Thursday at Camp Tontozona had a different feel than the gray opener. The sky cleared, the crowd grew, and the hill beside the field filled up with families and fans settling in to watch Arizona State go through another practice.
Classic rock drifted through the air, whistles kept cutting through the noise, and the pads made their usual thump. It looked and sounded like Camp T was fully rolling.
One of the loudest moments of the day came during an early individual period with the defensive tackles. Under assistant defensive line coach Vince Amey, the group took turns driving into a blocking sled, and senior C.J.
Fite set the tone immediately. “C.J gonna flip that MF over,” Amey shouted, and Fite did exactly that, blasting the sled away on his first rep and forcing assistants to sprint after it and reset it.
Fifth-year Blazen Lono-Wong followed, and the tackles kept hammering away at the sled, though none matched Fite’s pop. Then freshman Landen Anderson stepped in and needed a few reps to get going.
With upperclassmen cheering him on, Amey tried to light a fire with a line that got the whole group moving: “Pretend [the sled] is coach Amey.” Anderson answered by turning the sled on its side, and Amey loved it.
On the other side of the ball, sophomore wide receiver Uriah Neloms kept showing up for fifth-year quarterback Mikey Keene. Neloms was a steady third-down option, catching three tough balls, including a contested back-shoulder fade over sophomore cornerback Caleb Chester.
Keene put the ball where only Neloms could get it, and the receiver fought through the coverage and drifted out of bounds after the catch. A couple plays later, Keene hit Neloms on a deep crossing route with pressure closing in, and Neloms held on through contact before pounding his chest in celebration.
From the sideline, senior Derek Eusebio liked what he saw - at least until Neloms headed back to the huddle. “Aye, fix your posture,” Eusebio yelled with a laugh, and Neloms waved him off.
Special teams had its own little show going, too. Junior punter Nick McLarty and specialist coach Mike Scifres, both in their first year at ASU, turned a basic game of catch into a 50-yard punt exchange from goal line to midfield.
The 6-foot-7 McLarty was sending balls back and forth with the former NFL punter for about five minutes. Scifres was the more precise kicker, while McLarty’s punts sometimes forced Scifres to backpedal.
McLarty, who transferred from Ohio State, has had an uneven start to camp while competing with incumbent junior Kanyon Floyd for the punting job. ASU was 133rd nationally in net punting yardage last season, and Kenny Dillingham has made it clear he wants that area fixed after what he called 2025’s “dead last” punting display.
Elsewhere, the special teams work moved into snaps and holds for field goals. Fifth-year long snapper Grayson Curtis was sharp on his snaps for junior punter Kanyon Floyd and wasn’t shy about it either.
“I'm him, dude,” Curtis said. When one snap sailed high, special teams coach Jack Nudo walked by and Curtis tried to sell him on the positives: “Oh, not that one.
Coach, why can't you celebrate small victories?” Nudo wasn’t buying it.
“I'll celebrate when you make an open-field tackle.” He kept pressing the group and even dangled dinner at DiMaggios as motivation.
“If there's an open-field tackle made by someone this season, maybe I should take you guys to DiMaggios.” Curtis was the first to jump on board.