CULVER CITY, Calif. — New media guides of every Pac-12 team stacked on information tables. Roses strategically placed around the Sony Pictures Studio lot. The Pac-12 Championship Game, Rose Bowl and the BCS National Championship trophies displayed front and center at the courtyard.
Friday's Pac-12 Football Media Day could've gave a subtler reminder that college football season is just around the corner.
Coach Todd Graham, redshirt junior quarterback Taylor Kelly and redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton spoke at the annual press event on behalf of ASU, which is projected to place second in the Pac-12 South and fourth overall in the conference according to the preseason media poll. The trio joined 33 other coaches and players who addressed 300 reporters in Sony Pictures' Studio 8.
Among the many things discussed were if the Sun Devils were ready to tale on their tumultuous schedule and the pressure that comes along with it. But Graham said this is exactly what his team wants in his second year at the helm.
"That's why we do this," Graham said. "We like the pressure. We're competitors. That's one of the things I love about this football team. These two guys sitting next to me (Kelly and Sutton) are intense competitors. That's where you want to be."
Friday gave the national media a fresh glimpse of Sutton, who is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier defenders and who Graham calls "one of the smartest defensive players I've been around." One reporter compared him to South Carolina junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney but Sutton didn't welcome the analogy.
"I don't try to model my game after him," Sutton said. "I try to be the best I can be and be myself and go out there and compete for myself and for my teammates and try to accomplish something that's never been done here before."
Senior safety Alden Darby was initially scheduled to represent the defense but the coaches urged Sutton to make the trip instead.
"Coach asked me to go, but I said, 'I didn't know, I don't feel like it,'" Sutton said. "Then a couple weeks later, Coach asks me again and tells me, 'It would look good for the program. We need this kind of stuff.' And then I said, 'OK, I'll go."
Media Day also allowed Graham, Kelly and Sutton to offer an update on the rest of the Sun Devils' progress as they head into fall practice, which begins on Aug. 6. Graham mentioned redshirt senior wide receiver Kevin Ozier and sophomore wide receiver Richard Smith as players who developed in the spring and expects incoming junior college receivers Joe Morris and Jaelen Strong to improve the receiving corps.
Sutton also added every player on the ASU defensive line is in the best shape of their life and improved their weight room numbers.
All signs pointing to ASU's success this season are favorable as the Sun Devils are barely more than a month away from their season opener.
Graham said this is the best team he has ever coached.
"We have a lot of talent," Graham said. "I think we have built some great team unity in our first season and obviously our fan base is excited. It's the best football team that I've ever coached and we have developed. This is a much more mature football team right now. We had a great spring, great summer."
Sutton breaks 300 mark
While Todd Graham showed up to Los Angeles with a noticeably slimmer frame, Sutton's enormous figure grew even bigger.
Sutton said Friday he now weighs 305 pounds, the heaviest he's been since coaches asked him to lose weight two seasons ago. ASU's roster listed him at 288 pounds during spring camp.
But Sutton insists he gained "good weight" over the offseason and said he's felt no complications while training at his new weight. He said he has mostly been eating potatoes and barbecue food and only eats junk food like cookies on occasion.
And that weight is going to stay for awhile.
"During the season, I gain weight," Sutton said. "It'll be not getting heavier, that'll be the main thing because we eat (while doing) so much traveling. That'll be the main objective."
Full-contact practices to be limited
As mentioned in its June conference call, the Pac-12 released the full details of its new student athlete health initiative at Pac-12 Media Day Friday. One of the most notable terms is the conference is limiting football practices to two-a-week, which will be effective beginning in fall practice.
Maintaining student athlete health and safety was one of the priorities Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott outlined in his opening address and encourages other conferences to follow suit. Every Pac-12 coach was in favor of the new guideline and praised it whenever it was asked at Media Day, including USC coach Lane Kiffin.
“The Pac-12 Conference is proud to take the lead on this issue and formal-ize our collective dedication to protecting the safety and health of our student-athletes,” Scott said. “This policy reiterates the Conference’s focus on student-athlete well-being while giving coaches ample opportunity to teach the correct tackling methods throughout the year.”
The new guideline is just one of many ways conferences and other governing bodies around college football are enforcing to make the sport safer. The NCAA announced in March it will now allow officials to eject defenders who target and hit defenseless players.
As a leader of a heavy-hitting defense, Sutton isn't concerned about the new safety features hampering him or his teammates.
"We're just going to keep playing like how we play," Sutton said. "If we get penalized, we get penalized. It's hard to tell somebody in a contact sport that you can't hit hard. We're defensive players and our goal is to hit people. Whatever happens, happens."
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
