The most-anticipated event of the season for ASU football head coach Todd Graham is not the Territorial Cup.
It's not the first game of the season, either.
"My favorite thing is winning. My favorite event is the scrimmage at Camp T," Graham said. "Just that setting, with all the thousands and thousands of fans that probably have to walk I don't know how many miles to get down in there. It's really, really cool."
"It's the rite of passage to be a Sun Devil," he added.
The tradition, which began under former head coach Frank Kush in 1960, has transformed throughout the years under several head coaches until Dennis Erickson was hired in 2008. With the hiring of Graham in Dec. 2011, one of the first things implemented was the return to tradition.
Players and coaches travel to Payson, Ariz., for five days during fall camp every year to go to historic Camp Tontozona. Fans are welcome to come to practices, and players spend downtime focusing on team building and brotherhood.
"Camp T is all about galvanizing our program and learning what it takes to be successful and honoring the past," Graham said. "Looking forward to getting away for about five days."
There is no technology allowed at Camp Tontozona, instead replacing it with traditional campfires and the team hike of "Mount Kush."
Graham suggested Camp Tontozona has become even more important now than it was when the tradition first started.
"In the modern world, there's no headsets, there's no iPods, iPads, there's no cell phones, no TV. It's just spending time together with your team and getting to know each other," Graham said. "The quarters are cramped. The guys can barely fit in the showers, cause we've grown a bit over the years. It's just different out there. There's something about it.
"We don't do that anymore. Just think about it. How much time do we spend without all that stuff? It's just a place where our team goes to come together."
The tradition has certainly created more than its fair share of memories, which Sun Devil players relive every year.
Redshirt sophomore safety Marcus Ball is entering his third trip to Camp Tontozona, saying it's the time when brotherhood is truly formed.
"It really galvanizes our team," Ball said. "That's our motto this year."
Ball holds several fond memories of the annual trip including a particular story from his first visit as a freshman.
"The best thing that happened to me from a personal standpoint was really getting to know the family that I stepped into," Ball said. "It was one night when we sat around the campfire and everybody opened up to each other. It was amazing. I got to know a lot of guys deeply.
"You play with 100 guys and you kind of know them as far as their personality in the locker room or their personality on the field, but somebody's problems or issues or personality on the field may be totally a different perception than what's really inside."
One tradition for freshmen involved learning the school's fight song by memory.
"We had to get up early and they might blindfold you and make you get up or make you do something funny and say the fight song," Ball said. "If you get it wrong, you get booed. It's always just funny."
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ellis Jefferson said the annual visit reminds him of his home in Denton, Texas.
"I love being out there," Jefferson said. "I love seeing the stars. It reminds me of back home in Texas. The stars are amazing out there. There's no city lights, no nothing."
Camp T also provides the opportunity to let loose, even at the expense of some incoming freshmen.
"What coach Graham always tells the freshmen is 'Bears! Watch out for the bears! Make sure you got the bear spray.'" Jefferson joked. "They always ask me 'There's bears out there?' and I'm like 'They're going to be in your cabin.'"
Redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici is entering his fourth Camp T, and always remembers a few players who don't completely fit the outdoors mentality.
"Every year there's a few people where you go and hear people scream," Bercovici said Monday. "You'll be in the cabin one day and hear a girl screaming like some little three-year-old and you're like 'Holy smokes, it's DeAndre Scott!' He's never seen a cockroach the size of his fist before.
"I'm a chicken, so I'm going to be one of those guys screaming if I see something that I've never seen before," he jokingly added.
Additional Practice Notes:
- "PT42" jerseys: redshirt senior safety Jordan Simone, redshirt senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington and redshirt sophomore safety James Johnson.
- "Flame" helmets: Simone, Carrington, Johnson, redshirt senior guard Christian Westerman, senior center Nick Kelly, sophomore running back Demario Richard, redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici, senior wide receiver D.J. Foster, sophomore running back/linebacker Kalen Ballage, sophomore linebacker DJ Calhoun, sophomore defensive lineman Tashon Smallwood, redshirt sophomore safety Marcus Ball, redshirt senior linebacker Antonio Longino, sophomore safety Armand Perry, senior cornerback Kweishi Brown, junior kicker Zane Gonzalez, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Corey Smith, redshirt junior linebacker Laiu Moeakiola and sophomore defensive back DeAndre Scott.
- Green non-contact jerseys: sophomore running back Jacom Brimhall, junior wide receiver Cam Smith, Westerman, redshirt junior wide receiver Fred Gammage, freshman offensive lineman Dillon Faamatau, redshirt sophomore tight end Grant Martinez, redshirt junior tight end Dan Vear and Longino.
- Limited: Moeakiola and freshman wide receiver Terrell Chatman.
- Freshman Jay Jay Wilson was out of a green non-contact jersey for the first time all spring, working with the linebackers at the "Devilbacker" position.
- Ballage went strictly offense Tuesday after playing offense during Monday morning's session and defense during the night session.
- Due to inclement weather outside of the Verde Dickey Dome, Graham said the first team received limited reps Tuesday.
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.
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