On the surface, the upcoming weeks are narrowed in on the College Football Playoff as the Sun Devils await their opponent in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Day. However, just two days following Arizona State’s (11-2) 45-19 blowout victory against Iowa State (10-3) to capture the Big 12 Championship trophy, the opening of the college football transfer portal on Monday has added another task on the agenda for ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham and his staff.
“We're still in this right now so I'm excited I'm enjoying it don't get me wrong but there's still it never really ends college football doesn't sleep,” Dillingham said. “So you wake up today and it's the beginning of the portal it's like ‘okay and it's a whole new season within a season.’
“I've been having exit interviews since before the Arizona game because hey I know this is weird but now in today's day and age kids are getting called by other schools already. Kids have to start making decisions and I'm like, but we're we haven't played our final game yet how are we going to start talking about next year.”
With the swinging door of the transfer portal burst wide open, prospective players in a multitude of position groups have already begun calling ASU’s hotline. According to Dillingham, due to the accomplished campaign with the potential for national glory, a flurry of players have already reached out to the program. He acknowledged a few points of emphasis in the portal this winter, including defensive back, offensive line, and wide receiver.
"We definitely have a lot of interest, particularly the wide receiver position. A lot of people have been reaching out, so it's positive,” he said.
On the contrary, the transfer portal unleashes the opportunity for other players to exit the program. Dillingham noted to the media Sunday that the Sun Devils are ahead of schedule on their path to success, with the 2025 season being the anticipated breakout season. Because of this, they targeted players with multiple years of eligibility remaining ahead of 2024 to establish a culture in Tempe. Now, dealt with a large excess of returning talent with more players to come in, some have already put their names in the transfer portal, searching for a greater role elsewhere.
A handful of the notable names include redshirt junior tight end Markeston Douglas, redshirt sophomore defensive end J’Mond Tapp, and junior defensive back Laterrance Welch (who was dismissed from the team last week due to a violation of team rules). For Dillingham, there are no hard feelings between him and any player exploring their options, giving them the option to remain on the team throughout the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
“Our guys that are going in the portal have the opportunity to stay on our football team,” Dillingham said. “They're like ‘We’ll go in at the end’ I go ‘No that's not fair to you to go in after our run is over’ I want you to have the best opportunity to find a spot. Go in right now day one we’ll help you find a spot and stay on our football team, if you want to stay on our football team let's go on this ride together the rest of the way. I didn't want those guys to feel like they had to wait to go until after the CFP.
“I think that would have hurt their chances so I made it very clear to the guys that you can stay on the team as long as you do what you're supposed to do just like you're on the team. Go to meetings show up five minutes early check in, weigh in go to workouts, even if you go in the portal here that doesn't affect me at all that's just us being on the same page and trying to help you achieve what you want to achieve in your career. So we will have some people going in that choose to stay a part of this team, and it fires me up that we have the relationship between the kids on the team that they want that that they want these guys to stay a part of it.”
Adaptability is becoming increasingly important in the modern age of colligate athletics, with more moving parts than ever able to adapt to the current cycle, only highlighting ASU’s chances of success. For Dillingham, his offseason goals are to guarantee similar success in 2025 as in 2024 and avoid becoming a “Flash in the pan.”
“You have to be able to react in real-time,” Dillingham said. “I think if there's one thing that everybody knows about College athletics right now is, you have to be able to react today, and then it may change. The teams that have to move mountains in order to get things accomplished are the teams that are going to struggle.
Despite the frenzy of information and excitement the transfer portal encapsulates, the Sun Devils have plenty of time for their Big 12 Championship to marinate. The undeniably incredible circumstances the team faced added to the sweetened sensation of lifting their first conference final since 1996. As a Valley of the Sun native, Dillingham has shown pride in ASU as a program unlike any other; his team, which was formally picked to finish last in the Big 12 Conference ahead of the season, presents a valuable lesson to programs across the nation.
“Don't ever put limitations on yourself,” You never know what you can accomplish, these guys not just from a physical standpoint but from the mental, from the work from the continued grind from the adversity faced.”
The internal culture that contributed to the Sun Devils' improbable success required the players to buy in as much as any portion of the coaching staff. Dillingham entrusted a select group of players as representatives for the remainder of the team. That group of players is formally known as the Pat Tillman Leadership Council, which heavily aided the coaching staff's ability to man-manage the team, ultimately producing a more cohesive unit.
“No, 100% it does not happen,” Dillingham said when asked if the team would’ve won the Big 12 championship without the leadership council. “The Leadership Council has made decisions to get us to where we're at whether it's, hey, we're tired today, coach, our bodies are worn, all right, I got to change schedule. Then it's like, coach, no, we can go harder, like we feel good this week. The honesty that they've had toward me and then back I think has helped this team get to where we want to go.
“I know people always use the saying you're only as good as your worst player I couldn't agree less with that saying. You're only as good as your best players your standard is your best players, if your best players set a high standard people feel obligated to hit it, and I think that's what this Leadership Council did. This forced the guys beneath them or the guys next to them to hit their standard of effort, their standard of relentlessness, and their passion for the game, and I think that's what's really elevated everybody in the program.”
A thrilling season has at least one more chapter left as ASU sits and waits for its quarterfinal opponent to be decided when No.16 Clemson faces No.2 Texas on December 21. This period before a game plan can be implemented has provided the team with an opportunity to once again “Self-scout,” a bye-week staple of inner team improvements over pregame preparations.
“We got to make sure that we look at all that and make sure we change up tendencies or use tendencies against future opponents,” Dillingham said. “That way teams can't use tendencies against us, it's not revolutionary but this does give us a period of time to do that and not worry about an opponent but really double down on us and then worry an opponent this next step.”
The Sun Devils and their fans know exactly when the Maroon and Gold will line up again at the Peach Bowl on New Year's Day, in a short time frame thousands of fans cheered on at AT&T Stadium in Arlington to help their team. Many of those fans witnessed a memory they’ll never forget: a team projected to finish at the bottom climbed up the rankings and reached the summit, surpassing every program predicted to finish above them. Dillingham provided the fans with an experience they’ll never forget, which is all the motivation ASU needs to finish the season strongly.
“I'm glad we got the job done for those people who drove 15 hours,” Dillingham said to ASU fans at the Big 12 championship game. “That's what it's about, the commitment for those people to drive that amount of time, and hopefully our players went over there and said something to them; hopefully, they have a moment that they'll remember for the rest of their life. When the confetti fell they'll be able to tell people they were there, I was at that game I saw (Cam Skattebo) with the belt walking around hopefully that's a memory that they're going to cherish. This is a special season. I mean, this is something that hasn't happened here in 28 years; you better enjoy the ride, and you better make sure you look out the window, and the only way to look out the window is to be in (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) if you want to be it something that could be remembered for the history of ASU football, this is a moment that people could remember forever.
“I challenge people to get there get out there find a way I get it it's hard I don't know the ticket prices I don't know the flights. I get some people don't have the resources, which is okay, have people over to your house and watch it, which is perfectly fine too, but just make sure you really embrace this moment because they deserve it, and I hope we get to take the field and that 120 guys on our team that have worked their butt off to get to this point take the field and they see maroon and gold in that stadium and as much maroon and gold in that stadium as the opponent.”
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