This could be the first true head to head in-state recruiting battle in this 2022 class. The Colorado offensive lineman has been trending as an Arizona commit but is also taking his time with the recruiting process

Talks about ASU at the 36-minute mark but the rest of the interview was quite good even on other topics. This is a show called All Things Covered hosted by Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden

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Randomly curious, how long have y'all been a part of Devils Digest?

I started writing for Hod just before the 2007 season. The story of how I got set up with the gig is a kind of funny one.

I interned in ASU's Sports Information Department from 2005-07, during my last year in school (2005-06) and the next year as a GA. When that internship wrapped up, I moved on to "normal" work but wanted to stay involved in ASU sports. I got the contact information for both of the longtime ASU publishers for the two recruiting sites and emailed them both to see if either needed a freelance writer. One of the emails bounced back as undeliverable (I was given the wrong email address), the other, however, made its way to Hod and the rest is history.

Prior to coming on to Hod's staff, I remember keeping an eye on the recruiting sites (including good ol' Cactus Ranch) back to about the 2004/2005 range. The oldest recruiting memory I remember having was tracking Zach Miller's recruitment.

How long have you all been around?

These three linemen (left to right LaDarius Henderson, former NFL OL Dominic Raiola, Dohonovan West and Ben Scott) are working out (while the team has a break in summer strength and condition program) with former NFL OL Dominic Raiola

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Here is a look at the OPS for our 7 freshmen this season (Maroon) compared to the "Super 6" (Black) we just lost last season. Feel free to poke holes in it. But, this has the potential to be a pretty good group if their stats as freshmen are any indication.

Below I also included a chart of the "Super 6" progression year by year at ASU which shows improvement year over year as the general rule for that group of hitters.

Obviously Covid puts an asterisk by a lot of this, but, as a whole I think the current group compares pretty favorably to the last group that ended up being pretty special.

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After a look at the latest ASU news with insight from @Hod Rabino (24:05), @Joe Healey & I discuss George Kliavkoff's appointment and the legacy of Larry Scott with George Wrighster of the Pac-12 Apostles and UnafraidShow.com (1:13:40)

We then pitch our 10 ideas to fix college football. From rule changes to broadcasting and more, we get creative. We then wrap up with a great conversation with ASU 4-star WR signee Lonyatta Alexander (2:11:21).

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE​

Web Stream | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music | Stitcher | iHeart Radio

So much for that NBA dream next year... best of luck to Remy!

🤣

Pac-12 CEO Group approves elimination of intraconference transfer rule & increased student-athlete involvement in Conference governance
SAN FRANCISCO – Supporting recommendations from the Pac-12 Council, the Conference’s CEO Group approved a number of measures at its annual spring meeting on Monday. Among the actions taken by the presidents and chancellors of Pac-12 institutions were votes to provide student-athletes enhanced flexibility in deciding where to study and compete, and to increase their involvement in the Pac-12’s official governance process.

“The Pac-12 mission is to develop the next generation of leaders in academics and athletics,” said Michael Schill, Pac-12 CEO Group Chair and University of Oregon President. “Providing student-athletes with more flexibility in choosing their path and greater representation in the Pac-12 governance process strengthens our commitment to achieving that mission.”

Elimination of Pac-12 Intraconference Transfer Rule
The unanimous decision removes the requirement that all undergraduate transfers within the Conference serve one academic year in residence at their new institution before being permitted to compete. Moving forward, the eligibility of intraconference transfers will be governed by NCAA legislation. The decision is effective immediately for all transfers entering their second Conference institution in the fall of 2021 and only applies the first time an undergraduate student-athlete decides to transfer.

SALT Composition
To increase student-athlete representation in the Conference’s official voting governance structure, 12 additional representatives (one from each institution) will be added to the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT). Previously made up of two student-athletes from each institution, SALT membership will now include at least three student-athletes per school during each academic year, with those three student-athletes representing each sport season (fall, winter, spring).
In October of 2015, the Pac-12 became the first major conference to formally integrate the student-athlete perspective into its formal governance process with the addition of SALT to the Pac-12 Council, which also includes Athletics Directors, Faculty Athletics Representatives and Senior Woman Administrators.

..........and for that matter, if we made the Pac ship. how many would opt-out of that?

I had 2020 as a 9-3 season plus a bowl game where MAYBE 1-2 players opted out of the bowl

could be quite a few more this season and would be a bummer

Eligible and most likely to declare for the 2022 draft (does not include players like Michael Matus/Amiri Johnson/Kejuan Markham/TJ Pesefea/etc that will be eligible but have no logical reason):

DEFENSE
No eligibility remaining after 2021:
Jack Jones/Chase Lucas/Evan Fields/Travez Moore/Shannon Forman/Deandre Pierce
Remaining eligibility in 2022 and/or beyond:
Jermayne Lole/Tyler Johnson/DJ Davidson/Merlin Robertson/Timarcus Davis/D Black/Kyle Soelle


OFFENSE
No eligibility remaining after 2021:
Kellen Diesch/Henry Hattis/Curtis Hodges
Remaining eligibility in 2022 and/or beyond:
Dohnovan West/Jayden Daniels/Rachaad White/Bryan Thompson/Geor'quarious Spivey

Our starting lineup after the u4 game could look DRASTICALLY different (hopefully not)

These are the standings following this past weekend games....

1) Oregon = 17-7 & 33-11

2) AU = 19-8 & 35-13

3) Stanford = 13-8 & 28-12

4) Oregon St = 14-10 & 32-17

4) ASU = 14-10 & 30-16

4) UCLA = 14-10 & 30-16

8) USC = 10-14 & 22-22

Cal beat Stanford two out of three games over weekend and play another game today...

Stanford will finish season with three less conference games since their series against Wash was canceled a month or so ago...

AU travels to Oregon St and Stanford travels to Oregon this next weekend while the Devils travel to USC and UCLA hosts Cal...

This will be the final AU series of the season coming up, while the other teams have two series left, so there is still a lot of room for the Devils to move up in the standings, with playing a poor USC team on the road and then getting UCLA at home to finish off season...

Can the Devils finish strongly to move up into the top 3 spots in the PAC or return to the middle of the PAC somewhere..??

Stay tuned...Go Devils!!!

Not rated yet, but that will be done in a couple of weeks. Right now ASU and Utah only two Power 5 offers and that should change as well

I’ll go with softball 🥎

No way we get past UCLA, but if ASU ⚾️goes to a regional, they will not get past second round either, and at best will be a #2, but probably a #3 unless they finish very strong!

Mac Friday's game recap

The redshirt was never able to crack the two-deep. Showed some development throughout the years but not enough to really be a contributor. If you recall stated weeks ago regarding the scholarship distribution chart that he wouldn't be part of the team moving forward

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Fun Returns to ASU Baseball

For us skeptics, this is more like it as we ask whether we can keep it up down the stretch and, maybe, not only make the playoffs but actually make it to a Super Regional final and beyond..??

The team has shown a lot of resiliency, with credit going to both the players and the staff for plugging away, and now finally taking a series against a team ranked above them in the PAC standings, before the weekend started, and one that was also nationally ranked...

Just as importantly, we are not doing this with "small ball" as the cannons have been fired over the fences, in all directions, by the likes of Ethan Long and some of his teammates, on a pretty regular basis, these days...

Whether it will continue or not is anyone's guess at this time but, from a recruiting standpoint, how great is it to be able to give recruits the following sales pitch...

Come and play for us and you can join the "Home Run Kings Team" of college baseball where number one MLB draft pick - Tork - and now - Ethan Long - have set records hitting home-runs for ASU...

I mean what good HS or JC hitter doesn't want to come to a program that features the long ball rather than the small ball philosophy some programs promote...

When I was growing up in NJ in the 60s, I was a Yankee fan who got to watch Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, etc, knock the hell out of a baseball, all of the time, that was a whole lot of fun, especially since the Yankees won a lot more often than not, featuring those two and other Home-Run Kings...

Hitting wise, the Sun Devils were third in the conference with a .293 BA before this weekend series started against OSU...the Cats were first with a .328 BA...

Pitching wise, the Devils were eighth in the PAC with a 4.72 team ERA while the Beavers were first with a 2.91 ERA (again before this weekend series started)...

And, so far, as we all know, the Devils have scored 20 runs against the Beavers in two games with a lot of the runs coming from home-runs and not through playing "small ball"...

Fielding wise, the Beavers led the PAC with a .981% average compared to the Devils fifth place standing before the weekend started at .976%...

On another relevant note, the Devils were only seventh in the league in committing errors, before this weekend, having committed 39 errors to both AU and Wazzu, tied for first in this negative category, having committed 59 errors apiece...

This mixture of categories has lead the Devils to a fourth place standing in the PAC race that looks like this today...

1) Oregon = 16-7 and 32-11

2) AU = 18-8 and 34-13

3) Stanford = 13-7 and 28-11

4) ASU = 14-9 and 30-15 (nice to have joined the 30 win club once again)

5) OSU = 13-10 and 31-17

So, with a sweep of the Beavers, they will be in 4th place all by themselves but, if they lose today, they will share that spot with the Beavers...

In any event, we are making progress and can only hope and trust that it will continue through the end of the regular season and carry over into the playoffs, where it would be nice to move on to a regional final rather than getting bumped out right away, which is what has always happened, so far, with Tracy's previous teams...

It's much better being a Sun Devil camper to wake up each morning feeling refreshed rather than depressed...

Right..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!