I have four FREE tickets in Section G Row 8 to give away for tonight's hoops game tonight at 8 plus a FREE parking pass. Please let me know if interested

Barring unforeseen circumstances and per a person with knowledge of his recruitment four-star RB Jason Brown will commit to ASU. May happen today, but if not doesn't appear to be a process that will drag out

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And things are trending well with this Reno EDGE

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From the PAC-12 Hotline this morning...

These are the first conference NET rankings per Jon Wilner...

Big 12 = 7 teams

SEC = 6 teams

Big 10 = 5 teams

Mtn West = 5 teams

ACC = 4 teams

Big East = 4 teams

PAC = 3 teams (#3 AU, #28 Wazzu and #29 Utah)

Of course, the rankings will change as the season progresses but it appears that the Big 12 will be a much harder conference for Bobby's Sun Devils to have "competitive traction" inside that conference...

But, time will tell...

BTW, the Devils play SMU tonight at home starting at 8:00 on FS1...

Go Devils!!!

Men's basketball, gymnastics and women's swimming and diving all reached 100 percent GSR for the sixth-straight year

Once you take both Texas and Oklahoma, who are headed to the SEC next season, the rest of the Big 12 has seven teams in bowl games...

Texas Tech plays Cal in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport on Monday, Dec 18 (ASU plays on road next year)

UCF plays Duke in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday, Dec 22 in Tampa (its a pirate festival) (home game for Devils next year)

Kansas plays UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix on Tuesday, Dec 26 (home game for Devils next year)

West Virginia plays North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Wed, Dec 27 (Devils miss)

Oklahoma St plays TAMU in the Texas Bowl on Wed, Dec 27 in Houston (road game next year)

K-State plays NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Thursday, Dec 28, in Orlando (road game)

Iowa St plays Memphis in the Liberty Bowl on Friday, Dec 29, in Memphis (Devils miss)

BYU (home), TCU (miss), Houston (miss), Baylor (miss) and Cincinnati (road) did not qualify for a bowl game...

So, next season the Devils miss three of the teams that didn't qualify for a bowl game and also get Utah at home and AU on the road...

I'm wondering where our Sun Devils will fit in all this Big 12 related business as we played Cal and Oklahoma St this past season and lost to both although some think we should have beaten both...

In other related bowls, Utah plays Northwestern in the Las Vegas bowl and AU plays Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio...

I've included Utah and AU as I think that with Cam Rising back the Utes will be a top team in the Big 12, along with AU that has most of its impact players returning...

I'll be looking forward to see how the Cats do against the Sooners in their bowl game...

Obviously, our Sun Devils, under Dilly, are going to have to really step it up if they want to regain "competitive traction" next year as new members of the Big 12...

So, in your estimation, what would "competitive traction" look like for our Sun Devils in the Big 12 next season..??

Would winning enough to be bowl eligible next year be realistic, given all the obstacles Dilly still faces at ASU..??

It certainly looks like a very tall order to me but how about you..??

Go Dilly and Go Devils!!!

Was told by an individual close to the team that all the coaches that were on staff last year will receive a two-year contract extension. Doing so after just one year at ASU certainly delivers a strong message to each and every one of them of how much they are valued in Tempe.

True, some coaches may get offers to lure them away, and in the world of college football, you never say never. But the belief is that there's a good chance that all these coaches will stay put. Continuity is important for a program in rebuild mode, and the couple of tweaks that were done with the offensive coordinator and defensive line coach can only help the program with the rebuild.

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2023 was a weird season. And no position group felt that weirdness more acutely than the offensive line. Due to an unprecedented number of key injuries, the Sun Devils used 11 different starting combinations in 12 games.

But each week, at various positions based on team need, and sometimes playing one-handed, was Joey Ramos. The veteran O-lineman transferred home to ASU last year after several years at Iowa State, but missed most of that year with injury. But he battled through adversity this year, becoming a key member of the line and a team leader. On this episode, Joey and I discuss the season and the lessons learned from it, the One Snap Brotherhood, the culture being installed in Tempe, his Draft dreams, and more...including a great anecdote about the UCLA game.

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Becasue why not? LOL

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The Sun Devil season is over, but things are anything but slow. @Joe Healey and I begin with a dive into the flurry of portal activity and break down the two coaching staff changes, before looking at some snubs from the Pac-12′s all-conference teams. Then it’s our turn to hand out the hardware, as we hand out our annual season awards.

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Oh what could have been…

The first tight end commit in their 2024 class, beating Arizona in this recruiting battle. “I just knew this was home, and that I want to be a Sun Devil. I know we're about to flip the program around.”

1. Both of the Jackson brothers will be out for a while as they each suffered an upper body injury, on the same play, in game 1 at Colorado College.

2. ASU has received a commitment from a player who "is a sure fire 1st round NHL draft pick". Cannot release his name until he officially signs.

3. ASU is in on other players who are also sure fire 1st round NHL draft picks. This really shows how the program and Mullett Arena is attracting the best of the best. To put it into perspective, ASU currently has 3 NHL drafted players on the team. DU has 11, and we still split the series with them. North Dakota also has 11, while BU and BC have 14 each (highest in the NCAA from what I see). Current USCHO rankings go: ND, BU, BC, DU for what it's worth.

4. Next year all games will be streamed via the NCHC pay site. There is a "season" pass for individual teams that can be purchased. Along with that, ASU is planning to seriously upgrade its broadcast quality. Students will still participate but they won't be the main people doing the production. If you watched the game televised via PAC12 Arizona, that is the quality level ASU wants to be at for all of its home games next season.

5. NIL, since some have been curious. It's not really a thing in college hockey. A main reason for that is the amount of talent out there and only having 64 NCAA Hockey teams for spots. Most teams don't do any NIL finding for individual players because there's no reason to. If a player starts to ask "what's in it for me", most coaching staffs will end the discussion because they know there are many more players out there just as good or better where NIL isn't a concern. It's about culture.

6. Last season ASU Hockey "tickets" brought in over $3.5M, making ASU Hockey the 3rd, and only other, revenue sport behind Football and Men's Basketball. In terms of attendance we are averaging over 4800 per game, also making it the 3rd most attended sport at ASU behind Football and Men's Basketball. They expect the numbers to continue to climb, especially next season and beyond when we're part of the NCHC and people get used to conference teams coming in every year.

Top-50 cornerback, Top-100 Texas prospect, and Texas state champion Chris Johnson commits to ASU. “They showed me how much they believe in me, and during my whole visit I knew that I could see myself in Tempe.”

With all the robust activity that has and will take place regarding the transfer portal and ASU, I pinned these three threads, which will be updated as needed, so you guys can easily refer to them and not search for that information.

The three threads are:


Transfer Portal Central


2024 Roster Snapshot: Offense


2024 Roster Snapshot: Defense

DEC 4 UPDATE

Current players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior Trenton Bourguet
Junior Jacob Conover
Redshirt freshman Jaden Rashada


Position snapshot: It was a bizarre season where all four scholarship quarterbacks did get snaps throughout the year. Needless to say, even that premise is not going to have all of the current signal callers on roster content with staying put. So, how do we see the roster picture here?

Rashada is likely going to be the clubhouse leader and the starting quarterback in 2024. I don’t believe he will leave for NIL reasons, but that’s not to say that ASU doesn’t have to step up its efforts and get him a better deal so there won’t be any wandering eyes.

Bourguet said he is going to stay, which is great news due to his experience and leadership. He’s someone who started six games last year and seven games in 2023. Conover may stay, too but he won't be in contention for a starting role.

All in all, I don’t see ASU entering spring practice with less than three scholarship quarterbacks. But the staff will try to land a quarterback in the portal to replace Drew Pyne. A Conover departure will definitely compell ASU to take two QB's. Either way, it would be hard to land an above-average quarterback from the portal who would know that his chances of starting in Tempe are fairly low.

Running back

Current players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior DeCarlos Brooks
Senior Cameron Skattebo
Junior George Hart III
Junior Tevin White
Sophomore Kyson Brown

Position snapshot: Barring unforeseen circumstances, this may be one position where we could see very little movement. The staff would be satisfied to enter the 2024 season with Skattebo and Brooks leading the charge again, knowing that Brown, who didn’t redshirt in his first year as a Sun Devil, will only get better.

I don’t see Hart leaving ASU with one year left, but Tevin White may be a different story. Admittedly, I thought he would be a bigger factor this year, but it seemed as if an injury mid-spring practice just derailed that possibility for the rest of the year. Yet, Brooks, perhaps being one of the bigger surprise newcomers, certainly had a hand in White not seeing the field as often. On the other hand, even when Brooks missed several games due to different injuries, it was Brown and not White who was backing up Skattebo. Could that cause White to leave? Plausible, in my opinion.

ASU is likely to add four-star RB Jason Brown. If White left, that would obviously increase the pressure on ASU to replace him as well, and dipping into the portal isn’t out of the question to do so.

Wide Receiver

Current players (in order of eligibility):

Senior Elijhah Badger
Senior Xavier Guillory
Senior Melquan Stovall
Junior Jake Smith
Junior Troy Omeire
Sophomore Jordan Tyson
Redshirt freshman Kaleb Black
Redshirt freshman Korbin Hendrix

Incoming freshmen:

Zechariah Sample

Cullen Charles

(As a reminder, Elijah Baesa will not be part of this class; it is only a matter of time until he decommits as he is no longer in ASU’s plans)

Position snapshot: This position is one where I don’t expect to see much movement in terms of players departing and/or portal additions.

Elijah Badger has a good deal of film to leave for the portal, maybe even seriously entertaining entering the NFL draft. BUT, the back injury he suffered in the Oregon game has a high probability of derailing any thoughts of leaving ASU. I did detail this here.

Him staying on board is huge for a group that should get Stovall back (should have one more year left); Jake Smith will now be eligible in 2024, Omeire and Tyson are definitely high-ceiling guys, and I wouldn’t give up on Guillory even though he didn’t perform during the season as well as he did in practices. And the fact that his late-season leg injury will have him limited in spring practice may make the comeback process longer, but also one that could yield dividends. Black showed some flashes as a freshman and could break out during spring practice. Hendrix is hoping for a strong spring to make his mark. Sample is one of the more intriguing incoming freshmen in the 2024 class, and curious to see how well he can hit the ground running.

Andre Johnson leaving will have ASU looking for a wide receiver in the portal. But I don't see two players added here unless unexpected attrition takes place.

By my count there are 53 ASU players on the roster who are currently not in the portal and have eligibility next year

ASU currently has 15 commits from the high school ranks

That leaves 17 spots (85-53-15) for additional commits from the high school and junior college ranks, as well as available spots for transfer portal additions

I don't expect more than a few more current players to possibly leave the team in this portal window, and not expecting more than 2-3 prospects to decommit (we already know WR Elijah Baesa is one of them)

Needless to say that after spring practice we could see more current player attrition, as well as portal additions in that April window.

Taking to multiple individuals on this subject, here's what I found out

Last night there was a meeting at a booster's house, which, aside from being attended by other boosters, was also attended by Dillingham, Ward, Ragle, Samples, and Carrington. The presentation by the various football staff members was impressive and resonated very well, to the tune of $1.2MM raised. Even though Dillngham put a $5MM figure to be raised, getting closer to $4-4.5MM can help get the program through the upcoming season. Right now, ASU is a more than halfway there, from what I can gather. A $4.5MM figure would put you middle of the pack in the Big 12 in terms of NIL numbers.

The walk-on safety played well this year, even in limited opportunities. Alford and Warren coming back next year was gonna make it hard for him to get the same volume of Saturday snaps.

ASU No. 99 and both of thier losses to date are quadrant 1 losses

SMU its next opponent is No. 84