Your players glued to their phones playing games? Kenny Dillingham insists that's a good thing

Being the youngest head coach of a Power Four program in college football certainly has its advantages.

At 35 years old, Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham can understand the temptations of distractions because he's not much older than they players that make up the Sun Devils roster. He grew up playing college football on a gaming console, and lives with a cell phone glued to his hand in a way that older coaches simply don't understand. 

So when Dillingham shares his unique thoughts on modern topics related to today's players, many (including myself) are captivated.

That's what he did earlier this week when reflected back on their win over a top 25 TCU squad, Kenny mentioned the difference between kids glued to TikTok and those that prefer a competitive game like Clash of Clans. He believes his staff has put together a bunch of competitors and not just dudes watching videos.

"I think when you have competitive people, I think competitive people are used to being in competitive moments."

"If you have people that are on TikTok all day, they're probably not used to playing in a competitive moment and having to be at their best all the time. When you have people that play these weird, like Clash of Clans and all this other stuff now, but they are making decisions in real time in the lunch room, and I'm like, well it's better than watching a video."

"At least they want to compete, and they're yelling at each other sitting there next to each other in the lunch room. But that's what they do. They don't play card games, they play this, and other guys play card games on Friday nights before games."

"Competitive people are used to competing. When you're used to competing, you're used to being in pressure scenarios, so it's really not a pressure scenario because you're used to it."

"I just think that getting guys that love competing and love competition, and then prepare to be a champion, and you combine those two things, then the big moment is a little bit easier for those type of guys because they're used to it. Whether it's on the field in front of an unbelievable crowd, or whether it's at home in your living room. You're just used to being in that moment where this is the most important thing."

There are certainly folks of the older generation that talk about cell phones and gaming being the downfall of a generation. Forget that noise.

Gimme Dillingham finding the silver lining in technology and how it's an advantage to this generation all day.