or step off and root for the team down south if you don’t like what Ray Anderson is doing.”

Plummer’s voice goes a long way in ASU circles. The Sun Devils’ quarterback from 1993-96 won the Pac-10 Player of the Year award and was a First Team All-American in his senior season, leading ASU to a 11-1 record, before playing a decade in the NFL.

Plummer remains close to his alma mater. Though he admitted he was sad to see Graham fired, he’s optimistic and confident in Edwards’ ability to lead Arizona State.

“I’m a tad befuddled about the fans that are naysayers out there,” the former quarterback said. “You look at these two men who are highly successful and have done amazing things. They don’t sit around and tweet out negativity. They are in the moment trying to change the culture and fight their butts off to win and do well and exceed and excel.

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“I’m not trying to turn away my fan base. I’m just trying to let them know, ‘Hey, don’t be negative. When we won, went undefeated, we had everyone behind us eventually as we grew. Remember, negativity does nothing.'”

Kevin Zimmerman ArizonaSports.com editor

Kevin Zimmerman is ArizonaSports.com's and KTAR.com's digital content manager and co-host of Arizona Sports' Empire of the Suns podcast. The Mesa native has covered the Suns on-and-off since graduating the University of Arizona in 2011 and also spent… Read more

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