Q&A with Arizona State RB Dimitri Nance

When Arizona State found out that starting RB Ryan Torrain was out for the year, the fans and media alike assumed the Sun Devils were in trouble. On Saturday night, Dimitri Nance showed the country that the running game will be just fine without Torrain as he and Keegan Herring shared running back duties. Nance ran for three TDs to help #4 Arizona State beat Cal 31-20. Nance was a star running back at Trinity High School in Euless, Texas before he came to ASU.

First of all, congratulations on the great game last night. It seemed that the O-line really opened up some holes for you and Herring. Tell us about the touchdown on 4th and 1.
Yea, the O-line blocked real well the whole game and that helped out a lot, but on that 4th and 1, my mindset was to just hit it downhill hard and fast, but the Cal defense did a good job of filling the gaps so I just kept my feet moving and found a way out.

I heard from the FSN broadcaster that you called ASU and recruited them instead of them recruiting you. Is that true? Why did you want to play for ASU?
ASU called my head coach in high school and told him that they wanted to give me an offer so I talked about it with him and my family and they said it was a great offer, and then a couple days later, we called them back and said I would take the offer but I didn't contact ASU first. I just wanted to come to a school that I could get early playing time and at the time, ASU needed some more running backs and I was told that Rudy Burgess was moving back to WR the next season.

Dennis Erickson was never a rah rah kind of coach for the 49ers and never displayed any emotions on the sidelines as he did last night when the clock was ticking down to the final seconds of the game. How do you like playing for him and has he ever showed so much emotion before in games?
It's great playing for Dennis Erickson. He has been in some great programs and you can tell he knows what he is doing so we just believe in what he says. I didn't get to see him jumping up and down during the game but I caught it on TV, and it was great to see him get that excited.I think that just pumps the rest of the team up.

Growing up, what players did you look up to?
I really don't watch sports on TV a whole bunch but growing up, the Cowboys game was always on in my house so I would have to say Emmitt Smith, but my favorites are also Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

Thanks Dimitri and good luck the rest of the season.
Thanks also and for the fans, I'll keep trying to run hard for yall.