PHOENIX – Arizona State football continues to be the talk of the town after winning last year’s Big 12 Championship and securing a trip to the College Football Playoff. A critical step remains to reach that national championship goal: retention.
ASU has worked hard over the offseason to fulfill that promise. The Sun Devils saw the return of Heisman candidate quarterback Sam Leavitt, who was courted by other programs, along with 1,000-yard receiver Jordyn Tyson and defensive back Myles “Ghost” Rowser, the team’s leader in tackles last season.
“Retention is alive,” said coach Kenny Dillingham. “I don’t care if we’re ranked dead last in recruiting my entire career here. It’d be like if the draft was for one year, then half of your draft picks leave. So it’s all about retention now. That’s my entire thing.”
The Sun Devils have not lost any starters from last season who were not seniors, unless they went to the NFL Draft like running back Cam Skattebo, who was selected by the New York Giants in the fourth round.
It is difficult to keep starters around in an era with increased Name, Image and Likeness deals and transfers, and that’s reflected in ASU’s projected starting lineup for the upcoming season, which features just a few players who grew up or went to high school in Arizona.
That is a drastic change from years past, when ASU heavily recruited homegrown talent.
One example is tight end Todd Heap who played at Mountain View High School in Mesa. He finished with the most receptions (115) and yards (1685) by a tight end in ASU history before moving on to a successful career in the NFL.
Randall McDaniel, an NFL and College Football Hall of Fame tackle, also grew up in Arizona. He played at Agua Fria High School in Avondale all four years before helping lead the Sun Devils to the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 1987, followed by an NFL career that included 12 consecutive Pro Bowl nods and nine All-Pro honors.
Now, in the revolving world of recruiting, Dillingham is focused on an array of regions rather than one specific area.
“We had a strategy when I got the job here to really recruit California, recruit Texas, recruit the state of Arizona and then recruit another few other areas,” Dillingham said. “But that was our strategy from the beginning.”
“I like to say Arizona is … just in the middle there. So, if you’re a Texas kid that wants to go out West, well, but you’re not sold on living all the way out West, well, Arizona is the perfect spot. If you’re a California kid who wants to go to the South, but you don’t want to go all the way to the South, well, just come on over to Arizona. We’re kind of that perfect in the middle grass.”
While recruiting homegrown talent is always a priority, Dillingham believes retention is the key to building a successful program.
“It’s all about treating the guys on your team great,” Dillingham said “If you are constantly looking for the next best thing to replace the guys on your team, then your own guys should leave. Why wouldn’t they?
“I think that’s why a lot of our guys stay here because they know that we’re going to take care of them and they know that I’m not going to lie to them in the recruiting process.”
After tearing his ACL during his senior year of high school, Dillingham was 17 when he began helping coach the junior varsity team at Chaparral High School in 2007 under current Florida State coach Mike Norvell. In 2012, after graduating from ASU, Dillingam began bouncing around different programs before becoming the Sun Devils head coach: Arizona State offensive assistant (2014-2015), Memphis quarterback coach (2016-2018), Auburn quarterbacks coach (2019-2020), Florida State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2021) and Oregon offensive coordinator (2021-2022).
Throughout his travels, Dillingham has seen athletes stay committed to a program and in other cases leave due to personal reasons, playing time, not winning and other factors. While the transfer portal makes it difficult to retain all players, Dillingham hopes his plan for keeping players in Tempe can work compared to other schools.
The transfer portal has become more active in the last couple of years, along with contract extensions and NIL deals. For example, former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava wanted a new NIL package worth around $4 million entering his sophomore season.
Tennessee denied Iamaleava’s demands, citing his inconsistent play and saying the program was about the team, not the individual. This led to Iamaleava entering the transfer portal and joining UCLA, along with his younger brother Madden Iamaleava.
Dillingham is not afraid to be transparent with players when it comes to business. It’s not just about the money. It’s bigger than that.
“Are we going to lose a lot of recruits because I’m not going to tell a kid he’s going to make half-a-million dollars and put in the contract that ‘I can change your salary at my discretion,’” Dillingham said. “I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to do that. That’s not what I’m about.”
ASU athletic director Graham Rossini likes the direction the football team is heading. He’s excited for what’s to come, but he is focused on present goals, including keeping the starters in order to build consistency and stability.
“It’s a testament to the culture of this program,” Rossini said when asked about not losing any starters to the transfer portal with Dillingham leading the charge. “The fact that kids not only want to be here as athletes competing, but coaches as well. We retained all the key pieces to this program. They want to be here to play for (Dillingham). He’s an incredible coach with an incredible culture.”
The Sun Devils recently won the first Big 12 Commissioner’s Cup, which is awarded to the conference’s program with the best academic and athletic performances as well as community engagement on and off the field.
This achievement defines the Sun Devils’ goals of retaining both players and staff. Community engagement has been the most effective with keeping hometown recruits. It’s the small steps that make the biggest impacts.
Even with last season’s 39-31 double overtime loss to the Texas Longhorns in the CFP, the vision hasn’t changed. Everyone around the program seems to sense there is something special brewing. Losing on the national stage, after being expected to finish dead last in the conference just a few months earlier, helped define the culture Dillingham is building in Tempe.
“I’m really proud of what that game unlocked for us,” Rossini said. “I think we lost well that day. It showed the country what we are capable of here, the kind of football we’re going to play, the kind of kids we have representing the program, and the brilliant coaches we have. I’m really proud of our team and what we are starting to accomplish.”
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