When Arizona gave up 70 points in their loss to rival Arizona State back on December 11th, there was no way of Don Brown, who was coordinating the defense at Michigan at the time, to know that he'd end up as the new defensive coordinator on Jedd Fisch's Arizona staff.
However, with the Wolverines game against Ohio State the following day scratched due to COVID issues, there's a shot that Brown was able to take in some of Arizona State's dominant offensive performance.
Now tasked with remaking that Wildcat defense under Fisch, Brown had a few very clear messages for his team heading into their first spring practice yesterday.
Asked about those at the spring practice presser yesterday, Brown shared, "I just told them - if you don't run to the ball, you're never going to play for me. EVER. EVER," Brown added with emphasis similar to the iconic scene in the move Sandlot where they're sharing the tale of The Beast.
"That was the biggest message, and trying to communicate with one another in a new system is not always easy and we've got a lot of concepts up and running right now."
Brown then expanded on how much of their package they have in right now, estimating that they had probably 30 calls in for Day 1 of spring practices.
While that may seem like an excessive amount right off the bat for some, Brown was quick to defend their approach.
"Nobody is waiting for us. Nobody. They're kicking off...and they've had their systems in place for a while. Nobody is going to say 'Well, let's wait for Arizona to catch up. So we have to catch up."
"That is the challenge that I presented the guys."
See more from a re-energized Brown in the clip.