ASU football begins spring practice on March 16 (Katlyn Ewens/The State Press)ASU spring football has begun, and not on the note most would have wanted.
Davon Durant, the only five-star prospect in ASU's 2015 recruiting class, was not at practice this morning, in fact he is no longer listed on the spring roster. He has been suspended from the team indefinitely in response to his arrest on March 6.
This is a tremendous loss for the team as he was a possible contender for the vacant Devilbacker position, but head coach Todd Graham showed no sympathy for Durant.
"Obviously when you have these situations, if a guy gets arrested they understand they are going to be suspended," Graham said. "Our standards are the highest. That doesn't happen around here, it's not the norm and not something we tolerate."
Their standards certainly are high and they had a very successful first spring practice despite this drama. Graham was very pleased with the energy and performances this morning.
Practice started out with special team drills including assistant coach Bo Graham working with the running backs. Todd Graham was involved with all of the special team drills, working with both the coaches and players.
Not only were their new players on the field this morning, but new associate head coach Shawn Slocum worked with the linebackers as well.
Following the first round of special team drills, there was an all team scrimmage. There were about ten players not in the scrimmage because of their no-contact uniforms and they were conditioning and doing physical therapy exercises.
Among the no-contact players were defensive tackle Mo Latu, linebacker Eriquel Florence, wide receiver Will Dungey and defensive back Ezekiel Bishop.
Overall, Todd Graham was pleased with practice this morning, more so than last year.
"There were more explosive plays," he said.
The Sun Devils released a new spring football practice schedule and their next practices this week will be Tuesday March 17 and Thursday March 19 at 8:30 a.m. on the Bill Kajikawa Practice Fields.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow@katlynewens on Twitter.
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