Arizona State's spring football practice schedule is an interesting one, to say the least.

Three days on, then more than a week off for Spring Break. Many have raised an eyebrow about said schedule, but first year head coach Todd Graham has a logical explanation for it.

"It's such a drastic change, how we practice and what we're doing and what we're asking from them, especially from a conditioning and intensity standpoint," Graham told Doug and Wolf Monday on Arizona Sports 620. "We wanted to come in and pretty much stun 'em, and they get an idea of what it's about."

A lot has been made about the new style of practice Graham runs, with players literally being asked to sprint from drill to drill, on and off the field. The style has initiated a sort of "weeding out" process on the ASU roster.

"It's their choice if they're going to buy in or not. I think the vast majority are, but inevitably there's some that have already fallen by the wayside, there might be a few more," Graham said. "I hope not. We obviously don't need to lose 10 people, we've lost three or four to this point."

Other items of note:

• Graham says suspended defensive end Junior Onyeali is making progress toward working his way back to the team.

"He hasn't done anything since I've been here but do everything I've told him to do," Graham said. " But on the same hand, I wanted to hold him accountable. Whether it's Coach Erickson or Coach Graham, our standards don't change as far as what are expectations are.

"He's working his way back and he's making great progress and I think he's growing and maturing as a young man. We're very hopeful that he's going to make it."

• Graham has thrown an interesting wrinkle in the three- way race for the quarterback position, by limiting the protection for the signal callers in practice.

"I don't like putting different-colored jerseys on them, I don't think you can learn how to play and not be live," he said. "We won't just take cold shots on them, and guys know not to hit them, but if you're going to work on a read-zone play, tagging off on the guy?

"[Michael] Eubank in practice the other day, he takes off running, this guy's almost 6-5 and almost 240, and you're blowing the whistle when somebody puts a finger on him?"

Eubank, along with sophomores Taylor Kelly and Mike Bercovici are considered candidates for the spot.

• ASU's spring practices resume Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. and are open to the public. Practices are held at the Kajikawa Practice Facility on Rural Road just north of University in Tempe.