The Sun Devils continue to put the finishing touches in their transfer additions in the current portal window period as Idaho State wide receiver Xavier Guillory joins the ranks in Tempe. The 6-2 205-pound wideout will arrive at ASU with two years of eligibility.
Last season with the Bengals, under then-head coach Charlie Ragle who is now Arizona State’s Special Teams’ Coordinator, Guillory enjoyed his best season with the team earning second-team All-Big Sky honors as he hauled in 52 passes for 785 yards and four touchdowns. Overall, his career numbers in Pocatello were 91 receptions for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns.
“It was really a hard decision,” Guillory said. “I was offered by a lot of good schools that had a lot of opportunities. In the end, you just have to be smart, take a step back, and really review which one would be the best. I just felt that Arizona State was the best situation for me. Playing under coach Ragle was a very big part just because you don’t have to reestablish yourself with another coach. He already knows who I am; he knows my family. He knows who I am as a person, as a worker, and as a student. It makes it easier to transition because it feels like I don’t have to restart, and they know what they’re getting as a player and person when I step foot on campus at ASU.”
Guillory noted that while Ragle was his initial recruiter on behalf of the ASU staff, that head coach Kenny Dillingham, wide receiver coach Ra’Shaad Samples, and offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin all became very involved in the recruiting process as well. And the connection with Baldwin also brought a sense of welcomed familiarity.
“I did my research on all the coaches coach,” Guillory commented, “and with Beau Baldwin, I’ve known him since I was young. He was the head coach at Eastern Washington, and my dad played for Eastern Washington in the early ’90s and was also a professor there for 15-plus years. They both knew each and played pickup basketball with each other at Eastern Washington; they called it noon hoops, where the staff at Eastern Washington were playing. So he knew my dad that way, and we’d obviously go and watch a lot of Eastern Washington football games growing up because I live in Spokane. So that’s how I knew Beau Baldwin.
“He was very honest. Some of the things he told me were things that the other coaches at the other schools said. But mostly, he and the coaches showed me the numbers and how they match up with what they’re saying. You look up their stats from previous teams that they coached, and you see that they do throw the ball a lot.
"Men lie, and women lie, but the numbers don’t lie.”
Samples’ experience with the LA Rams, one the most explosive teams in the league, was another element Guillory admitted represented a significant part in his decision.
“It made me feel comfortable,” he said in reference to Samples’ background, “or really just gave me a challenge. Having someone like that as your receivers’ coach can be a little bit nerve-wracking because he knows the standard of what it takes to be a pro. But if that’s my goal, that’s what I need - that type of high standards. Reading him, I can tell he’s a person that’s gonna hold you to that standard and won’t be afraid to call you out if you’re slipping.
“I already know how I want to be coached, and I want to be coached like a pro. If I’m not meeting those standards, I want him to let me know. So yeah, it’s cool to have a coach that’s seen it at that level because he can use that type of judgment. He will make the receiver room competitive because it’s going to be competitive in the next level.”
Guillory was also offered by Utah, Washington State, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, and Louisville. The wide receiver who was part of the 2019 class originally signed with and enrolled at Air Force but transferred a year later to Idaho State in the winter of 2020 and enrolled there. That campaign was postponed because of Covid to the following spring, where as a true freshman, he posted 18 catches for 324 yards scoring four touchdowns. In the fall of that year, he has 21 receptions for 264 yards and a touchdown.
“The coaches see me as someone who can bring it with my production,” Guillory noted. “The transfer portal is like an NFL free agency now. So they get older players like me that can just plug and play now. I’m gonna come in, I know how to learn an offensive playbook, and I can play outside, slot, left or right side of the field; it doesn’t matter.
“I have high standards for myself, and I know what I can do. I will put my abilities against anyone else because I know nobody works harder than me. I’m not scared of any challenge, and I’ll make that room competitive. I’m not worried about having pressure on me because I know what I can do when it comes time just to display it. I’m gonna have fun and enjoy the process.
“You don’t recruit a transfer portal receiver hard if you don’t want him to come and play right away and make an impact for your team, which I will do come fall time, but the work starts on January 9th.”
Melquan Stovall, out of Colorado State, and USC transfer Jake Smith are the other ASU newcomers out of the portal, who join a returning core of Arizona State wide receivers headlined by Junior Elijhah Badger and senior Gio Sanders. Joshua Cobbs, a transfer from Wyoming, is also expected to join the ranks in Tempe.
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