Love excited to see ASU football transformation
Mar 13, 2012, 10:12 PM | Updated: 11:38 pm
The new-look Arizona State Sun Devil football squad finally get to strap on the pads and begin workouts together as a team Tuesday, the first day of spring ball.
“I can’t wait,” ASU athletic director Lisa Love told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf Tuesday. “I look so forward to spring football starting this afternoon.”
For the Devils, who saw a tremendous amount of turnover this winter with the departures of head coach Dennis Erickson, quarterback Brock Osweiler and linebacker Vontaze Burfict — they’ll be building a new philosophy under coach Todd Graham’s guidance.
There are still many lingering questions surrounding the Devils: who will replace Osweiler at quarterback and how will new offensive coordinator Mike Norvell implement the running game and to what extent this season?
Besides the x’s and o’s and on-the-field schemes, Love is focusing her attention on the intangibles, the teaching, and the ability for Graham and his staff to get their players engaged and committed to the new direction of Sun Devil football.
“We talked about what type of things we’d be looking for,” Love explained. “I think enthusiasm, energy, player, posture. I think the buckles are going to get dirty very early.”
Love expects the players to embrace Graham’s hard-nosed style of play and evolve under his watchful eye.
“I think just player-to-player demeanor, coach-player relationships, like I said body language will tell you a lot about the new coaching staff’s impact on the particular team,” Love stated.
A priority of utmost importance for Graham is to repair the rift between his players and coaches. Burfict was reportedly involved in a few off-the-field incidents with teammates last season.
For the future of the program, Graham’s ability to smooth over any remaining tension among his players and staff almost takes precedence over the personnel decisions that are looming.
Love is hopeful that Graham is up to the task of rebuilding the reputation and brand of Sun Devil football.
“It will be an interesting view to see what the transformation feels like in March,” Love said.
