As the year comes to a close, ASU’s football landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation, with Coach Kenny Dillingham leading the charge through strategic plays and a culture-focused approach to recruiting. This shift has positioned the Sun Devils in a competitive direction after enduring a challenging 3-9 season in 2023, as reported by the Phoenix Business Journal. Dillingham’s focus extends beyond athleticism, prioritizing resilience and alignment with the team’s ethos. "The hardest thing in this process is not saying yes to every really good player," Dillingham told AZ Big Media.
Fast-forward to the fruits born from such tenacious outlooks, ASU closed the year with a staggering 11-2 record that no one saw coming, especially not from a team that was rooted in a place of such challenge not long ago. In fact, the team's drastic overhaul, including 60 newcomers—ninth-most in the Football Bowl Subdivision and 46 scholarship newcomers, some of whom are contributing massively to the team's victory march—eight ASU starters on this year's team, specifically quarterback Sam Leavitt, were cherry-picked from the transfer portal last year, making this Cinderella story all the more gripping, according to Phoenix Business Journal.
It wouldn't be a shred of an overstatement to credit a significant chunk of this unexpected but welcomed success to the coaching prowess of Dillingham and his crew. Former ASU quarterback and current radio color analyst, Jeff Van Raaphorst, observed that Dillingham's staff could instill complex concepts into the team's vernacular without the expected teething phase—"I think what it tells me is that he’s able to teach and get players to execute what he wants them to do very quickly," Van Raaphorst revealed in an interaction with AZ Big Media.
Injecting new talent certainly infused vigor into the team, spotlighting individuals such as the runner-up Heisman Trophy contender running back Cam Skattebo, And the whip-smart quarterback Sam Leavitt, whose precision and control were paralleled by all those who entered the revamped squad, bound by the dual threads of good character and an intensely competitive nature as Dillingham harped on the need for not just exceptional players but players who "love ball." "You’re a good kid, and you’re super competitive. You love ball," Dillingham emphasized to AZ Big Media, understating the complex architecture of building a team that feels like a community where joy and camaraderie feel just as home as strategy and sweat.
As ASU gears up for what could be a sustained streak of prowess and gridiron glory, bolstered by a vibrant culture and robust NIL investment, no player launch has been recorded this year into the transfer portal—a subtle ode to satisfaction and stickability within the ranks. "I know it sounds so boring, but at the end of the day, I think kids are happy here," Dillingham confided to Phoenix Business Journal, as the echoes of a most unlikely playoff contention resonate deep into the heart of Tempe, shaping a 2025 to look forward to with not just optimism but also expectation.
