Montana Warren's Blocked Punt Return TD a Product of Hard Work, Preparation

Freshman linebacker Martell Hughes blocked a Knights' punt, and redshirt freshman Montana Warren made the play of his young colligate career

Despite the common perception of a football team having three facets, media coverage and fan attention are typically focused on offense and defense. However, for Arizona State, special teams have been a hot topic of conversation.

Freshman linebacker Martell Hughes blocked a UCF punt last week, and redshirt freshman Montana Warren scooped up the ball and ran 46 yards for a touchdown, putting ASU on the board first.

“I was just reading my key, getting ready to block my guy, and I really kind of broke some of the rules we have on the special teams block plan,” Warren said. “But I was like, ‘I got enough room to make something happen here,’ so coach probably was holding his breath when I grabbed the ball, but it paid off for sure.

Warren made only one tackle during the 2023 season after suffering a broken collarbone at Camp Tontozona last year. He slid down the depth chart behind safeties Xavion Alford and Myles Rowser entering 2024. Despite this, Warren remained motivated in practice.

“I'm grateful for everything,” Warren said. “Showing up working every day and stuff like that, you stay consistent stuff like that coaches see you, so I wouldn't say it's too much pride. I'm just glad that I'm able to keep doing what I'm doing, being consistent every day, showing up on game day

“We work a couple of drills just staying in bounds and stuff like that. We work that pretty much on a daily basis every Tuesday, so that wasn't really a problem in the scooping score. We work with Coach Ward (defensive coordinator Brian Ward) all the time.”

Warren has played in all nine of ASU's games this season, and while the difficulties of working through a deep position group that makes game day snaps on defense scarce do test his mental approach, his overall motivation has never wavered. Even though he made his mark on special teams, this is a feat that can only aid him when his number is called to play safety.

“I say normal people would probably fold or quit by now,” Warren said about the competition in his position. “I'm not getting anything I want, but I love football, so that doesn't matter to me; I just like playing football. As long as I get to play, it doesn't matter.

“Me and coach [Defensive coordinator Brian Ward] relationship is pretty good. It really helps if you have a good relationship with your coach, so sometimes, when you don't know maybe what his vision is, you can stay confident in him just because you feel like you can trust him enough to put you in the right spot.”

Hughes was awarded Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts. He beat the second line of blockers and dove over the ball as UCF punter Mitch McCarthy kicked it off his foot.

“It's honestly an honor, especially as a freshman,” Hughes said about winning Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week.” I wasn't expecting that at all, so I'm just happy to be in this position.”

Attention to detail each week during game prep was crucial for Hughes’ success last Saturday. He nearly blocked a punt against Kansas, but misjudging the read then served as a valuable lesson, which he made amends for tenfold.

“Kansas week, we had one drawn up for me to block it. We just had mistimed it,” Hughes recalled. “Then, coming into last week, we knew we had to go get this one. I just had the mentality just to make this play and just put our team up.

“We could see on film the way that the shields would roll out and how the punter would roll out. So I just knew that I needed to split the two shields and just go make the block. Once I’d seen the two shields not look at me, I was like, let me just dive for this and go make this play.

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