TEMPE, Ariz. — It would be saying the least to say that late Arizona State safety Pat Tillman’s legacy holds major weight around the football community in Tempe.

Throughout Tillman's time in the Valley and beyond, he impacted so many both on and off the field, leaving a resounding legacy that can still be felt today.

But as participants crossed the finish line and Pat’s Run wrapped up, the event seamlessly transitioned into ASU's second open spring football practice at the Kajikawa Practice Fields on Saturday, April 11. Head Coach Kenny Dillingham praised his team for supporting the community at the 22nd annual run, and the community for showing up to the open practice. 

“It’s awesome … this is one of my favorite days of the year,” Dillingham said. 

The fundraising run honors Tillman’s legacy while supporting scholarships for service members, veterans and military spouses. 

While the run impacts service members, Dillingham claims the event is impactful for the football program. 

“We run out of the tunnel, and pass him every day,” Dillingham said. “For our guys to see how impactful he was, seeing everybody in this city and state is focused on Pat Tillman today. It really puts it into perspective for a lot of the new guys how impactful he was for the program.” 

Similar to Pat’s Run, Dillingham mentioned seeing the Sun Devil brotherhood across the weekend at the alumni golf tournament and alumni dinner. 

Dillingham graduated from ASU in 2012 before landing the head coaching gig in 2022. 

Despite seeing familiar faces throughout the week, the open scrimmage and practice as a whole turned out to be a sloppy showing from the Sun Devils. 

Dillingham said that the scrimmage provided many errors from both sides of the ball. 

“Too many penalties, explosive runs, missed tackles and not picking up pass-pro,” Dillingham said. “That wasn't a good day for Sun Devil football.” 

In light of the bad practice, Dillingham claims that the coaching staff failed to set the team up to be prepared for the scrimmage.

“Too many things that we’ve tried to correct, that we haven't been able to correct,” Dillingham said.

However, the running back room for ASU stole the show throughout the scrimmage. 

Multiple key players broke off explosive runs, bouncing off defenders en route to the endzone. 

The depth chart of running backs contains names like junior Kyson Brown, senior Marquis Gillis, sophomore David Avit and many more who look to take the starting spot. 

The Sun Devils look for their replacement after losing junior Raleek Brown to the transfer portal. 

“We ran the ball probably for 400 yards in this scrimmage,” Dillingham said. 

Despite the performance from the running backs, the passing game struggled throughout the scrimmage. 

ASU’s cornerback room shut down any long ball attempts with the pass rushers constantly getting to the quarterback throughout Saturday.

However, the Sun Devil coaching staff focused on building an identity in the trenches while aiming to get the offense in the negative, according to Dillingham. 

“You’re in a third-and-long period, you should start with a negative taste in your mouth and try to wash it out of your mouth when you're going,” Dillingham said. 

Consequently, Dillingham laid out the ideal outcome for the next four practices. 

“We got to take today’s scrimmage and put no more install in,” Dillingham said. “(We’ve) got to clean up all the mistakes. We got to clean up when the look isn't what we want at quarterback, we had two bad picks there at the end.”