Throughout its practice schedule, the ASU football team earns honors such as wearing special gear at practice to show who has been excelling to this point of the year.
The highest honor that coach Todd Graham gives out is wearing a camouflage Pat Tillman jersey to practice. Redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici became the first offensive player to ever wear the jersey, along with redshirt senior defensive backs Jordan Simone and Lloyd Carrington.
“The most prestigious thing is to wear that PT42, because that speaks about a different level of passion when it comes to pursuing football,” Graham said. “I think Jordan exemplifies that. Also you have to get it done in the classroom. Everybody who’s had that jersey has lost it because of the classroom because the standards are pretty high.”
In addition to the PT42 jerseys, players can earn flame helmets based on the commitment and excellence they’ve shown on the field. Among those wearing a flame helmet Saturday was sophomore running back Jacom Brimhall, who has been impressive so far in practice. He said it’s an honor to earn the helmet, but it comes with responsibility.
“It’s an incredible honor, especially because (sophomore running backs) Kalen (Ballage) and D-Rich (Demario Richard) got them as well,” Brimhall said. “For me to be looked at as coachable and working as hard as those guys, it means a lot to me. It’s just a motivating thing for me to have that helmet and I want to keep working that much harder.”
Brimhall said he’s not focused about where he will be on the depth chart come the regular season, but how he can improve personally and how he can help the team win games.
“Every single day I have to come in and give it everything I have,” Brimhall said. “I’m not the biggest guy or anything like that, so work ethic, that’s pretty much all I have.”
Video by Fabian Ardaya | Assistant Sports Editor
Additional Practice Notes:
– Saturday also featured a kid’s experience after practice where future Sun Devils got to go through drill with the current team. Graham said that it is important for the team to reach out to the community and be active in it.
“I just love their attitude,” Graham said. “We’ve instilled in them a commitment to service and then are on the way to get that sacrifice to where we need it to be that it takes to win a championship.”
– Redshirt senior defensive lineman Demetrius Cherry was not a practice because he was taking care of a personal matter. Graham said he expects Cherry back on the field for Tuesday’s practice.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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