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HELP ME DECIDE - SPRING GAME? OR TONTOZONA?

I hope this more "light hearted" question/topic will help me out, especially some good incite from you ASU locals. I'm retired and a long time ASU football fan, but not an Alum. I am considering a drive from my home in Maryland (2219 miles from my house to the stadium) to either the Spring Game in April OR to Camp Tontozona in August. Which would you choose and why? Is one better for player and coach access afterwards? I have season tickets, but rarely use them....just to support the program. Im excited to be able to drive to the game AT the Univ of Cincinnati in October. Do you expect a group from ASU to travel to that game? That's all for now....thank you so much, in advance for any incite you can share. GO SUN DEVILS

ASU looks to regain home court advantage

“We talked about trying to take care of business at home, and we haven’t done it the last two times." With four out of their next five contests taking place in Tempe, ASU knows that a potential strong finish for the season starts at home

Speak of the Devils Podcast: ASU baseball season preview with Willie Bloomquist & Scott Sandulli

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It’s almost time to PLAY BALL. To help us get ready for Sun Devil baseball season, we talk with the head man himself, head coach Willie Bloomquist (19:45). Later, we get more insight into the season ahead with DevilsDigest.com reporter @Scott Sandulli (41:21).

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February 12 Roster Snapshot

With the pre-spring practice roster seemingly in place now for the Sun Devils, let’s take a look at the current status of the Arizona State roster and what we can expect in terms of potential additions and attrition at each position.

For reference, here’s a link to the updated 2024 scholarship distribution chart. It will show you that ASU currently has 87 scholarship players, which is two over the 85 limit.

https://arizonastate.rivals.com/news/2023-football-scholarship-distribution-chart

To reiterate, that maximum of 85 scholarship players is a number that could be reduced if the negotiated sanctions agreement with the NCAA includes a reduction to that figure. I don’t see any reduction going beyond three players, and thus a new 82 scholarship limit for 2-3 years would be the worst-case scenario, in my opinion.

And you also have the issue of whether that scholarship player reduction takes place effective immediately or deferred to the 2025 season. While I do think chances are fairly low that the can will be kicked down the road, and ASU will only have to deal with that headache next year, as I’m writing this piece, the negotiated settlement hasn’t been announced, and every week that passes by would make it harder for ASU to juggle the numbers for this year’s roster. If the NCAA sees it that way as well, that could lead to a scenario where the scholarship number would have to be juggled only starting in 2025, but that’s far from a guarantee.

Let’s get the breakdown position by position:


Quarterback (3 scholarship players)


Current scholarship players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior Trenton Bourguet
Redshirt freshman Jaden Rashada
Redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt


Position snapshot: ASU is done adding quarterbacks unless unexpected attrition takes place, which would then put ASU in quite a bind trying to land a quality signal caller in the April portal. Curious to see mid-spring if the depth chart at this role is more defined or if we end spring without really knowing who has the edge for the starting role.


Running back (6 scholarship players)

Current scholarship players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior DeCarlos Brooks
Senior Cameron Skattebo
Senior George Hart III
Sophomore Raleek Brown
Sophomore Kyson Brown
Freshman Jason Brown

Position snapshot: We correctly predicted that Tevin White was the only candidate for attrition here, and that did take place a couple of weeks ago. Six scholarship running backs is certainly a healthy number to have, and there’s no reason to believe that we will see post-spring attrition and, thus, no additions expected.


Wide Receiver (9 scholarship players)

Current scholarship players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

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

Position snapshot: This is another position where I don’t expect to see much movement in terms of players departing and/or portal additions since the nine scholarship players are an ideal number to have. Said for months now that I fully expect Elijah Badger to remain at ASU due to his back injury, which will limit him in spring practice and thus greatly reduce any chance he would enter the April portal. The more likely attrition would be Korbin Hendrix, who, unlike his fellow redshirt freshman Kaleb Black, wasn’t able to distinguish himself during his first year in Tempe and may seek a better opportunity for playing time because this depth chart certainly won’t offer that. Now having Jake Smith eligible and Jordan Tyson healthy for the entire year is going to truly kick up the competition level a good few notches.

As a reminder, Cullen Charles, who is part of the 2024 class, didn’t sign a Letter of Intent since he’s only expected to arrive in 2025, basically exercising the old-school greyshirt approach that we rarely see these days.

Offensive Line (16 scholarship players)

Current players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior Emmit Bohle
Senior Ben Coleman
Senior Leif Fautanu
Senior Cade Briggs
Senior Max Iheanachor
Junior Kyle Scott
Junior Shancco Matautia
Junior Bram Walden
Sophomore Jalen Klemm
Sophomore Sean Na’a
Sophomore Josh Atkins
Redshirt freshman Joey Su’a
Redshirt freshman Sirri Kandiyeli
Freshman Semisi Tonga
Freshman Champ Westbrooks
Freshman Terrell Kim

*Freshman Filiva’a Saluni will be on campus in 2026 after serving an LDS Church mission.

Position snapshot: The ideal number here is 15 scholarship players, and ASU has just that number. But even with the very recent addition of transfer Jalen Klemm from Washington, I think we can expect to see some movement in this position. For starters, I don’t believe that ASU will pass on a good offensive tackle if one should present itself when the April portal window opens. When it comes to attrition, players such as Sirri Kandiyeli and Kyle Scott, who were recruited over in the 2024 class, may not be part of this team after spring practice.



Tight Ends (4 scholarship players)

Current players (in order of 2024 eligibility):

Senior Bryce Pierre
Junior Markeston Douglas
Sophomore Cameron Harpole
Freshman Jayden Fortier

Position snapshot: Adding Douglas and Harpole from the portal was big for ASU. But since Fortier tore his ACL in the state championship, and fully practicing in fall camp following his summer arrival is not a given. ASU, being in the market for a spring portal addition, is a guarantee.

Hoops Results +/- Tracking Thread

We're far enough into the conference season that the results +/- system is starting to mean something.

Methodology:

- The Devils get +1 for conference road wins
- The Devils get -1 for conference home losses

Historically, you must end the season, at minimum, +2 to have any chance at a bye in the P12 tournament. With a 20 game schedule, the goal for any chance is probably +3.

The Devil's currently sit at +1. We have a road sweep and a gagged game against UCLA at home. Getting at least one win this week is imperative.

We can keep this updated as the season progresses.

Portal News n Notes

Am sure we will start to see Portal Tweets abounding next couple wks, so thought I would start a thread

Tyler Shough, Local kid from Hamilton HS, parents both Devils, Grad transfer from Tx Tech......who knows what Pyne does this off season, but would think he would look for greener pastures, even tho would have to sit out a yr.......Shough would be good competition for Rashada and on paper a pretty good backup...in 15 games for R Raiders had 2900 yards, 20 TD's, 430 yards rushing/8 rushing TD's so has to be pretty mobile - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler...ative of,students at Arizona State University.

RB Tevin White Retiring From Football

This was told to me off the record a few days ago so I could not publish it over here. This is more than just him being buried in the depth chart but just really not wanting to play the sport again. He could stay on staff, still be on scholarship and part of the recruiting department. Just don't know if that is etched in stone yet

On Musselman's Status at Arkansas

Wanted to be clear that this post is NOT TO IMPLY that Musselman is a shoo-in to come to ASU if Hurley is gone for whatever reason, but rather explain Musselman's status with Arkansas, which does seem shaky.

According to an Arkansas insider, The AD there expects Musselman to leave after this season. The biggest reason is that the big boosters are done with Musselman and vowed not to fund NIL if he stays, so
Musselman wore out his welcome, especially not being able to recruit the state adequately (I don't know how talent-rich that state is, but either way, it's a sore subject there). I know he coached in Baton Rouge and Reno before he arrived at Fayetteville, but if you look at most stops in his career, he's a big-city guy, and at age 59, maybe he and his family just don't want to live in a small college town anymore (And Louisville is a good size city in comparison).

Musselman really wants the Louisville job and has reportedly made contact with the school through intermediaries. Supposedly, it's a job that Musselman truly covets and tried to get when it was previously open as well. ASU, Minnesota, and UCLA are seemingly his fallback options to Louisville.

My biggest takeaway is that if Louisville truly wants him, I think Musselman is headed that way. I don't know if ASU is necessarily a more attractive job to him than UCLA, but perhaps it is more attractive than Minnesota. He doesn't have deep ties to ASU other than that one year where he was an assistant coach, but I do get the vibe that he is definitely fond of the Valley of the Sun, and ASU wouldn't be a sloppy second option for him if Louisville did not work out.

So there you have it, and again, I wouldn't infer that he would be the number one candidate to replace Hurley, but a name that will come up for sure if he's still available.

Five takeaways from ASU’s 82-70 loss at Colorado

The loss to the Buffs saw the Sun Devils fall to under .500 for the first time since a season-opening loss, as the 82-70 defeat continued a long streak of poor play, yielding some of the more glaring issues in what is shaping up to be a season-wrecking skid

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Scouting Report: Utah

Perseverance is a necessity, not a luxury, for an ASU team anxious to turn the page and not tie the six-game losing streak it endured during the 2020-21 campaign. on Saturday, they face a Utah squad who lost their first home game of the year last night

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