ASU's 5-foot-9 defensive back doesn't mind getting picked on my opponents

Senior Demetries "Dee" Ford is listed on the Arizona State football roster as 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. His position coach Bryan Carrington chuckles at that.

"That's being generous," the first secondary coach concedes.

The coach affirms his starting cornerback is probably closer to 5-7 than 5-9. It's a standing joke that college football rosters give an inch or two, usually puffing its players up. Whether it is 5-7 or 5-9, Ford is a small man playing a big man's game but he's thriving for the Sun Devils (1-3, 0-1) who will travel to Berkeley for a noon Pac-12 game on Saturday against the California Bears (2-2, 0-1).

Carrington sees his standout making up for the lack of size with other intangibles.

"He's probably the shortest starting corner at Power Five school, but he probably has one of the biggest hearts and he's probably one of the most competitive guys I've coached," Carrington said. "I'm just glad to have him in our room and to give him this opportunity because it has panned out for him. He plays very big, he’s a feisty competitor, more like a pest on wide receivers."

Ford made his presence known right away. In last Saturday's game against then No. 5 USC, the Trojans and reining Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams went right at him on their first possession. He gave up an 18-yard gain early in the drive but a few plays later on a second-and-goal at the 1, he batted away a ball intended for Brenden Rice in the end zone.

It probably makes sense for opponents to pick on Ford with the back end of the ASU defense boasting some larger defenders in 6-2 Chris Edmonds and 6-3 Ro Torrence. Ford says he doesn't mind being "picked on," if you want to call it that.

"Most people shy away from Ro Torrence because he's a big, tall guy, at 6-3, teams are going to just naturally look away from him. I definitely feel like I get targeted more but that's OK," Ford said. "It's more stats for me. I like to show them what I got, I'm not going to make it easy on them."

Ford, a three-star prospect out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, was a late addition for the Sun Devils, having entered the transfer portal on May 1, and deciding on ASU 10 days later. He came to ASU from FCS competitor Austin Peay where he played for two years.

Among the honors he racked up there were an Associated Press third team FCS All-America as well as first team All-Atlantic Sun Conference selection and its defensive player of the week for Nov. 14. He was the third-highest graded FCS corner (min. 300 snaps) last season with a grade of 90.3 while opponents managed just a 43.5 completion percentage when targeting him — seventh lowest in the FCS. He finished with 37 tackles, three interceptions and 16 pass breakups (fourth in the FCS). His total of 19 passes defended with third in the FCS

Before Austin Peay, he spent two years at Youngstown State.

Ford has been part of a solid unit as ASU’s corners have posted three of the top-10 lowest successful playpercentages against them among Pac-12 corners when targeted with Jordan Clark, Torrence and Ford ranking fifth, sixth and eighth at 46.7, 47,1 and 48.3 respectively. Ford ranks eighth among Pac-12 corners in allowing a first down or touchdown on just 27.8% of the balls thrown his way. His 27.8 forced incompletion percentage is third in the Pac-12.

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Carrington says he isn't surprised at that. While Ford might have been coming from an FCS school he wouldn't have brought him in if he didn't think he was going to be an impact player because he had just one year of eligibility left.

While Ford was a late get for ASU, he had a friend and former teammate on the inside, giving him the scoop. Shamari Simmons also transferred from Austin Peay but did so in January and was able to go through spring practice with the Sun Devils.

"Just having that friend from the same school and knowing you're going through that with someone you love like a brother," Ford said. "I trust him. So when he told me some good things about the school I knew to believe and I knew to trust him so his word is as good as mine."

Simmons' endorsement was a big factor but so was the relationship Ford had established with Carrington.

"It was really just going through the recruiting process and developing relationships and just coach BC (Carrington) was real attentive. I felt like every connection, the conversations were real. When I came up here it was unbelievable. It was something I couldn't pass up," he said.

Simmons isn't surprised his former and current teammate has taken advantage of the opportunity given to him since he saw it firsthand.

"I got my faith in him because I've seen him do it so many times against good players. Even at the FCS level they were picking on him," said Simmons, also a first team All-Conference at his former school. "I'm so happy and so proud of him for making the most of this opportunity."

Ford says he has definitely noticed the difference in the competition, saying there are bigger players in the trenches and more depth in talented wide receivers at this level. He welcomes the chance to test his skills against more elite competition.

He'll see more of that in the future with several nationally ranked teams remaining on ASU's schedule in Utah, Oregon and Washington as well as UCLA and Colorado teams that were ranked until last week.

"You want to get it out there and showcase your skills. You want to prove not only to yourself, but to your doubters you can do what you say you can. Coming off the year I had last year quite a powerful year at the FCS level and just wanting to build on that it wasn't a fluke, that I could do it against the best of the best. Being out here was a great source to showcase my skills," he said.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State DB Dee Ford plays football bigger than his size suggests