ASU spring practice social media recap: Sam Leavitt's leadership, Kenny Dillingham's culture reset on Day 1

Arizona State enjoyed a phenomenal season, winning the Big 12 and reaching the College Football Playoff. Head coach Kenny Dillingham has his alma mater on the rise, and will see most of his starters return, highlighted by quarterback Sam Leavitt.

Of course, none of that guarantees the Sun Devils a thing in 2025, a Dillingham knows it. He tried to send that exact message with the first day of spring practice as he tries to get his team back to the playoff.

On Tuesday, things officially got started with the first practice of spring ball, and it's not official until the first roster gets handed out.

Even as the Sun Devils get set to turn the page on last year, some of their departed players had to show up and support their teammates, including star running back Cam Skattebo.

As if it wasn't obvious already, Dillingham came prepared with a message for his players, made clear through the strategic choice of music playlist:

Dillingham expanded on this after practice was over:

"I want it to become monotonous. Like, who gives a crap? Like, you're going to be told so many good things forever, you better get [so that] it becomes monotonous to you, that it's irrelevant. Nobody cares, right? So we're just trying to make last year irrelevant, because nobody cares anymore.

So we're going to do things, play things that make last year irrelevant. We talked to our guys, we're going to handle success just fine. How are we going to handle this year when we get punched in the face?"

When asked about the music choice, and the message it sent, Leavitt shared some lighthearted annoyance that speaks to the culture reset Dillingham is trying to establish:

"Well I can't speak to everyone else, but it was annoying to me. I don't care about last year's championship - obviously it was fun for the moment - but I don't want to hear that no more. I'm going to go tell him to turn it off, because we're not no champions anymore. It's a new season, we got more to prove. "

The quote stands out in particular because of Dillingham's earlier comment about Leavitt would be challenged by becoming a leader as a sophomore.

Leavitt may have taken exception to that music choice, but he surely was glad to see star receiver Jordyn Tyson back on the field.

And it didn't take long for Tyson to remind everyone of his greatness.

Even though Tyson made some highlight plays, the defense made plenty of plays on the first day of practice, which is typical at this stage.

The first day of practice also offered a good look at freshman tight end AJ Ia, a 4-star recruit out of California who was rated as the 15th best tight end in the nation.

Practice also brought the opportunity to get a good look at several coaches back in action for Arizona State, who critically retained their entire on-field coaching staff after such an impressive year.

Perhaps the biggest area of growth for the Sun Devils comes on special teams. On Tuesday, they let transfer kicker Jesus Gomez get a few practice kicks up as Arizona State seeks more reliability in that department.

The Sun Devils also began working to find a new go-to punt returner after the loss of Melquan Stovall.

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