Graham pleased with first 2 days of camp

By foxsports
Published

TEMPE, Ariz. -- All's well after two days of fall camp for the Arizona State football team.

"Two really, really solid practices," ASU coach Todd Graham said following Saturday morning's second practice for veterans.

The bigget negative of Satuday's morning session, Graham said, was a pair of dropped interceptions. But he remains extremely pleased with the effort and intensity -- though there's still room for improvement.

"Our biggest thing, are they going as fast as hard as they can? No, they can go harder," Graham said.

"I want our crowd to give us a standing ovation how we run on the field."

The team's newcomers were scheduled for their second separate practice on Saturday evening, and the groups would come together as a team for Sunday's practice.

Graham loves what he's seen of his newcomers so far but admits that Sunday will provide a different perspective.

"After looking at the film yesterday, I was really, really impressed with those young guys," Graham said. "I think, we'll have some of those guys compete to start.

"Day three will be very different for them, it will be like going 100 miles an hour. They have to be able to handle day three."

Among the newcomers singled out for praise after Friday night's session were defensive linemen Connor Humphreys, Tashon Underwood and Renell Wren.

Among Saturday's morning developments was lots of reps for tight end De'Marieya Nelson at devil-backer, and Graham said he anticipates Nelson being "more than a third-down pass rusher."

Graham said Nelson, Marcus Washington and Chans Cox gives the defense three solid options at the position.

"The best 11 guys are going to play on both sides of the football," Graham said. "At the end of the day, if he (Nelson) can help us more at devil-backer, he'll play devil-backer."

Graham says to expect a different look on defense this year from last season's set lineup. "It's going to look different, it's not going to be a guy  playing 90 plays, it's going to be by committee, but we've got a lot of guys who can do it."