June 26, 2012

Photo Gallery

Preparations continue for the Arizona State University football team's return to Camp Tontozona. The Sun Devil Athletic Operations and Facilities (AOF) department is currently overseeing improvements to the program's famed training site.

Earlier this month, Brian Johnson, athletic grounds facilities manager for Sun Devil Athletics, started work on the main practice field the Sun Devil football team will utilize. Work also commenced on the upper practice field (irrigation, new sub-base and sod).

Getting the fields ready is a meticulous process that requires lots of attention to detail. Most recently, workers have been combing the area for rocks that could impede the progress of the irrigation lines. Johnson and his staff will be looking to lay the new sod down the first week in July.

Thanks to the success of an initiative spearheaded by ASU head football coach Todd Graham and Vice President for University Athletics/Athletics Director Steve Patterson, the Sun Devils will be returning to Camp Tontozona for the first time since 2008.

The campaign - "Return To Camp T" - was launched on April 19 and called for Sun Devil fans, friends, alumni and former players to come together to raise $150,000 for the Sun Devil Club before June 1. On May 31, Graham and Patterson announced the figure was met and that the Sun Devils will visit Camp T August 14-18 with a scrimmage on the final day.

Camp Tontozona will provide the Sun Devils with a unique setting for concentration and preparation for the 2012 season. The camp began hosting Arizona State football's preseason practice in 1960 under the direction of head coach Frank Kush and continued through 2008. Set within the cool mountain country of Payson, Ariz., the camp borders the Tonto National Forest, which provides the first two syllables of Tontozona. The state of Arizona offers the last pair.