Coach Graham took the podium for his first weekly Monday press conference and with just four days until the 2012 season kicks off, he fielded questions regarding his pre-game speech, his preparations, his expectations for the crowd at Sun Devil Stadium and even his sleeping habits.  

Watch it here and read what he said here. Also check out the first weekly notes of the season.  

Tidbits from practice:

•  Jamal Miles was back working with the first-team offense

•  The trend of coach Graham putting playmakers on the field whenever possible continued at Monday’s practice: backup quarterback Michael Eubank worked with the “hands team” for onside kick returns and fans may see linebacker Brandon Magee in a few different spots as the season goes on…stay tuned #SunDevilNation

In case you missed the #ASUFootball reunion yesterday at the Denver Broncos-San Francisco 49ers game, check it out here. Former Devils (left to right) Brock Osweiler, Kyle Williams, Omar Bolden and Gerell Robinson making #SunDevilNation proud! 

Third annual Sun Devil Football 101

Coach John Wrenn and members of the football staff recently taught ASU students, both international and traditional, the basics of football. They were able to try on football equipment and jerseys, talk with coaches, meet with the spirit squad and Sparky, and learned how to properly throw the ball and make a tackle, among other things. Watch it here

The start of Coach Graham’s weekly radio shows

Coach Todd Graham began his regimen of weekly radio shows on Arizona Sports 620 on Monday with the Sun Devil Blitz at 12:30 p.m. with Burns & Gambo. That will be followed by his High Octane Hour at 7 p.m. from the Thirsty Lion Pub & Grill in Tempe Marketplace, which Coach Graham will co-host with Doug Franz, will be on Monday nights from 7-8 p.m.

Catch both shows every Monday during football season on Arizona Sports 620.

Our own Cameron Marshall makes the top five for active running backs with the most career receptions heading into the year:

1. Charles Sims, Jr., Houston                               121

2. Perry Jones, Sr., Virginia                                   80

    Joseph Randle, Jr., Oklahoma State                  80

4. James Washington, Sr., NC State                      72

5. Cameron Marshall, Sr., Arizona State             55

6. Ronnie Wingo, Jr., Arkansas                             52

7. Trey Watts, Jr., Tulsa                                       51

8. Rex Burkhead, Sr., Nebraska                             49

ASU is one of 13 FBS schools with quarterbacks who have made zero starts:

Akron

Arizona State

Boise State

East Carolina

Hawai’i

LSU

Memphis 

Michigan State

Northern Illinois

Oklahoma State

Southern Miss

Stanford

Texas A&M

Garoutte had a solid first year, and look for him to build off the success he had at the end of last season:

Redshirt freshman place kicker Alex Garoutte finished the 2011 season on a high note with his kicking, connecting on six of his last seven field goals to finish 15-of-22 on field goals in his first year.  

In fact, Garoutte’s season was one of streaks as shown by these numbers:

•  He began the season by hitting three of his first four field goals.

•  Then he missed two field goals in a row, one each in the Illinois and Oregon State games.

•  Then he hit six field goals in a row between the Utah and Colorado games.

•  Then he missed three three field goals in the UCLA game.

•  Finally, he culminated the season by hitting six of his final seven field goals.

•  He hit a career-long field goal of 49 yards in the first kick of his career (UC Davis).

Garoutte also connected on 52 of his 53 extra point attempts, finishing with 108 points to lead all Sun Devils in scoring. His only miss was a blocked extra point and he made 45 in a row to end the season.

His 108 points in 2012 were good for No. 2 nationally for most points scored among freshman or redshirt freshman place kickers.