Safety Tautalatasi looks, hopes to play like lion
We’ll get to Dasmond Tautalatasi’s hair, the Arizona State football equivalent of Archie Bradley’s beard for the Arizona Diamondbacks. First, the basics on Tautalatasi. He is a junior safety getting his first shot at starting after a redshirt season in 2014 and two seasons playing almost exclusively on special teams.
First-year defensive coordinator Phil Bennett jokes with Tautalatasi about playing him “just because I have nobody else,” although there is a grain of truth to that because Bennett has has to revamp what statically was the nation’s worst pass defense in 2015 and ‘16.
For much of spring practice, due in part to injury, there was no reason to think that Tautalatasi was ready to break through to the first team. But that changed once Bennett was able to observe him at down (strong) safety.
“This guy’s got some suddenness, he’s got some explosion,” Bennett said. “He really made us better in the spring. It’s important to him.”
Tautalatasi jumped to the top of the depth chart coming out of spring and remained there during preseason camp. Senior Marcus Ball, perhaps the top challenger and ASU’s second-leading tackler in 2016, was mostly unavailable due to ongoing medical issues that forced him to retire from football this week. True freshman Langston Frederick also is at the position.
“I wish I could have contributed the last couple of years” beyond special teams, Tautalatasi said. “But now is my time to do that, and I’m ready.”
He considers last week’s season opener against New Mexico State as “my real first experience playing” and was satisfied with the results despite dropping what should have been an interception in the first quarter with ASU already leading 14-0.
“He read it, it was smooth, just like you draw it up and probably would have been another touchdown,” Bennett said. “I think he has a chance to elevate his game.”
The 6-0 Tautalatasi played for a high school football powerhouse, De La Salle in Concord, Calif., where he was a two-way player on teams that were a combined 29-1 in his junior and senior seasons.
Then ASU safeties coach Chris Ball, now defensive coordinator at Memphis, clicked in recruiting with Tautalatasi.
“I really liked the guy,” Tautalatasi said. “He was like a father away from home and made it very comfortable for me to come into a new place. I knew the only way to go to college was through sports so I take academics seriously.”
He wanted to redshirt as a true freshman to stretch his ASU stay to five years so he could leave with a paidfor master’s degree.
“Given this opportunity to have a free education, I might as well take as much as I can get from it,” Tautalatasi said.
He’s working toward a business and media analysis undergraduate degree now before deciding on his master’s path. Short-term, he’s also analyzing what it will take to beat two-time defending Mountain West champion San Diego State on Saturday.
“This is a team that going to make all of us come up and tackle,” Tautalatasi said. “We have to be on our keys or else we come up and it’s a play-action pass. It’s a lot different than what we just played. That was more like a 7-on-7 game. This is a downhill running team. I’ve got no problem with that. I love contract. That’s why I love football.”
If he begins to hang on to those interceptions and helps improve ASU’s tackling, fans might start sporting a “Das do” at Sun Devil Stadium. Much of his long curly hair, worn down during games, is colored blonde, making him easily identifiable even in a helmet sport.
“My first haircut was when I was five,” said Tautalatasi, who was born in Hawaii. “So my hair was long when I was younger and wavy. But I didn’t know I had curly hair until I decided to grow it out three years ago.”
He’s had a few inches taken off over his time at ASU but not enough for people to stop telling him his hair looks like a lion’s mane.
It already has become something of a topic on social media.
“Everybody says I wish I had your type of hair,” Tautalatasi said. “People ask me how do you keep it healthy. I only wash it with product once or twice a week because if you wash it too much it will actually be bad for your hair. That’s what I’ve been told.”
Defensive lineman JoJo Wicker said, “If you see him from far away, you’d think he was a girl just from his hair.”
“It makes him stand out more,” linebacker DJ Calhoun said. “And he’s a hitter so he’s a lion. That’s what he does.”
Cornerback Joey Bryant said Tautalatasi’s hair works to his roommate’s advantage.
“All the girls like it,” Bryant said. “His hair is nice, I’ll give him that. That’s how he got his girlfriend.”