Football coach Todd Graham celebrates from the sideline during ASU’s 63-6 win over NAU on Thursday. (Photo by Kyle Newman)Football coach Todd Graham felt his message was received loud and clear in the locker room.
ASU senior wide receiver Jamal Miles, redshirt senior running back James Morrison and redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Sil Ajawara returned to practice Sunday.
Graham suspended all three players for the season opener in the 63-6 win over NAU for violating team rules. In Miles’s case, the Sun Devils played without one of their best players on offense.
“I told the kids this is how it’s going to be, and that’s how it’s going to be,” Graham said. “I’ll be real honest with you, those are the ones you’ll see around and say, ‘I don’t know if that’s a really good idea.’ But at the end of the day, I think our team looked and said, ‘Wow, when coach is going to hold one of the best players on our team accountable.’”
Graham feels Miles is bought in to the program and all three players will be available for the team’s game against Illinois on Saturday. Graham said he has all the confidence in the world that Miles will play well in his return and be a leader on the team.
“For something that I don’t want to say is not major, but probably somewhere else it wouldn’t be anything,” Graham said of Miles’s suspension. “And I think that shows our players, and how he’s handled that, and how Morrison’s handled it and how Sil’s handled it, our standard is different.”
Miles said he’s looking forward to this coming week. He’s happy his team picked up a win despite his absence.
“We’re going to be consistent with our accountabilities and he accepted that,” Graham said. “He’s ready to go. I know he’s chomping at the bit and after watching last week, he knows he can do some stuff in this offense.”
The return of Miles and Morrison poses a tougher task on Graham and offensive coordinator Mike Norvell. Along with the return of junior wide receiver Kyle Middlebrooks, the Sun Devils will have to find a way to incorporate all of their offensive weapons Saturday.
“The key is to be adaptive and to continue to be adaptive to our personnel,” Graham said. “You got to game plan a little bit too, as far as getting the ball to our best guy on their lesser guy. That’s kind of the key to it, but sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds.”
Carrington transfers to ASU
Sophomore cornerback Lloyd Carrington transferred from Pittsburgh to ASU to reunite with Graham in Tempe.
Carrington participated in his first practice Sunday with the scout team. He will sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules, but it might do him some good.
Carrington played in seven games as a true freshman reserve cornerback under Graham last season. He only played football during his senior season at Dallas Lincoln High in Dallas. He spent three years on the school’s basketball team before he decided to play football during his senior season.
He got with the staff to assist him with the technique of playing corner. Carrington said he worked hard in the summer to understand the position and it paid off. He finished his senior season with 72 tackles and six interceptions.
“He’s what a Division I corner ought to look like academically, on the field, physically, mentally, everything,” Graham said. “He’s a winner. He’s going to be a great. He’s a really good player. He’s going to fit in great here.”
Carrington started fall camp at Pittsburgh and said coach Paul Chryst’s system wasn’t for him.
“The system here, being under coach Graham, it just fit me best,” Carrington said. “It’s where I feel comfortable. And just being close to home too, that was a big thing to me.”
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
