ASU coach Todd Graham seeks to instill toughness, togetherness at Camp Tontozona

It’s gradual, almost imperceptible, but as cars climb northeast out of the Valley into the Tonto National Forest, the trappings of civilization steadily disappear.

There are no places to stop for gas, no billboards and cellphone service ranges from sketchy to nonexistent.

But for the Arizona State football team, that’s exactly the point.

Coach Todd Graham’s 2017 squad went through its first practice at the famed Camp Tontozona on Monday, beginning a week of training aimed at creating a foundation of togetherness and toughness, built upon a tradition started over 50 years ago by Frank Kush.

“He’s the architect of our program,” Graham said.

Kush’s death last month at age 88 adds special meaning to this year’s camp. “This is the first time we’ve come here without him,” Graham said. “This place is Frank Kush.”

Kush was legendarily old school, and the camp he started embodies such values.

“This is not comfortable being here. It’s not like these players are used to,” Graham said. “Meeting rooms are bad. Living arrangements are not very good. It’s pretty rustic. There’s no TV. There’s no cellphones. There’s no headphones. There’s no nothing.”

He’s right.

Players and coaches stay in cabins. Tonto Creek runs behind the field. Raptors glide overhead.

Fans who make the 100-mile drive from Tempe to Tontozona enter a new world. Giant saguaros give way to tall pines. The field sits at an elevation thousands of feet higher than the Dickey Dome. And on Monday, everything was green and damp, rather than beige and dry.

The proximity is striking given the typical distance of big-time athletics.

There’s little space surrounding the field. Players, coaches and fans are close enough to touch.

Sophomore receiver N’Keal Harry greeted supporters as he weaved his way around lawn chairs going from the passing machine to his teammates on the sideline. It was easy to hear starting quarterback Manny Wilkins tell transfer receiver John Humphrey to get two hands up for a catch. And everyone knew that sophomore cornerback Kobe Williams should make a play on the ball when he’s got safety help over the top.

The sense of intimacy is important to what ASU is trying to instill.

“We’re building a family,” said Dan Kush, son of Frank Kush and a former Sun Devil place kicker who knocked home three field goals in ASU’s 17-14 win over Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl to help the 1975 team finish undefeated.

When people come together, Dan Kush said, “they become accountable to each other.”

Dan Kush visited the team Sunday night and spoke about why his father established the camp: He wanted to get players in condition, eliminate mistakes and develop toughness.

Coach Kush thought the austere conditions were ideal. “Camp was restricted,” Dan Kush said. Players practiced three times a day and in their down time would “play cards, play dominoes and swap stories.”

The similarly Spartan conditions year after year have created a generational bond that’s become a Sun Devil tradition, along with hiking to a barren pine at the top of a steep climb through heavy woods.

“That’s part of coming here,” Graham said. “I talk to them all the time about it. ‘Hey, Terrell Suggs went up that hill right over there, man. This is a big deal. Jake Plummer went up that hill right over there. All of our great players, Randall McDaniel, all of them went right up that hill. Pat Tillman went up that hill.’”

Graham is seeking to leverage intangibles to help win games.

His team is coming off back to back losing seasons. New defensive coordinator Phil Bennett has to rebuild a unit that has ranked among the nation’s worst. And the Sun Devils have been picked to finish second to last in the Pac-12 South.

The division, however, has a new champion just about every year. Colorado, for example, finished first in the South in 2016, a year after finishing dead last.

It’s not fair to put expectations on this group, but there’s nothing wrong with optimism from the team and its fans.

“Tough people come out of tough times,” Graham once said of Frank Kush. If he rediscovers his winning touch, the same could be said of Graham.

He’s helped build an impressive new football facility. He’s hired new staffers. Now it’s time to focus on winning.

Camp T will be key in that pursuit.

“This is a really incredible place,” he said, “and incredible setting that means a lot to our guys.”

Reach Moore at [email protected] or 602-444-2236. Follow him at twitter.com/WritingMoore.