Media availability was going to be nonexistent on Friday, but that changed, and it had nothing to do with the hot topic of conference realignment. Head coach Kenny Dillingham let those in attendance know he was going to answer questions after today's session, one that was also going to be shorter than usual.
It was a practice that was dominated by a team segment. The opening portion of that section saw the starters sent off the field immediately after displaying poor energy. That would not be the only time this happened, and thus the question lingered of what was transpiring on that front?
“Today I told them, 'Hey, we're going to come out here; we're not going to do individual (drills)” Dillingham said. “We're going to shorten the practice. You guys have had really good workloads, so we're going to shorten it a little bit, do a little bit more team (segment), and do a little bit more 11-on-11 stuff. I don't think I set the tone last night for what this morning of what practice still looks like”.
The team had a scavenger hunt at Mountain America Stadium last night which did have them exert energy hours after they had already completed a morning practice earlier on Thursday. The shortened Friday session is assumed to be the direct result of the activity last night.
Something not believed to affect the energy of practice but is a storyline nonetheless surrounding the team this morning was the dismissal of defensive back Isaiah Johnson. Johnson was a touted young part of the extensive defensive back group who struggled with disciplinary issues throughout his tenure on the team.
“He's a great kid," Dillingham stated, "and I wish him nothing but the best; I think he's a phenomenal person, I think he's a really, really good football player, and whoever gets him is going to get a really good person who cares and who is going to be a good football player for them. I think for him, he needs a change of scenery to kind of restart and show people what he can do and who he is”.
As there are two things accounted for off the field that may have hindered the usual energy, the on the field product Dillingham wants to see grow. After a rough start to the period mentioned earlier, false starts, delays of games, and overall sloppiness had many of the coaches frustrated, especially on the offensive side. This performance had Dillingham make the decision to send the offense to another field to bear crawl until “I get bored,” Dillingham said.
The bear crawls did not last too long as the group was brought back together to continue the heavy-team practice.
“They responded well”, said Dillingham. “I mean, started poorly. Started as bad as you can possibly start, right? Just the intensity, the fire, the passion, everything it takes to win was not there. So why are we going to practice football if it's useless? We're just going to bear crawl or do something else”.
The bounce back of the team was evident. Although the defense had concisely dominated practice. The quarterbacks got the ball rolling to at least make things competitive in the latter half of the short day. The battle between quarterbacks Trenton Bourguet and Drew Pyne was in full effect as both signal callers had another solid day. For Pyne, a Notre Dame transfer who arrived in the spring, it marked arguably his best consecutive practices as a Sun Devil.
Quickly emphasizing, the quarterbacks are making strides right on time in the eye of Dillingham. His timetable being that it is going to take all spring, summer, and maybe half of fall camp to find the offensive leader. A comment raised a question of a two-quarterback system that was quickly shot down with a no. This references a time in 2013, while Dillingham was on staff as a grad assistant when the Sun Devils found themselves in a similar situation to now.
As the offense turned it around back on the field, Dillingham praised some of the defensive players as they have set the tone in practice for nearly the entire week. At the end of one of the portions Friday, Dillingham brought the entire defense together to not only coach them up on technique but to give them praise.
“Yeah, when you have guys like Chris Edmonds, Xavion (Alford), Shamari (Simmons), JC (Jordan Clark), Ro (Torrence), B.J. (Green), Prince (Dorbah), Coop (Anthonie), Tray (Travion Brown)," Dillingham raved, "when you have these dudes who are just fiery competitors, it raises the standard for everybody else. That's what the defense has right now, they have a group of leaders that are so competitive”.
On the other side of the ball, ASU's head coach stated that the offensive line stood out to him. Specifically, right tackle Aaron Frost and running back Cam Skattebo. Dillingham emphasized that Skattebo’s potential hasn’t been fully materialized as the contact heavy back is limited to jukes and mellowness, if you will. Yet, that is expected to change Saturday, the first day the team will be in full pads.
Dillingham said he wants this team to be at a point where people fear them, and stress about playing ASU. Dillingham reiterated that there are “dogs” on the team but perhaps not enough. Dillingham referenced Kyle Whittingham (Utah's Head Coach), who said teams shouldn’t want to play us or should fear us. As time is ticking down to week one, Dillingham will continue to preach the level of intensity and focus the team needs to stay at.
“It doesn't just happen, it doesn't”, Dillingham explained. “It's not a switch that you flip; it's something that you have to strive daily to achieve. Good days, Bad days, those are mindsets that you don't turn off; they're permanently on”.
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