The Sun Devil defense started the 2023 season on a much stronger note than it finished. The offseason, though, was productive for this group, which improved its talent and depth in literally every position group. In Spring practice, the ASU defense is poised to begin and manifest the strides it made last year.
Defensive Line (Scholarship players listed)
RS-SR Jeff Clark
RS-SR Anthonie Cooper
RS-SR Harold Brooks
RS-SR Price Dorbah
SR Elijah O’Neal
RS-JR Ian Shewell
RS-JR Clayton Smith
RS-JR Gharin Stansbury
RS-JR Justin Wodtly
JR Jacob Rich Kongaika
RS-SO Sam Benjamin
RS-SO J.P. Deeter
RS-SO Blazen Lono-Wong
RS-SO Tristan Monday
RS-SO Roman Pitre
SO C.J. Fite
RS-FR Kyran Bourda
RS-FR Landen Thomas
RS-FR Magnum West
FR James Giggey*
FR Salesi Manu*
FR Albert Smith*
FR Ramar Williams
*-Summer arrival, will not participate in spring practices
Faced with the departures of last year's top two defensive linemen, B.J. Green, and Dashaun Mallory, ASU was tasked with retooling and amplifying the collective quality of its front four. On paper, the staff did a commendable job of that.
Though the overall potency of the defensive line is to be determined, one inarguable fact – and if you look at the list above, you’ll see – there will be several scholarship linemen competing for spots this spring and beyond. It makes a great deal of sense to think that spring practice will serve as a proving ground for this expansive position group and that multiple transfer departures will occur at the end of April when the proverbial writing on the wall is cast and determining that certain linemen likely will not factor into the 2024 rotation.
Starting with the edge rushers, ASU brings back Prince Dorbah and Clayton Smith, an impressive pair from 2023. The duo rotated with Green last season but will likely form the starting tandem this season.
Last year, Dorbah tied Green for the team lead with 6.0 sacks despite missing two games, also registering 30 total tackles, including 9.5 for loss with seven quarterback hurries.
Smith appeared in 11 games and recorded 21 tackles, including 5.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks. He also tied Dorbah for second on the team with seven quarterback hurries.
Dorbah and Smith began their college careers on opposite sides of the Red River Rivalry. Smith was a five-star signee of Oklahoma in 2021, and Dorbah was a four-star member of Texas’ 2020 signing class.
The spring could serve as a tremendous opportunity for Elijah O’Neal, an edge rusher who came to ASU last year after an impressive junior college career. O’Neal saw quite a bit of game action last year as he played in all 12 contests and registered 11 tackles, including 1.5 for loss and half of a sack. With Green having transferred to Colorado, O’Neal should be the primary beneficiary here and could be in line for a much greater role in his final collegiate season and will need to earn, starting with his performance in spring practices.
Anthonie Cooper, the longest-tenured defender on the roster and the only remaining signee from ASU’s 2019 class returns for his final tour of duty. He is versatile and can play multiple line positions on the edge or in the interior.
Last year, Cooper was limited to six games and totaled 13 tackles, including one for loss. For his career, the local product from Millenium High School has played in 36 games and had 69 total tackles, including 8.0 for loss and 6.0 sacks. His best season came in 2021, when he posted career-bests of 30 tackles, including 5.0 for loss and 3.5 sacks in 13 games.
After being named ASU’s Freshman Defensive Player of the Year last year and an honorable mention recipient for the Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year, C.J. Fite is expected to continue to progress and develop into a key figure on the interior of ASU’s defensive line.
As a true freshman last fall, Fite appeared in 11 games and made 15 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, a pass breakup, and a fumble recovery.
Also competing for meaningful reps as interior linemen are Sam Benjamin and Tristan Monday, both in-state high school products who transferred to Arizona State prior to last season. Both players saw quite a bit of action last fall but undoubtedly will be pushed by ASU’s newly acquired transfers.
Monday, who came to ASU from Wisconsin, appeared in 11 games with starts in the season’s first two contests, totaling nine tackles, while Benjamin, formerly of Idaho State, collected five tackles in 10 game appearances.
The defensive line transfers are Jeff Clark (Louisville), J.P. Deeter (Purdue), Jacob Rich Kongaika (Arizona), Roman Pitre (Purdue), and Justin Wodtly (Cincinnati). All of them came to ASU from power conference programs and will help beef up Arizona State's four defensive line positions.
Clark (6-0, 290) and Kongaika (6-2, 285) should very much be in the conversation for first-team interior reps, as both have quite a bit of experience at the FBS level.
Last season with Louisville, Clark appeared in 13 games and posted 14 tackles, including 2.0 for loss. Prior to that, he spent three seasons at Georgia State, collecting 19.5 TFLs and 9.0 sacks during that tenure.
Kongaika, a potential ‘diamond in the rough’ acquisition, spent the 2022-23 seasons with rival Arizona. He appeared in 22 games, including all 13 last season, and collected 22 total tackles, including 2.5 for loss, 2.0 sacks, and two fumble recoveries. In 2023, Kongaika tallied 14 tackles, 2.0 sacks, and two fumble recoveries.
Wodtly (6-3, 275) was listed as an edge rusher for the Bearcats. Between 2020-23, he appeared in 30 games and made 46 tackles, including 7.0 for loss, 4.0 sacks, and two pass deflections. He, too, should be a highly viable candidate for a two-deep spot at worst, and like Cooper, he could see his role rotate between defensive end and defensive tackle.
Former Purdue teammates Deeter (6-4, 265) and Pitre (6-5, 245) have relocated to ASU. Both joined the Boilermaker program in 2022, but neither recorded any statistics over the past two seasons. Pitre, ironically, was seriously considering the Sun Devils out of high school before he chose Purdue, an aspect that certainly paved the way for him to join the ranks in Tempe this year.
Redshirt freshmen Kyran Bourda and Landen Thomas, both three-star signees for ASU in 2023 from the state of Louisiana, will also fight for reps this fall. Neither saw game action last season while the two players redshirted.
Blazen Lono-Wong and Gharin Stansbury have each been in the Sun Devil program for multiple years but likely face significant challenges in entering the two- or even three-deep positions.
Last season, Lono-Wong appeared in ten games, while Stansbury made just three game appearances. Both players each totaled five tackles on the year.
Harold Brooks III and former New Mexico transfer Ian Shewell will also encounter an arduous path to establish their nice in this position group. Both players were newcomers for the Sun Devils last season, yet between the two, Brooks was the only one to see game action in just one single appearance last fall. Walk-on redshirt freshman Magnum West also adds depth along the Sun Devil defensive line.
True freshmen James Giggey, Salesi Manu, Albert Smith, and Ramar Williams round out the defensive line group, and Williams is the only member of this group to have enrolled early, as the others will arrive for fall camp.
Linebacker (Scholarship players listed)
RS-SR Caleb McCullough
RS-JR Zyrus Fiaseu
RS-JR Krew Jackson
JR Jordan Crook
JR Keyshaun Elliott
RS-SO Tate Romney
RS-SO Myles Amey
RS-FR Anthony Ruiz
RS-FR Isaac Stopke
RS-FR K’Vion Thunderbird
FR Martell Hughes
The spring competition at linebacker figures to be fierce. Though ASU returns two players who saw ample starting reps, Caleb McCullough and Tate Romney, the staff added three impressive transfers who naturally didn’t come to Tempe to ride the pine. Altogether, ASU now has five linebackers on its roster with FBS starting experience and two new additions who earned all-conference accolades in 2023.
As was the case with many positions on ASU’s roster last year, there were numerous twists and turns at linebacker as Juwan Mitchell was poised to be a starter but was booted from the program prior to ever playing a snap for ASU, while Will Shaffer, another potential starter, opted to transfer at an early point of the season. Added to that, consistent defender Tre Brown, the team’s third-leading tackler last year, has exhausted his college eligibility.
Romney, a former BYU transfer who saw very little game action for the Cougars, was one of the most pleasant surprises on the roster last year as he started 11 of 12 games played, while McCullough was named the team’s Levi Jones Most Improved Player last season after earning three starts among his 12 game appearances.
Coincidentally, Romney and McCullough tied for fourth on the team with 52 tackles each. Romney added 4.0 for loss with 1.0 sack along with four pass breakups, four quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery, while McCullough had 4.5 tackles for loss with 1.0 sack along with two pass breakups, one quarterback hurry and one forced fumble.
Though both Romney and McCullough return after placing among ASU’s top-five tacklers last year, there is hardly a concrete guarantee that either or both will remain first-teamers this season as the coaching staff did an outstanding job of fortifying the position group with transfer additions consisting of Jordan Crook (Arkansas), Keyshaun Elliott (New Mexico State) and Zyrus Fiaseu (San Diego State), all of whom will participate in spring practices for the Sun Devils.
Elliott earned Second-Team All-Conference USA accolades in 2023 for New Mexico State. He racked up 111 tackles in 15 games, including 10.0 for loss, 2.5 sacks, six pass breakups, four quarterback hurries, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.
An Honorable Mention All-Mountain West selection and both the Team MVP and Defensive Player of the Year for the Aztecs last year, Fiaseu was a do-it-all defender for SDSU as he tied for the team lead with 66 tackles and was the team leader in TFLs (11.5), sacks (5.5) and both forced fumbles and fumble recoveries (three of each) while adding five pass breakups and five quarterback hurries in 12 games.
Given the resumes boasted by both Elliott and Fiaseu, it is very difficult to believe that these two will not eventually comprise ASU’s two-man starting linebacker pair, though Romney and McCullough will no doubt try to prevent that narrative from materializing this spring.
Not to be counted out is Arkansas transfer Jordan Crook, who played in 25 games with two starts for the Razorbacks from 2022-23. He posted 40 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble, and 28 total tackles last season.
An intriguing name to watch could be redshirt freshman K’Vion Thunderbird. A three-star prospect from last year’s class, Thunderbird had scholarship offers from Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, and Tennessee. He appeared in two games and registered one tackle but preserved a year of eligibility by redshirting in 2023.
Krew Jackson, a transfer from Kansas State prior to last season, will be in the mix at linebacker but may be hard pressed to earn significant reps. He appeared in two games last season for the Sun Devils but did not record any statistics.
True freshman Martell Hughes, a spring enrollee, will also compete for action at linebacker. He was rated as a three-star safety by Rivals but will transition to linebacker for his college career.
Walk-ons Myles Amey, Anthony Ruiz, and Isaac Stopke will add linebacker depth this spring. None of the three saw game day reps for ASU last season.
Cornerback/Nickel (Scholarship players listed)
RS-SR Ed Woods
RS-SR Macen Williams (nickel)
JR Laterrance Welch
RS-SO Javan Robinson
SO Keith Abney II (nickel)
SO Cole Martin (nickel)
RS-FR Keontez Bradley
FR Rodney Bimage, Jr.
FR Chris Johnson II
FR Plas Johnson*
FR Tony Louis-Nkuba
FR Kyan McDonald*
*-Summer arrival, will not participate in spring practices
With Ro Torrence, Dee Ford, and Jordan Clark gone from the 2023 roster—a trio that combined for 29 starts last season—ASU faces quite a bit of turnover at cornerback and nickel back. However, the staff looks to use its transfer portal and impressive high school additions to replenish the position groups.
At cornerback, Ed Woods returns after making five starts last year – all of which came across the final seven games of the season. A participant in all 12 games last fall, Woods notched 33 tackles, including 3.0 for loss, with four pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. For his Sun Devil career, Woods has appeared in 32 games and has 66 tackles with 11 pass deflections and three forced fumbles. Woods very likely will enter spring practices as ASU’s top cornerback.
Macen Williams started twice last season at nickel back and may enter the spring atop that position’s depth chart. Williams appeared in nine games in 2023 and totaled 13 tackles on the year. He has 32 career game appearances, 27 tackles, and four pass deflections.
Though Williams has the greater team and overall experience, Oregon transfer Cole Martin will be one to watch in the nickel back competition. The former four-star recruit from Basha High School opted to return to the valley this offseason after appearing in all 14 games for the Ducks in 2023, collecting 21 tackles and one interception. Ironically, that pick came against ASU last November.
Likely to be in the thick of the competition to start at cornerback is a pair of FBS transfers in former Washington State defender Javan Robinson and Laterrence Welch, formerly of LSU.
Welch was a high-tier recruit out of high school. He was a four-star prospect and rated the No. 13 cornerback and the No. 141 overall recruit for the 2022 class. In his two seasons at LSU, he appeared in 22 games but did not start, posting 13 tackles and one pass deflection.
Robinson, who, of course, was under the tutelage of current ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward in 2022 at Washington State, appeared in ten games across the 2022-23 seasons and posted 14 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with one pass deflection for the Cougars.
Keith Abney II, who had two tackles and an interception in eight games as a true freshman last year, may battle for time both at cornerback and nickel this spring and beyond.
Redshirt freshman Keontez Bradley and walk-on Joseph McGinnis also will fight for time at cornerback this spring. McGinnis appeared in two games last year and registered a tackle, while Bradley did not see game action during his redshirt season.
A group of physically impressive true freshmen, Rodney Bimage, Jr., Chris Johnson II, Plas Johnson, Tony Louis-Nkuba, and Kyan McDonald, will compete for action in the secondary, though not all will be available this spring. It is certainly possible that one or more of this true freshman group could enter the two-deep by the time the season kicks off.
Of the group, Louis-Nkuba is ASU’s highest-rated defensive high school signee for 2024, as he was a four-star prospect, according to Rivals, and ranked the No. 35 cornerback recruit in the nation for his class. Bimage and both Johnsons were not far behind, as they each earned a 5.7 rating by Rivals, putting them right on the cusp of a four-star designation. McDonald's will arrive on campus in the summer.
Safety (Scholarship players listed)
RS-SR Shamari Simmons
RS-JR Xavion Alford
JR Myles Rowser
RS-SO Kamari Wilson
RS-FR Montana Warren
Though two-year standout Chris Edmonds departs from the starting lineup at safety, the Sun Devil coaching staff must be tremendously bullish on the depth and quality of its safeties entering spring practices. This year, Arizona State has four safeties on its roster with FBS-level starting experience.
Shamari Simmons was a truly pleasant surprise last season and the top returning defender for ASU from 2023. He put together an outstanding year after transferring to Tempe from the FCS level.
Among ASU's team award winners last year, Simmons received both the Frank Kush Team MVP Award and the Darren Woodson Outstanding Secondary Award. He had a team-high 73 tackles last year, including 1.5 losses with 1.0 sacks, six pass breakups, four quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries, and one interception. A stat-sheet-filling ballhawk, Simmons has the potential to reach even greater heights as a senior in 2024.
Xavion Alford, who, like Jake Smith on offense for ASU, was forced to watch on the sidelines last season due to a bogus, arbitrary NCAA ruling, is likely to join Simmons as a starting safety. Alford will no doubt enter the spring with a chip on his shoulder and a fierce desire to get back into game action.
As a high school recruit, Alford was ranked the No. 8 safety and No. 139 overall prospect for the 2020 class. He began his college career at Texas, appearing in four games and posting four tackles. He then moved on to USC and enjoyed an excellent year in 2021, totaling 31 tackles, six pass deflections, and three interceptions, earning the team’s Co-Defensive Perimeter Player of the Year Award.
However, Alford has not appeared in-game action since the 2021 season. He missed all of 2022 due to injury and was sidelined to the aforementioned NCAA ruling last fall.
Though Simmons and Alford seem like the logical starting duo for ASU, there will undeniably be an incredibly heated battle throughout the position group.
Myles Rowser comes to ASU from New Mexico State, where he was the second-leading tackler for the 10-win Aggies—coincidentally, only behind fellow ASU transfer Keyshaun Elliott. Rowser notched 70 tackles, two pass breakups, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.
Rowser has an interesting story so far in his college career. He initially committed to Michigan, then Arkansas, before signing with FCS-level program Campbell, where he was a freshman all-American in 2022. From there, he relocated to New Mexico State and now to Arizona State.
The depth doesn’t end there, as ASU also added a transfer in Florida’s Kamari Wilson. A four-star prospect from the 2022 class, Wilson was ranked the No. 3 safety in the nation by Rivals. Rivals also ranked Wilson the No. 43 overall transfer this offseason, making him the highest-rated transfer acquired by Arizona State.
As a true freshman in 2022, Wilson appeared in all 13 games with two starts, totaling 39 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, one pass deflection, and one forced fumble. Last season, Wilson only appeared in the team’s first three games so that he could preserve a redshirt season and transfer. He tallied one tackle in that early-season action.
Also pushing for meaningful reps will be redshirt freshman Montana Warren, who last preseason looked primed for significant game action as a rookie before a fall camp injury sidelined him for nearly the entire year. He is credited with one tackle in one game appearance in 2023.
Walk-on Adama Fall adds depth at safety after appearing in nine games last year for the Sun Devils. He did not record any statistics last fall.
Redshirt freshmen and walk-ons Jack Bal, Tommy Romano, and Shahid Wilson, all local products, will add depth throughout various positions in the secondary this spring. None of the three saw game action for ASU in 2023. Bal was named ASU’s Glen Hawkins Scout Team MVP last season.
Special Teams
RS-SR Parker Lewis (K)*
RS-SR Race Mahlum (P)
RS-SO Ian Hershey (P/K)
RS-SO Tyler Wigglesworth (LS)
RS-FR Carston Kieffer (K)
RS-FR Cole Marszalek (LS)
FR Kanyon Floyd (P)*
With graduate transfer kicker Parker Lewis and high-profile true freshman punter Kanyon Floyd not arriving until fall camp, it is unlikely that the kicking game that will be seen in the spring will be the same that ASU will field in the fall as the spring competition will primarily consist of walk-ons.
Lewis, a graduate of Scottsdale’s Saguaro High School, began his college career at USC, connecting on 26-of-35 field goal attempts across the 2020-21 seasons (74.3%). He transferred to Ohio State and spent the past two seasons with the Buckeyes but did not attempt a field goal during his tenure with OSU. The NCAA ruled him academically ineligible for the 2022 season due to some academic snafu by USC, and oddly enough, the Ohio State coaches held that against Lewis the following year. He played in only one game in 2023, where he had both of his kickoffs go for touchbacks.
Floyd, a Horizon High School product, was ranked the No. 5 kicker in the nation for the 2024 class, according to Rivals. A note to consider – Rivals does not separate kickers and punters in its evaluations and only lists these prospects as kickers.
Ian Hershey got some run at punter during the 2023 season and averaged 39.63 yards on 16 punts. Race Mahlum figures to be his main competitor in the spring before Floyd arrives.
At kicker, Carston Kieffer will likely be the main option this spring, while Hershey can also placekick.
Tyler Wigglesworth, a priority walk-on transfer from NAU, will compete with walk-on Cole Marszalek to replace standout long snapper Slater Zellars.
In the return game, wide receiver Melquan Stovall is presumed to be the primary punt returner, with fellow wide receiver Elijhah Badger as the main kickoff returner. Wide receivers Jake Smith and Jordyn Tyson, running back Raleek Brown, and, once back from injury, wide receiver Xavier Guillory might also be options as returners.
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