‘Bubble’ will help Sun Devils escape the heat

For years, it was one of the best ways to get a dismissive sneer out of an Arizona State football player.

SLIDESHOW: ASU football team practices in Tempe

ASU coach Erickson pleased with first practice

Blogging with the Devils

Catch them as they trudged from their locker room at Sun Devil Stadium following an early-season practice, the time approaching 10 p.m., homework still left to be done and a class or weightlifting session early the next morning.

Then, mention to them how spoiled major college football players are.

“That definitely hasn’t been the most attractive part about playing here,” linebacker Mike Nixon said. “With the heat, we practiced from 7 o’clock to 9 or 9:30. That made for some long days.

“As far as us staying fresh throughout the year, having an indoor facility should work wonders.”

As the Sun Devils started fall practice Monday night, the happenings on Kajikawa practice field were overshadowed by a mass of white that has sprung out of the ground on the former band field to the south.

The $8.4 million “bubble” indoor practice facility is a 103,000-square-foot pillow to provide the Sun Devils relief from August and September workouts in the heat that has kept players up late and — some school officials believe — sapped their strength for the second half of the season.

“It was about being to work in there in the summertime, being able to work in there in the winter, being able to work in there in the heat — not just during training camp, but during the season when we need to,” second-year coach Dennis Erickson said. “That is such a plus. It’s going to be a huge advantage for us.”

The first scheduled practice in the indoor facility, which has fields of 45 and 75 yards (with end zones), is on Saturday.

The structure’s immediate impact on the program is that its making obsolete Camp Tontozona, the Sun Devils’ preseason retreat since coach Frank Kush first took them there in 1960. This year, ASU will utilize the facility, which is located outside of Payson, for just one day — an intrasquad scrimmage on Aug. 16.

“I think it will be better because we have all of our facilities here: technology for film, our weight room and our training facilities for when guys get hurt,” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “We don’t have all that stuff up there, so I think it makes it a lot easier and more convenient.

“It will help make guys more enthusiastic during camp when it starts to get hard, and we’ll be better because of that.”

Due to its remote location, Camp Tontozona was often labeled as ideal for building team unity and keeping players focused on football. Erickson said those dynamics are not difficult to replicate on campus because the team will stay in dorms, under the same supervision it had in the pines.

“Being at Camp T feels like you are stuck in the middle of the forest and have to survive,” wide receiver Chris McGaha said. “Staying here enables us to use cell phones, not be stuck and have a nice bed without 75 other guys in the room. That will be soothing on the spirit.

“You’re not going to be so miserable all the time. You’ll have confidence going into practice knowing that you got some sleep. I can talk to my fiancée on the phone.

Feeling better helps us practice better, at least it will for me.”

The Sun Devils practice outside from 6:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. through Friday.

Starting on Saturday, post-morning workouts are in the new facility from 4:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. — a schedule that, before this year, ASU would not dare use in Tempe before mid-October.

“The wear and tear of camp will be easier,” Nixon said. “We always complain about the heat here, but if we can pop in there a day or two a week, we have the best of both worlds, where we can prepare outdoors when we need but head inside when we have to.”

As a result, “Late Night With the Sun Devils” on the practice field has been canceled.

Players will get home at a reasonable hour.

And one of the biggest recruiting strikes against ASU — having to deal with the Arizona heat — has been neutered. And that’s nothing to sneer at.

“What every program strives to do is put the players in the best practice situation they can be in to get better,” Erickson said. “We have done that.”