ASU's Dillingham Reflects on Thursday’s Spirited Practice

To watch the full availability, view below.

Dillingham Inviting Conflict

Thursday's practice proved to be the most tense, spirited, and visceral of the seven that have been held in front of the media to this date.

Several drills, offense-defense reps, and other miscellaneous portions of practice boiled over into brief skirmishes that certainly translated into a more concerted effort from both sides of the ball during the day.

Dillingham welcomed the encounters, making the argument that teams grow tighter bonds when faced with conflicts that are set up to be resolved.

"Relationships aren't built through roses and candy canes. They're built through conflict. If you want a really close team, you have to create conflict," Dillingham said.

The point that the team must work through issues to be as tightly bonded as they need to be is a valid one, and it certainly seemed that the skirmishes fueled the roster as a whole to perform at their best for the remainder of practice.

Position Battles Continue To Be Focal Point

It's clearly far too early in the process to name definitive starters at most positions, though the last week has begun the evaluation process for big-picture roster decisions, something Dillingham has acknowledged in recent days.

Quarterback, running back, tight end, edge rusher, and safety are just a small handful of spots that will be tightly contested - the first of which being the one that will continue to grasp the lion's share of focus.

Cutter Boley has grown over the last week of action - rapidly cutting down on "risky" throws while also pushing the ball downfield and showing exactly why the Sun Devils targeted him to begin with. Cameron Dyer continues to return to pre-injury form and has made some of the most impressive throws of the week, although the redshirt freshman faces an uphill climb in the competition.

Jake Fette has looked fair for the most part - some would say much better than the average true freshman should look at this point of offseason preparations. Mikey Keene remains the veteran presence on the team and has been relatively steady throughout the process.