For Riccardo Stewart, it didn't matter that the game was out of reach.
After all, ASU head football coach Dirk Koetter said Stewart "only has one speed: fast."
So in the closing minutes of the Sun Devils' 34-19 loss to Washington State on Saturday, Stewart was playing defense the only way he knows how: all out.
Only this time, the style of play that has become Stewart's trademark nearly led to his downfall.
With just over two minutes remaining in the game, the junior strong safety dove kamikaze-style to tackle Cougar tailback Jermaine Green and was kneed in the head on the play. The blow snapped Stewart's head back and caused him to temporarily lose feeling in his body.
"[Linebacker] Jordan Hill had the guy up top, and I went through to take his legs out, and my neck kind of snapped back," Stewart said. "Pretty much, that's all I can remember. I blanked out for a minute, and then I couldn't move."
As Stewart lay motionless on the field, trainers from both teams rapidly flocked to him. As minutes passed by, ASU players who were on the field got on their knees to say a prayer. Then the entire team said a prayer.
"It was the most scared I've ever been in my whole life," Stewart added. "My face was down on the turf, and everything went through my head so fast. The first thing I thought was, 'Damn, I'm paralyzed.' I would never wish that upon anybody."
Soon, Stewart felt a sharp pain shooting down his neck and his side. He then was able to grip Koetter's hand. Paramedics strapped Stewart to a stabilizing board and took him away in an ambulance.
"When it started hurting, I was like, 'at least I could feel pain, I could feel something,'" he said. "I was breathing hard, and coach Koetter and the doctors told me it would be all right.
"My main focus was to see if I could get up and walk. I wasn't worried about playing football again for the first time. This was a different type of injury. It wasn't like hurting my shoulder or anything like that. It's more serious."
But it appears Stewart will be OK. He stayed overnight in the hospital in Pullman, Wash., and took a plane flight home at 6 a.m. after being pumped with medication that has made him ill.
Stewart still has a series a MRIs and tests to deal with, but he said his thoughts about football have not changed. He expects to be ready for the team's initial off-season workouts after Jan. 1.
Stewart is thanking his lucky stars that the only repercussion is he must wear a soft neck brace at night as opposed to being confined to a wheelchair.
"I want to play football as long as I can play football," Stewart said. "But right now, I just thank God I am here right now walking around."
One thing Stewart does not have is a chance to get some vindication for a disappointing season when the Sun Devils face archrival UA on Nov. 28.
It is the second straight season that Stewart will not play against the Wildcats. He missed the final four games of last season due to a shoulder surgery.
"[Missing UA] hits close to home because all I was thinking when I sat out the UA game last year was, 'I'll come back next year.'" Stewart said. "A goal of mine was to play in every game."
While Stewart's reckless-abandon style of play has earned him a reputation for being one of the fiercest competitors in the Pac-10, ASU defensive coordinator Brent Guy said it is the 5-foot-10 Stewart's style that has cut his last two seasons.
"The reason [Riccardo] can play college football is because he makes up for his size with his intensity," Guy said. "That's what, in the end, has gotten him every season because he wears his body down. He beats his body up because of the way he throws it around."
When Stewart came to Tempe in 2000 as a 180-pound wide receiver, the defensive coordinator at the time, Phil Snow, told him his career would last longer on the other side of the ball.
"You can make plays on defense no matter what," Stewart said. "If you are playing receiver and the pass is not to you, you're not going to get the ball. When you play defense, you can always get to the ball somehow or someway, and that's the way I try to look at it.
"The best feeling ever is when you hit someone and the crowd goes, 'Ooh.' There is nothing better than that."
Following Saturday's game, some of his noticeably shaken teammates referred to him as "a warrior," "a soldier" and "a true leader."
Stewart's teammates gave him the ultimate compliment before the season when they voted him one of two permanent captains for the season, along with junior quarterback Andrew Walter.
"I was fortunate enough to grow up with a bunch of guys that loved what they did," he said. "I think that's how you impress people is how you work and how you play and how your character is. Not how much you rah-rah."
While Stewart says he hates looking at guys in the eye knowing that "I'm not going to be next to them and can't go into battle with them" against UA, he will have to settle for being a player-coach for the time being.
The experience can't hurt. Stewart plans to be a coach at a major college football program when his playing days are over. He plans to bring the same "energetic" approach to coaching that he brings to the field.
"[Sitting out] is certainly no fun for Riccardo, but you have to look at the other side," Koetter said. "He is disappointed that he can't play in this game, but Riccardo will bounce back."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
