Summer is a slow time for the football season. More than anything it’s a time of preparation for the grind of the upcoming season.

For ASU, that time has finally come to a close as they ceremonially broke the rock that symbolizes the end of their summer workouts Friday morning.

Redshirt senior defensive back Laiu Moeakiola was given the honor of breaking the rock by strength and conditioning coach Shawn Griswold, marking the end of the summer conditioning program and heralding the beginning of preseason camp which begins Wednesday at Camp Tontozona.

Griswold was happy with the improvements many of the players made, noting 57 set personal records in the bench press Tuesday.

“Typically you don’t see that because you’re running so much,” Griswold said. “I’m a big (power) clean guy, a big bench (press) guy. That’s been really, really good.”

One player who stood out immediately was redshirt junior wide receiver Cam Smith who appeared extremely muscular. Griswold said Smith weighed about 202 pounds and had the lowest body fat percentage on the team at four percent after a knee injury derailed his 2015 season.

“He looks like he’s put on a lot (of weight) but he’s only 202 (pounds) so he’s only like five pounds heavier but he looks like he’s a lot heavier,” Griswold said. “He’s had a really, really good summer, I’ve been really impressed with Cam.”

Another unit Griswold pointed out as having seen notable improvement was the offensive line, which he said made a commitment to losing weight and becoming more athletic.

Griswold said redshirt senior offensive lineman Evan Goodman had lost 15-18 pounds.

“He’s had an incredible seven months, like a total transformation,” Griswold said of Goodman. “His three-cone (drill time) was 8.2 (seconds), he ran 7.56 three times this year. You can see the difference in him and you can see the difference in his attitude, being a leader and those kinds of things.”

Of all of the Sun Devils’ players, though, there may be no better pure athlete than redshirt senior wide receiver Tim White, who had been splitting time between the football and track teams.

Now, though, his focus is back solely on football and on improving on a 688 yard, eight touchdown season last year.

“It was a tough challenge including classes and everything,” White said of balancing the training in two sports. “Especially just keeping relationships with my teammates. They understood I was doing my thing on the track so they were all supportive of me…I just felt good coming back with them full time and get out there and have fun with the guys.”

***

With summer lifting and running out of the way, players can finally get their focus back to actual on-field work, something that has been missed over the last couple of months.

“It feels like we haven’t been on the field in forever,” redshirt freshman quarterback Bryce Perkins said. “Spring wasn’t that long ago but it feels like it when you’re just coming out here and running and conditioning so it definitely feels good to back to the pads, back to the helmets, back to the hitting, back to the team environment on the football field.”

Redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins echoed Perkins’ sentiment in being ready to return to live practice action.

“Just playing ball, man,” Wilkins said of what he’s most looking forward to coming up. “Strapping that helmet on, those pads on, those cleats it’s a different feeling. I think a lot of us have just been waiting to experience that again.”

With the end of the summer conditioning and Camp Tontozona on the horizon in less than a week, position battles will be in full swing in numerous locations across the depth chart.

However, no battle will be more closely observed or scrutinized than the one at quarterback between redshirt freshmen Brady White and Perkins, and redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins.

Wilkins said, although only one of them can be the starter, the relationship between the three of them is “great,”

“We all watch film together in the mornings and we do what we got to do to make sure we’re elevating each other each and every day and when we go out there on the practice field it will pay off,” Wilkins said.