A transfer to Arizona State has also been a homecoming for former Scottsdale Saguaro placekicker Parker Lewis, who may be the most versatile in the Sun Devils' special teams room and is driven to turn the page after the experience he had at his last stop

There was no practice today as customary on the first day of classes. Tomorrow's practice is closed for the media. Saturday morning we will be there to cover practice.

We will have at least a couple of stories on the front page by Saturday.

9 days away before the season opener...

"I feel a lot more explosive. I have a plan for my rush, and if that rush doesn’t work out, I have a countermove I can use every time." DL Elijah O’Neal has shown the fruits of his labor during his steady improvement and LB Jordan Crook is eager to defy the critics

That was one of the headlines this morning on the Daily Star Sports Section front page under the "Making Moves Behind The Scenes" as a way to introduce the Cats new Football General Manager - Gaizka Crowley...

Crowley worked, doing essentially the same thing, I would assume, at UNLV under Marcus Arroyo when he was the head coach there a few years ago...

I don't believe ASU has a General Manager although, Jason Cvercko, is listed as Dilly's Asst AD in charge of Player Personnel and Recruiting...

Daily Star columnist, Michael Lev, thinks the Cats GM under coach Brent Brennan may be the Cats MVP for all of the "behind the scenes" work he does for the football program in getting talent to Tucson...

Lev says this about the position "the general manager has become one of the most important figures for college football programs as they grapple with the transfer portal, NIL and, as soon as next year, revenue-sharing and scholarship reduction"...

The GM at Alabama makes about $825K a year and USC was prepared to pay him $1M a year to do the same things the Trojans but he stayed at Bama...

I don't know how much either ASU Cvercko, who came from Boise St and Wash St before that, or the Cats Crowley make but I'm sure that it isn't close to what the guy at Bama is making although what they do is just as important...

They evaluate talent at all levels and keep track of what's going on in the portal, etc...

They also have compliance and liaison duties within their universities...

I don't know if Cvercko's Sun Devil liaison work entails working with the Sun Angel Collective or not but it certainly does in some places where a university has basically integrated NIL work within their athletic depts...

I also don't know how much of what they do is basically logistical work compared to evaluative work in defining talent needs and the efforts to address those needs...

My guess is that it overlaps to a significant degree, although it will be up to Dilly and his staff to give a thumps up or down regarding a potential prospect...

It will also be interesting to see how this trend continues to expand within each bureaucracy, as some schools now have duties split between just working on HS recruiting and another section working on transfer portal recruiting, since there is so much turnover these days...

And, in the future, there will be Cap Management as each school will only get so much money to divide amongst their many sports and especially how that effects Title IX, etc...

ASU has more sports than just about any other university and had to add three women sports to its roster of sports once it added hockey...

I would imagine that a good GM would be worth their weight in gold...

One thing is for sure, there is no such thing as amateur college athletics anymore as its all turned into exactly what the pros do in the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc...

It will be interesting to see who does better in the coming years in football between both ASU and AU won't it, especially as it relates to their "GM" positions at each school...

Go ASU and Go Devils!!!

These Cowpokes are innovative and highly competitive, I will give them that. We ought to try something like this, immediately. Get that energy building.

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Caleb McCullough has seen in a lot in his time at Arizona State. He made the jump to college in the COVID year. He weathered the end of the Herm Edwards era and the coaching change. Through it all, he stayed loyal to the program, put in the work, and has steadily increased his role. Heading into 2024, he’s poised to be a key contributor at linebacker.

On this episode, we discuss the ups and downs of his career, what it means to be a “door-to-door” Devil, the potential of the linebacker group, the biggest hit he’s ever delivered, and more.

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“I do think that we don't complain as much as we have. We'll find out on game day. But we're getting better at that." While Kenny Dillingham criticized the effort in today's practice and took the blame for it, he has been pleased with the team's demeanor in the preseason

The age-old adage ‘save the best for last’ wasn’t in the cards for ASU football on its final day of fall camp, as head coach Kenny Dillingham described it as “the worst practice of camp.” Here are our takeaways from today’s session

So says Jon Wilner in his Big-12 football article today in the newspaper...

Why..??

More uncertainty at QB than any other team in the conference...

More questions at skill positions than just about any other team...

And, no team in the Big-12 has a tougher schedule than Dilly's Sun Devils...

Add it all up for Dilly and it seems this is his first rebuild year instead on his second...

"If any coach with just three wins to his credit, so far, ever deserved a raise it's Dilly"...

Devils don't miss any of Wilner's top five teams in the league that include Utah, Oklahoma St, K-State, Arizona and Kansas but do miss projected bottom teams like TCU, Baylor, Colorado, and Houston...

In stark contrast, teams like Utah, AU and Oklahoma St only play two other teams in the top five category...

Kansas only plays one other top five team, while K-State plays three although the AU game isn't a conference game...

Nobody said life was fair but this is ridiculous, IMHO...

I say Dilly will deserve a big raise if he somehow get us to six or more wins and into a bowl game as a result...

Go Devils!!!

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Football is alllllmost here, and it’s time for our annual season preview and predictions roundtable. Joined in studio by @Hod Rabino and Sports360AZ’s Jordan Hamm, @Joe Healey dive deep into the season ahead and end with our full slate of season predictions.

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Toady's back-and-forth practice started light in the Tempe heat but quickly turned up a notch during the 11-on-11 portion, with sides making big plays consistently. The evenly matched session featured great offensive sets, while the defense kept the pressure on. Here’s our detailed report.

"I live by a motto, ‘How great do you want to be?’. Ask yourself how great do you want to be because it's as great as you’re going to make yourself." ASU's starting QB Sam Leavitt's approach ever since arriving in January has resulted in the goal he put forth for himself