Saturday night awarded Arizona State football its first chance to hold a true intrasquad scrimmage under the lights of Mountain America Stadium. The team spent nearly all of its 90 minutes of practice going head-to-head in multiple situational scenarios, from four-minute drills on the defense's 35-yard line to full-field drives backing the offense inside its 10-yard line.

What transpired was an even matchup to some degree, with the first- and second-string units placid, even affairs, although the defense certainly ended its day with more highlight-worthy action, compiling two interceptions.

For Dillingham, the end of Week 2 of spring practice was about what was to be expected, as an offensive unit with so many new additions among its key weapons came out on the short end of the stick against a well-oiled defensive group with thousands of on-field reps together.

“It’s been back and forth. The defense is a little ahead—that's natural. Offense has more new players, and we didn't slow down the installs,” Dillingham said Saturday. “Offense, obviously we're a little bit behind, but we should be behind on offense and defense should be ahead. We have a lot of returners.”

What Dillingham has been eyeing down from his squad throughout spring is keying in on younger players who may be positioned to take a jump toward consistent playing time. Key figures, including redshirt freshmen cornerback Rodney Bimage Jr., running back Jason Brown Jr., and sophomore linebacker Martell Hughes, are prime examples of rising second-year players who could raise their stock in the program with consistent improvement. However, Dillingham has claimed to be underwhelmed by the number of younger players on the roster who’ve staked their claim as rising pieces to the gridiron puzzle.

“What I've noticed is we need some more young guys to step up,” Dillingham said. “We need some more young guys to take that next step. That's what I'm looking for in spring—what young guys are we going to be able to count on? Hopefully, these next three weeks we find 6 to 12 more guys that we're like, ‘Man, we can count on you to help us.’"

“There's a couple of guys that have jumped out and shown flashes, but we need more. We need more of these guys to make tackles in space. We need more of these guys to know the system well enough to where they're verbalizing it loud and confident. And I know that doesn't happen overnight—that's part of development—but you should never be satisfied with where you are at. You should always try to push yourself.”

Unfortunately for the younger players on the roster, ASU is a program suffering from recent success, as nearly 80% of its Big 12 title-winning squad remains in the program, not making it easier for second-year players to ascend the depth chart. However, with that, spring practices have become lighter for some of the players who clocked a lot of miles in 2024, allowing other players to step into that space for the time being. This can be seen in many aspects across every position group, as Dillingham wants his key contributors to stay fresh for the fall.

“We're also holding out some guys in certain periods,” Dillingham said. “So we're getting into our depth more quickly than normal. When you're in spring ball or when you're in fall camp, that's just because we have so many veterans and so many returners that we don't need to see all the guys go all the time. We already know how some of these guys are going to play football, so we give other guys more reps.”

For the ones who haven’t played large amounts of snaps—or transfers and freshmen as well—the allure of playing under the bright lights of Mountain America Stadium would’ve provided an exciting feeling and moment, taking in the depth perception and visualizing the stadium packed with fans on a game day in the fall. In 2024, the Sun Devils finished 6–0 at home for the first time since 2005, and the grand moments inside Mountain America are unmatched compared to the regular practice terrain.

“From a personality standpoint, you should step in the stadium and be fired up,” Dillingham said.

A feeling almost more important than being energized when playing on home soil is comfort. From catching under the fluorescent lights at nighttime to adjusting to a different playing surface, the team earns many benefits, emotionally and mentally, from going across Rural Road and changing locations.

“I know it sounds weird, but when you practice during the day and you don’t have to look into the lights, that's different when you're actually catching the football,” Dillingham said. “So I actually think that's something that you have to get used to—catching the ball into the lights.

“There is some more to that. Our grass is different in this stadium than it is on our practice field, which is unique. Usually, you have the same grass. We have different grass, so getting used to the footing.”

Former ASU running back Demario Richard, who played for the Sun Devils from 2014–17, was in attendance for the Saturday night session. During his tenure, Richard was a dominant force on the field, rushing for nearly 3,200 career yards and 26 touchdowns for the Maroon and Gold. He also embodied what it meant to be an ‘all-around back,’ posting 70 career receptions for seven touchdowns.

During the program’s team meeting earlier on Saturday, his highlights from when he played at ASU were shown to the players. Richard played in a memorable era for ASU football, as were the players who suit up for the program today.

“He was awesome,” Dillingham said regarding Richard. “We showed our team a few clips of him today—we showed him three clips of him running over some people back in his day, just to show them that the dude in the back of the room is a physically tough dude.

“The last time that Arizona State was really ranked, he was on the team. If you were in middle school, you have not seen a ranked Arizona State until this year and since he played. So I mean, that's the gap from him to now. And for him to be around and want to be back involved and just hang out—it’s pretty cool.”

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