Arizona State spring football: How coach Kenny Dillingham plans to ramp up intensity
Spring football for ASU is officially underway as the Sun Devils prepare for the 2024 season, their first in the Big 12 Conference. Here are three key takeaways from Thursday's media availability session with head coach Kenny Dillingham and defensive coordinator Brian Ward:
'Real football begins'
It’s very early in the spring practice period, but head coach Kenny Dillingham is already looking to raise the level of intensity of his players.
Dillingham mentioned how “the energy and the effort” stood out to him on the second day of spring football. He wants even more of that and has invited the public to watch Saturday at 10 a.m. at Kajikawa Practice Field.
The players will be wearing full pads for that practice. And that’s for a specific reason.
“You think these kids want to get beat in front of fans? No. There’s a science behind it,” Dillingham said. “It’s not just me wanting fans to come out and show support. No. I’m using our fans to motivate our players.”
Dillingham expects the practice to be significantly more physical than the first two days.
“Pads get on Saturday, real football begins,” said Dillingham.
Transfer portal impact
One of the biggest issues ASU faced last year was depth — or the lack of it.
With a slew of newcomers added to the mix, 23 transfer players according to 247Sports, Dillingham and his staff have worked to address the problem.
“We’re definitely way deeper and way bigger,” said Dillingham.
The defensive line, with 20 players, is one of the deepest group of position players the team has. It’s an area where Dillingham is focused.
Cole Martin, a defensive back who starred as a prep player with Chandler Basha before moving on to Oregon, is back in the Valley as one of those transfers. He’s already making an impact.
“You see intelligence,” Dillingham said. “You see him be so patient sometimes on routes because he can see the release path. He sees what’s coming, then he goes and plays it. Sometimes to a fault, but you can’t hurt a guy for being smart and recognizing route combinations. ... He’s super twitched up, super athletic. Moves extremely well and really smart. I’m glad we have him. He has some dog in him.”
Communication on defense
Communication miscues also caused problems for the Sun Devils last season.Defensive coordinator Brian Ward is aiming to work on that this spring in his second year on the job.
“It needs to get better,” Ward said. “It’s still early on, day two install. We got a pretty heavy install going into day three, so it’s really going to challenge us from a communication standpoint. And our offense is getting us all the looks we need right now. They’re putting pressure on us in terms of how fast they get aligned and some of the different things they’re shown. We’re getting a high volume of different things that are challenging us on defense.
“I think our ones are doing a solid job. Our twos need to be a little better and our threes have a ways to go. We’re getting there. We’re way ahead of where we were last year at this time,” Ward added.
With the move to the Big 12, where seven teams averaged at least 30 points per game, communication will be key.
Ward said that returning players in the secondary, like Shamari Simmons, Ed Woods, Xavion Alford, Macen Williams and Keith Abney II, have stood out in terms of leadership so far in spring practice.
“When we install a defense, that familiarity shows guys how to do it,” Ward said. “This is how we’re playing it, this is how to teach the progression, how it’s coached. They’re leading from that standpoint.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU spring football: Three takeaways from Day 2
