The first audible of the Sun Devil Football's 2015 trip to Camp Tontozona came before any players even took to the practice field on Wednesday morning.
Following a hefty storm cell that swept through the mountains in Rim Country last night, the executive decision was made to hold today's practice at Rumsey Park about 20 minutes down the road in Payson for safety's sake.
?? ?? #CampT pic.twitter.com/lNUOzc16eV
— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) August 12, 2015
The shift in scenery meant for a slightly delayed start to today's practice, but that didn't keep the nearly 150 fans and members of the media away and when the team arrived just around 9 a.m. this morning, it was business as usual for the Sun Devils.
Big runs were the name of the game on Wednesday, highlighted by Demario Richard's 98-yard scamper right down Broadway behind the parting of the sea provided by Nick Kelly and Vi Teofilo. Later in the practice, Kalen Ballage lowered the shoulder and made Jordan Simone pay for trying to go low on him as he obliterated the senior safety en route to a 70-yard touchdown to the house.
It was another physical practice today with the focus placed on time management situations late in a game and running out the clock as well as some goal line situations and situations with the offense pinned inside its own five-yard line.
Barring any further issues with weather, the Devils should hold their first practice on the practice field at Camp Tontozona tomorrow morning. Some more odds and ends from today's practice for you right here.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
--Some of the more unsung heroes involved with the Sun Devil Football program are those on the equipment staff. In fact, even the "equipment manager" title doesn't do justice to the group, whose duties go far beyond simply making sure all the players have jerseys and cleats when they head to the field each day.
The equipment staff, headed by the one-and-only Jerry Neilly, handles just about all the behind-the-scenes work at every Sun Devil practice. They are always the first group out there, getting the fields set up with all the necessary contraptions to make practice drills function.
All of the objects you might associate with a football practice (balls, nets, tackle dummies, cones, etc.) are in place because of Neilly and his staff of managers. In addition to that, these fellows snap balls during drills, signal the end of plays during tempo sessions, hold the pads for guys as they go through drills and put together just about every other piece of the puzzle to make a practice come together.
If you ever attend a practice, those managers are the ones you constantly see sprinting from one side of the field to the next to make sure everything is operating smoothly and that coaches can get their drills done in the most effective manner possible.
Moving practice from one location to another 15 miles away is not easy. And it's the equipment managers who carry a bulk of that load in ensuring everything comes together to make it possible. Jerry and his boys were exceptional at getting that done today.
Rain washes out Camp 'T' but #ASU audibles & practices in Payson. I've got a @FootballASU report coming up at 5:25. pic.twitter.com/UJKJed3ZR5
— Tim Ring (@timringTV) August 12, 2015
So, next time you see one of these fellows, make sure to shake their hand and thank them for all they do for the Sun Devil Football program. They certainly earn it.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LOOK
--For the first time this Fall Camp, the Sun Devils went with more of a 40 look along the front four with the first team defense. The look featured freshman JoJo Wicker and Demetrius Cherry at the ends, Tashon Smallwood at Tiger and Renell Wren at Nose. This fit with the theme of the day with run-heavy formations from the offense.
--The second team defensive line featured a similar look with Edmond Boateng and A.J. Latu playing the bookends and Ami Latu and Emmanuel Dayries inside.
--D.J. Calhoun, who had seen time as a rush end and Spur in recent practices, started today as the first team WILL linebacker in place of Antonio Longino, who is still out with injury.
--Sam Jones worked with the first team at starting left guard in place of Christian Westerman, who is still limited following his injury earlier this week. He alternated this position with Stephon McCray throughout the day.
--With Calhoun taking first team WILL looks, Christian Sam worked as the second team SAM linebacker and that opened things up for freshman Khaylan Thomas to get a look at second team WILL.
--Jay Jay Wilson was out of the green non-contact jersey today and working with the Devilbackers throughout the day.
--Jason Lewis made his first appearance of camp in full pads and he's quite the specimen to behold, even more so with the pads on.
THINGS THAT STOOD OUT
--With the emphasis more upon the grind today (gritting out short-yardage situations, running the clock, getting out of the shadow of one's own end zone) there were less "home run" plays today than we have seen in previous practices. We already mentioned the big ones with Richard and Ballage.
--The hit of the day came by way of Coach Graham's "heat-seeking missile", Deandre Scott, during the goal line drills. Quarterback Manny Wilkins caught the edge and had the end zone in his sights before he was met at the half-yard line by Scott with a ferocious crash that stuffed the young QB short of the goal line to the elation of the crowd on hand.
Meet our Heat Seeking Missile - @DeandreScott_ http://t.co/1NYCLaEhPd (via @DougHaller @azcsports) pic.twitter.com/VN1KzdTOsG
— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) August 12, 2015
--ASU's was largely successful during the goal line segment outside of this with Demario Richard notching two touchdowns – one by way of a great second effort after being stopped on the first go by Christian Sam – and Kalen Ballage and Jason Lewis added another.
--ASU also got a score in the situation on the play-action as Bercovici rolled to his right and found Kody Kohl in the back on the end zone for the touchdown despite Kohl slipping off the line of scrimmage.
--With the offense in the shadow of its own red zone, Marcus Ball nearly had a safety (still forcing a bad throw) and a fumble recovery on a bad handoff and continued to perform well at first team SPUR with Moeakiola still limited.
--Kareem Orr had a solid day, breaking up three passes in both the skeleton and team drills. The play in skeleton drills was especially impressive as he was positions himself between two defenders and still able to bat the ball away. Scott also added a breakup during the skeleton drills as well.
-- Bryce Perkins and again found Eric Lauderdale for a long touchdown as the freshman quarterback dropped one right in the breadbasket on a skinny post route for the touchdown. The play did, however, come on a busted coverage and Perkins probably put a bit too much air under it but it had the desired effect and got a score. Perkins added a score of his own on a QB keep during the goal line exercise.
--D.J. Foster had a couple nice places across the middle today, one coming on a fourth-and-seven from the seven for a touchdown.
--Jason Lewis, while not showing too much flash, showed he had plenty of power and seems to be picking up the offense easily enough. It was tough to bring the big freshman down without him keeping his legs going and picking up an extra couple yards and he was excellent inside run exercises. Malik Lawal did make a great tackle on the youngster during the team session in the open field that had the young linebacker pumped up afterwards.
QUOTABLE
"It was a productive first day of camp...It was a great day of work today. I'll tell you what, our offense. We had our four-minute offense today. We're ahead and we've got to run the clock out and our offense was very, very dominant in that regard today. I think Demario Richard is really stepping up. The most intense competitor on our team is D.J. Foster and now you got Demario right there with him." –Head Coach Todd Graham on today's effort
Arizona State Sun Devils Football