In just a week, college football will be back in Tempe with ASU playing host to Northern Arizona at 7:45 p.m.
But before the Sun Devils take the field, coach Todd Graham had to run through the typical pregame routine, from stretching to heading back inside the Tillman Tunnel waiting for the squad to be announced.
"Today was really for our staff," Graham said. "They haven't been through gameday and gameday is a unique experience. So we just kind of went through our pregame warmup and then we went through a kind of game script, kind of how we operate on the sideline and stuff like that."
The ASU coaching staff has five new coaches on its staff heading into the season, the most turnover since Graham took over. The new faces make it important to get the routine down to signal a complete transition.
"It helped us a great deal having coach (Chip) Lindsey in the bowl game so he kind of has an idea of how things operate," Graham said. "There's a lot of gray hair on our staff. They've been around a while and know what they're doing."
Graham said most of the discussion was keeping players ready on the sidelines for whatever happens, such as getting the PAT team on the field after a blocked kick, or scoring a special teams touchdown.
Additional Notes:
-Redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins lined up with the first team during the simulated pregame. Graham remained non-committal on if Wilkins or redshirt freshman Brady White would get the starting nod week one, and said an announcement is not imminent.
"We might announce it tomorrow or not announce it until the first guy runs out there."
-Redshirt senior defensive back Laiu Moeakiola was absent from practice once again while nursing a hamstring injury.
-Junior longsnapper Mitchell Fraboni has also been nursing an injury, and Graham said freshman Cohl Cabral will be used in the position until Fraboni is able to play again.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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