- Video of the Aug. 20 workout that left Matthew Mayich hospitalized has surfaced
- The footage came from the attorney for Tim Ziesel, the former Green Beret who ran the session
- Read below for what the video shows and how the two sides are reading it
The workout that put Matthew Mayich in a coma is now on video.
Arizona’s Family obtained footage of the Aug. 20 session at Sun Angel Stadium and aired it Tuesday night, hours after Arizona State released its internal review. The clip shows Mayich and his teammates working out on an outdoor field, with several players appearing to struggle to finish their pushups. Mayich wears No. 27.
Here’s the clip the station was given:
This one was handed over, not leaked. It came from Buddy Rake, the attorney for Tim Ziesel, the former Green Beret who led the session.
Rake was asked to characterize what Ziesel put the players through that morning.
“The workout that Tim did was discussed with the coaches beforehand and with the training staff, and it was a mid-level, or what I would call a low-level, high school football workout.”
Mayich’s family reads the same morning a different way. Leonard Aragon, one of the attorneys representing them, responded to ASU’s report with a flat rejection of that description.
“What the report doesn’t say is what the players will tell you: this was a punishment workout. Miss a count, your group runs again. The head coach set it up, stood there and watched it, and didn’t stop it when the signs were there.”
Check out the full report from the station that obtained the footage:
ASU’s own timeline has the session starting around 7 a.m. and running roughly 80 minutes. Temperatures sat between 86 and 89 degrees with humidity in the high 40s and low 50s.
Players went through calisthenics, pushups, planks, flutter kicks, bear crawls, squats, sprints of more than 30 yards and a buddy carry. Mayich went down near the end, during a wind-down run while carrying a medicine ball.
He suffered exertional heat stroke and remains in stable but critical condition. Mayich had landed in Tempe from Stoney Creek, Ontario eight days before the workout.
His family sat down with Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet this week to talk about him. Watch that conversation:
The 21-year-old defenseman played 256 games across four seasons with the Ottawa 67’s before spending 2025-26 at Clarkson. St. Louis drafted him in the sixth round in 2023.
ASU Police are still investigating and will hand their findings to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. The university’s initial report assigned no blame and proposed an advisory panel.
