Graham excited about ‘huge, huge evaluation day’ Saturday

The first five ASU spring football practices have been
held at the Bill Kajikawa Practice Facility. The sixth,
Saturday, will take place at Sun Devil Stadium.

“I believe in simulation, game simulation; and that’s what
we need,” explained head coach Todd Graham. “With
everything being so new — you guys forget, we’re also
learning. You hear me getting on the coaches as much as
you hear me getting on the players about how we operate.”

And it will be a thorough operation.

“We’re going to have an announcer. We’re going to have
game jerseys on,” said Graham, who added he will have some
of his assistants up in the press box as well as on the
field.

“I believe in creating as [much of a] game day atmosphere
in the stadim as we can.”

Graham said he plans on having the first-team offense go
against the first-team defense.

The quarterback position and the battle between Mike
Bercovici, Michael Eubank and Taylor Kelly will garner
much of the attention, including Graham’s. But the first
year Sun Devil coach wants more than anything to see how
his team deals with adversity.

“There’s a certain way we want to respond,” he said.
“It’s not yelling and screaming at each other. It’s being
poised. Your true character is exposed at that time. I
want to see how they respond.

“It’s going to be a huge, huge evaluation day for us. I’m
looking forward to it.”

—

Graham called Thursday’s practice “better than Tuesday”

Graham singled out junior running back Kyle Middlebrooks
and the offensive line as “bright spots” in spring so far.

Follow @theAdamGreen