Since it was announced Arizona State was headed to the Las Vegas Bowl to take on December 15, Demonte King’s phone has been ringing.

His friends, scattered across various Pac-12 schools, have been keen on expressing their jealousy. Not only are the Sun Devils playing on the first day of the bowl schedule -- which means fewer practices and more rest -- they’re headed to Las Vegas.

“I’m not going to lie to you. If you’re not competing in a (New Year’s Six bowl), which you want to compete for … the next best thing to that is the Vegas Bowl,” King said. “Everybody wants the Vegas Bowl.”

Morale for bowl games can be hit or miss. Some teams are livid they’re not in the playoff or a New Year’s Six bowl, others couldn’t be more ecstatic to have even made a bowl game. The Sun Devils seem to be leaning towards excitement over agony.

For one, most of the usual dread for bowl games -- long break, less-than-ideal location, missing Christmas -- doesn’t apply to ASU. Manny Wilkins said he talked with Herm Edwards, who is going through the bowl season for the first time as a college head coach, about some of the normal apprehension.

“If you’re waiting on a Rose Bowl or something, it’s different,” Wilkins said. “When you’re waiting around for one of the smaller bowls -- and don’t get me wrong, it is a blessing to play football after your regular season is over -- but it takes a toll on a football team.”

Providing an example of what he meant didn’t take Wilkins long, all he needed to do was flashback a year. The Devils were headed to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. They had a multiple-week break in between practices. They departed Tempe on Christmas. Oh, and their head coach, Todd Graham, had alreday been fired weeks before.

“Well last year was a little awkward, I’d say, knowing you have a coach that won’t be back,” Wilkins said. “You have your fair share of guys that would (be like,) ‘Hell, he ain’t my coach.’”

Added King about the El Paso trip where numerous players got sick: “A lot of weird stuff was happening for sure.”

Wilkins was quick to note this year is “different.” That may be an understatement. The five bowl practices so far have been sharp, providing a level of production and fun (yes, “fun,” according to Wilkins) that was sparse a year ago.

Aside from the Devils’ coaching changes from the previous year, one reason for the revamped bowl attitude is the new NCAA four-game redshirt rule, which allows players to still redshirt if they have played in four or fewer games.

Already, an influx of freshman who have just a few collegiate plays under their belt have garnered meaningful practice reps. Most, too, will see time in the bowl game.

After a walkthrough on Monday, Wilkins pulled freshman receiver Geordon Porter off to the side and went over how he should be running a certain post route. Porter was all ears as Wilkins demonstrated the route and told the freshman what his responsibilities in the route were and what he should be looking for as he’s cutting over the middle.

“Yeah, I take pride in that type of stuff,” Wilkins said. “I love being able to be a facilitator. To be, I don’t want to say like show them how it’s done because like when it comes to receivers especially, hell, those guys know what to do better than I do. But to give them a visual of how I see things is what I try my best to do so that I can put an image in their head.

“For little kids, it’s easier for little kids to read a coloring book than it is to read a Harry Potter book, so I just try and dumb it down. And it’s not even that he’s not smart because that kid is one of the smartest football players I’ve been around, but it’s letting him visualize something how I visualize it so we can be on the same page.”

Offensive coordinator Rob Likens said Porter, along with freshman running back A.J. Carter, who escaped for a 50-yard touchdown in Monday’s practice, will see the field in Las Vegas. He also said that he “would love” to get redshirt sophomore quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole in the game at some point.

It will be invaluable experience before the Sun Devils transition into a new era with the departures of Wilkins and receiver N’Keal Harry, who Wilkins said he will train with in preparation for the NFL Draft.

It just may be one of the Devils’ toughest tests as well.

“I was telling these guys in here, ‘If you think we’re going to roll in there and throw 45 (points) on the board and it’s going to be all happy nilly, you’re going to get smacked in the mouth,’” Wilkins said. “This is literally the best defense we’re going to play all year long. Mountain West or not, this football team and this defense is a very good football team. They’re coached very hard, they play really hard.”

King echoed the same statement concerning the Bulldogs’ defense. He said they reminded him of Texas Tech and Eastern Washington, a team that hung 55 points on the Montana State squad he redshirted for in 2015.

“They threw the ball almost every play, it was ridiculous,” King said of the Eastern Washington team that was quarterbacked by former Oregon signal-caller Vernon Adams Jr.

Fresno State has a deadly passing attack led by quarterback Marcus McMaryion’s 3,453 passing yards and receiver KeeSean Johnson’s 1,307 receiving yards. On the ground, 14 different Bulldogs have rushed the ball, combining for 1,901 yards.

“As far as the offense goes, their quarterback is good, he’s the caliber of player who could play in pretty much every conference,” King said. “They have two really good receivers -- No. 3 (KeeSean Johnson) is one, No. 1 (Jamire Jordan) is also good too, he’s kind of his counterpart and a lot of people don’t give him too much credit but he’ll make you pay.

“They know their system, they’re pretty familiar with their system. Their running game is decent but they have a good system.”

As for Wilkins, he’s not engulfing himself with this being his last game ever. He described the season as “bittersweet,’ full of pride for the fight ASU showed but still mad knowing he and the Devils were a game away from playing in the Pac-12 Championship.

As for his emotions, most of that was let out after he led a 19-point comeback over Arizona less than three weeks ago.

“All the guys in the locker room have asked my kind of the same question and I’ve just told them, ‘I’ve had my emotional farewell, sendoff, all that,’” Wilkins said. “This is going to be about just enjoying this last game with my guys and going out there and playing football the way we play football.”

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