Excitement in the air

Former ASU football player reacts to return of Pac-12 season.

Mark Walton bleeds maroon and gold.

Since he went on a full-ride football scholarship with Arizona State in 2015, after a solid run with the Cibola Raiders, Walton is on the verge of graduating from Tempe.

Before medically retiring after a number of injuries, Walton has cultivated a number of relationships with some of the current student athletes that are still in the program.

Now, he's ecstatic for his former teammates.

Last week, the Pac-12 Conference decided to bring back a condensed conference season that will likely add up to 7 games for each team.

"When I found out the PAC-12 made the decision to not come back, I was super bummed out. But now, I'm excited to see what my guys at ASU can do and I'm just excited to watch them go to work and we'll see how it goes."

Walton is especially excited because of the talent that the Sun Devils return on their roster.

The skilled defensive unit is another year older, while the offense should have an improved group of linemen, loads of young and talented skill position players, with Jayden Daniels ready to improve on his epic freshman season.

Walton believes like a number of other people, that this group of Sun Devils will be contenders for the conference title.

But, he believes 1 unusual factor could prove to be an equalizer for every program in the conference; the decision to have no fans attend any of the games due to Coronavirus concerns.

"I think that the aspect of not having the home field advantage is going to be huge for not only ASU, but every other PAC-12 team. Especially teams like Oregon, who have a stronger fan base. Any team can go in there and win, essentially. That aspect of having no fans and no home field advantage is going to be something that's going to be super, super interesting to watch."

The Pac-12 is yet to release a condensed schedule for the upcoming season.

Conference play is scheduled to begin on the weekend of November 7th.