Arizona State bounces back in practice amid college football bowl ban
The news surrounding Arizona State’s football program and its bowl ban for the upcoming season did pose a challenge for the morale of the team, but it didn’t crush spirits.
With the season starting at home on Thursday, ASU announced Sunday that it was self-imposing a bowl ban amid the NCAA's investigation into alleged recruiting violations by the program under coach Herm Edwards.
The news was a crushing blow to the seniors and graduate students with limited eligibility remaining, but those players elected to speak to the media after Sunday’s practice.
Within 24 hours, the team had a major shift and had one of its best practices of the entire fall camp.
What also stood out was how sharp the throws from starting quarterback Jaden Rashada were to his receivers. Rashada, much like his teammates, looked dialed in despite the devastating news from the day before.
“It was a phenomenal day and it just tells you the character of the people that we have,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “Our kids didn’t refuse to speak to anybody yesterday because they needed to get it out. They moved on. It is what it is and life is about how you respond. We’re going to be trying to be successful every day and those guys brought it today to lean into each other.”
Part of that turnaround stemmed from the leadership in defensive back Jordan Clark and tight end Jalin Conyers.
“I think the guys have put in enough work that they’re not going to let anything derail them from what they actually want,” Dillingham said. “They want to show that they’ve put in the work. I think there’s going to be emotional days, but the response today is a good reflection. The response yesterday with our players and the media is a good reflection of the direction we’re going.”
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The effects of the bowl ban will show throughout the season as the team won’t have the opportunity for younger players to get more development with bowl practices. With a bowl game out of the picture for this season, Dillingham doesn’t foresee using younger, inexperienced players in games due to a desire to still win games.
He also doesn’t want the upperclassmen to go through a losing season even without a bowl game.
“It’s the same thought process,” Dillingham said. “The seniors deserve the right to try and win every football game. I firmly believe that and that doesn’t change everything. The seniors deserve the right to go and try to win every football game. At this point, that’s all I can say.”
For Dillingham, this has just become another chapter of adversity before the season has started.
“We’re going to face more adversity on Thursday and I think all the trials is good for the longevity of the football team. We’re going to spin everything as a positive and we’re going to be the best we can be,” Dillingham said.
More: What Arizona State players, coaches are saying about the bowl ban for 2023
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State bounces back in practice amid college football bowl ban
