"We had the stops that we were able to get some baskets of transition. It was fun to watch the guys play that way tonight.” Many of ASU's 23 wins last season were a stout defensive effort fueling an offense that struggled with its perimeter shooting. Tonight that formula worked like a charm again

Hod, i know you have posted some names here and there, but do you believe KD has whittled the OC candidates down to a short list yet? With recruiting going on, guessing he would love to knock this out ASAP (if right candidate is available) in hopes might impact recruiting and even more so the portal

We had a running list last year, figured it would be good to get another going. This list excludes Arizona HS alums from ASU that will transfer.

OL Cade Bennett (Notre Dame Prep/San Diego State)
QB Ben Finley (Paradise Valley HS/Cal)
RB Stevie Rocker (Canyon del Oro HS/Arizona)
OL Brayden Rohme (Perry HS/Cal)
RB Eli Sanders (Chandler HS/Iowa State)
QB Tyler Shough (Hamilton HS/Texas Tech)
QB E.J. Warner (Brophy/Temple)

Per The Athletic.

Login to view embedded media
Word on the street is 4* RB will be visiting this weekend......most evaluators have him picked for Oregon or Washington, but lets see what KD/S Aguano can game plan to make him think about Tempe

I never hear people say much about AJ Cooper and Vince Amey ? I doubt he lets Rangle go as they are buds.

Starts at the 21:36 mark, summing up the 2023 seaosn, NIL talk, and more

Did Isaia Glass enter the portal?

Good evening Huddle members,

First of a three-game homestand that I think will tell us a lot about this team after a hot and cold performance in Las Vegas last week.

Login to view embedded media

That is what Dillingham said in the radio postgame was the amount needed in order to build the team in an effective way, both retaining its star players and attracting quality ones from the portal. This is why he said that he can devote as much time to recruiting on the road in the next two weeks.

Reality at ASU in a nut shell.

Don't know how close to coming to ASU he is or not, but is the son of Brad Johnson he is a grad transfer eligible immediately. Obviously with a coaching change at TAMU looking for stability

Badger not playing. Guessing he, Rashada and Conyers are going to hit the portal after the season ends. Have been hearing that they've never bought into what D has been preaching.

The current CFB recruiting scheme offers three potential pay day milestones to prospective recruits - freshman recruiting, 1st transfer, grad transfer. Each of those are opportunities where the player has increased leverage to negotiate NIL deals with their current and/or prospective schools because these are the times they are essentially free agents.

This could incentivize a prep school model for football recruits. My theory goes like this (assuming 120 credits to graduate from undergrad program):

1. Graduate HS, preferably with as many college credits as the student can manage to earn at their HS. (0-12 credits)

2. Go to a prep HS instead of college for the post-graduation academic year and Fall after HS graduation. This prep school will have a college style S&C program for football players. The prep school will also offer college credit courses via the high school so the student does not enroll in a college and doesn't start their college eligibility yet. (30-42 credits)

3. FIRST PAYDAY: Enroll at the college of the student's choice to play football for the following Spring. Also take full summer school at this institution. (57-69 credits)

4. Continue taking courses at this college for the following academic year, hopefully earning playing time on the field. Also attend summer school at this school. (99-112 credits, 1/5 eligibility used)

5. Attend school and play at initial institution for Fall semester. (114 credits-graduate, 2/5 eligibility used)

6. SECOND PAYDAY: Enter transfer portal after season. Transfer to new school or stay at current school with larger NIL deal. Take spring courses and participate in spring practices. (graduate-graduated)

7. Play football under new NIL deal that Fall. (graduate - graduated, 3/5 eligibility used)

8. THIRD PAYDAY: Enter transfer portal after season. Transfer to new school or stay at current school with larger NIL deal. Take spring courses and participate in spring practices (graduated-graduated)

9. Play football under new NIL deal that Fall. (graduated - graduated, 4/5 eligibility used)

10. FOURTH PAYDAY: Enter transfer portal after season. Transfer to new school or stay at current school with larger NIL deal. Take spring courses and participate in spring practices (graduated-graduated)

11. Use last year of college eligibility under newest NIL deal. (graduated-graduated, 5/5 eligibility used)

This opens up the possibility for four paydays instead of three. Obviously, there is risk of NIL lowering after transfer. But under the current scenario, getting to graduation as early as possible but using one transfer pre-graduation and then unlimited transfers after looks to provide the most leverage for the players.

Here are the relevant dates for the 2024 recruiting cycle:

The recruiting glossary can be found here

The Dead Period runs from Nov. 27-30.

The Contact period runs from Dec. 1-16

The quiet period runs one day on Dec. 17

The Dead Period runs from December 18th, 2023, through January 11th, 2024.

The exception to the dead period is Jan. 3-7, 2024: A quiet period for two- and four-year college transfer prospective student-athletes who intend to enroll midyear.

The early signing period takes place between December 20-22, 2023, and the second (or traditional one, if you will) signing period runs February 7 – April 1, 2024

The contact period resumes Jan. 12 through Feb. 3

The quiet period is Feb. 4

The Dead period returns from Feb. 5 through Mar. 5

The Quiet period is Mar. 4 - April 14th

Contact period Apr. 15 through May 25

Quiet period May 30 through June 23

Dead period Jun. 24 through Jul 24

Queit period Jul. 25-31

I wonder if he'd consider joining his ex teammate Xavion Alford at ASU?

“There is always role allocation and trying to adjust to a guy that plays a little differently. Guys are trying to understand where he can be effective." With a plethora of newcomers, the degree of chemistry on this ASU team is still a work in progress

WARNING: Long post ahead

I want to get this out of the way first - NIL sucks, the transfer portal as currently constituted sucks, and CFB is going in the wrong direction. At least that's my opinion. That's the baseline I'm working from and wanted to start my post with that. So why will I renew my season tickets and why will I continue my NIL donations? That's what the rest of this post will discuss.

It needs to be acknowledged that NIL feels like the athletic department spinning their screen around and presenting this to the fans:



Fans, please buy season tickets, pay the gift for the privilege of buying those season tickets, pay for parking, buy merch, buy $6 sodas and $12 beers, give more on Sun Devil Giving Day, pay for streaming services to watch the games, and support the sponsors of Sun Devil Athletics. Thanks for doing all of that - and oh, by the way, pay the players or we're going to suck and your favorite players are going to leave at the end of the season. Also, the people running athletics get to point back at us, the fans, on why we suck. It's not their fault, it's ours. We need $5 million (which will surely be more next year) or you've failed, fans.

Sounds like a great deal, huh?

I've enjoyed being a rabid Sun Devil fan since I arrived in Tempe in 1992, but the current college sports environment is draining that enjoyment because it all just seems like a money grab. As many of us have said previously, if we want to be a fan of professional sports we'll watch the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. At least there are competitive balance mechanisms in place in those leagues where the worst teams get chances at the best players. The current college environment is only favoring the blue bloods (with a couple exceptions for schools that have one or two rabid, mega-rich alums that can play the NIL game on behalf of the rest of the schools' fans). In college sports, every change seems to lead to the best teams getting more of the best players (if not initially, eventually). There is a reason that nobody that hadn't won a college national championship previously has won one since the introduction of the BCS system. It makes it hard to have hope as a fan of a P5 non-blue blood (and God bless G5 fans).

However, even with all I've said above, I'm going to renew my season tickets and continue my (modest) NIL donations. I'm doing this because I believe the current structure of college athletics is going to have to change. I could be wrong and I may find myself cancelling those things in a few years if it looks like the NIL arms race and easy transfers is going to be the norm. But I have to believe (or maybe just hope?) that isn't the future of college athletics.

So, because I believe ASU can compete, that the growing alumni base can provide enough support for successful athletics programs, and that ASU can come out the other end of this transformational time in college athletics with a spot at the "adults table" of college football, I'm going to continue to do what I can to help make that happen. It helps that my kids still really enjoy the games, too. Basically, I'm going to try to be part of the group that bridges the gap until college athletics figures out a more sustainable path forward.

If it doesn't, then I'll be a former college sports fan. Until then, I'll do my part.

Looking at ASU specifically, I think a few things are going to have to happen to improve football (and basketball, to a lesser extent) so that we end up being invited to whatever smaller group of schools that get to play at the highest levels of college football in the early 2030s (in no particular order):

1. The new AD has to be a good hire (see here for my ideas on what the new AD's priorities should be).
2. The department needs to run lean and with good people (this might be the situation now, I don't know, but it's important moving forward).
3. The NIL efforts need to emphasize a sizzle and steak approach in which the masses/everyday fans fund the steak (see here for my idea of what that means) and the donors fund the sizzle (extra payments to specific players to keep them around or - earmuffs, NCAA - entice them to come to ASU). Us everyday fans aren't going to be able to give star players what they need to come to or stay at ASU. That'll be up to the deep pockets. But we can provide the foundational funds that lets players and parents know there is money there and that they'll be well taken care of while they're in Tempe.
4. Athletics has to be innovative like the rest of the university.
5. ASU needs to repair/strengthen its relationship with everyday fans (see here for my idea of what that could look like).
6. Football should focus more recruiting efforts on SoCal. One of our main competitive advantages over our future B12 peers will be that we are the closest school to the SoCal recruiting area. We have to capitalize on that. We can't rely primarily on AZ and TX.
7. ASU should lead a group of similar peers to reintroduce the one year waiting period for transfers that aren't grad transfers or a result of a head coaching change. This would be a counterbalance on the "wild west" nature of the current NIL game and allow schools to invest in and develop players with less risk of losing them when a blue blood needs someone at their position because their player declared for the draft.

Also, I should mention that I know some of the directors of the Sun Angel Collective and I trust them to do their best with the money I donate. They won't be perfect, but I also don't think they'll squander funds. Without a trustworthy option, I don't think I'd be an NIL donor.

In the end, I guess I'm an ASU fan, a college athletics fan, and willing to try to be part of the solution while college athletics and ASU figures themselves out. What else am I going to do on Saturdays in the Fall?

Whether Jaden Rashada does or doesn't stay there are going to be a quarterback or two at ASU to replace in that room once the photo opens. Good move here by ASU taking advantage of the coaching change in College Station to try and lure away commits. Mississippi State who is you will face next season ironically is another team pursuing Maddox.

Login to view embedded media