Jeremy Pruitt was the Tennessee football coach fired with cause. Many ASU fans and reporters have suggested that ASU should have fired Herm with cause to avoid paying him $4m and use Pruitt as the example.

In a “just” world, that’s exactly what should have happened. Herm should have been thrown out on his behind and ASU should have clawed back bonuses, not paid a buyout.

But, there is nothing “just” about the world of college football.

Pruitt is now suing the NCAA for $100m. Even if Tennessee isn’t sued (which they might be), I’m sure the Tennessee athletic department is entering a multi year distraction where lawyers will be combing through what is currently hidden in Knoxville.

UCONN went through the same thing when they fired Kevin Ollie for cause.

There’s certainly room for disagreement here, but my position is that ASU did the smart thing to negotiate a reduced buyout of Herm rather than risk this.

“I believe that if I’m able to play a whole season, all my other goals will follow." Cornerback Rodney Bimage and defensive tackle Zac Swanson are among the players on the ASU defense shining early on in spring, poised to improve their impact this year

“We just have a lot of guys that know what the standard is. We're just trying to put a little more on them mentally to keep these guys engaged.” An experienced squad in Tempe is raising the expectation bar in the quest for constant improvement

Austin Barnes, Los Angeles (NL)

Ryan Burr, Toronto

Merrill Kelly, Arizona

Alec Marsh, Kansas City

Spencer Torkelson, Detroit

Trevor Williams, Washington

Gage Workman, Chicago (NL)

While this is an ASU team laden with experience, some of the underclassmen on the Sun Devils’ roster had some head turning plays in Thursday’s practice. Here are the takeaways from today’s session

Fair gentle soul, upon this day of birth, I bid thee joy and mirth in bounteous measure! Let not the sun with envious beams outshine the radiance of thy spirit, nor the moon in her pale course dim the luster of thine coverage of the Devils in the sun. May the heavens, in their vast and starry vault, shower blessings manifold upon thy noble head, and may each passing year, like players on a stage, bring forth new scenes of delight and wonder. Rejoice, sweet friend, for thou art a treasure rare, and this day doth proclaim thy worth to all the world—huzzah and happiest returns!

With thus jubilation, @BigESunDevil I’m certain joins in such fanfare!!

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I am only checking in periodically but I caught top 3 and saw we were up 3-1 and had bases loaded, then our guy chased a high pitch (imo he was swinging for the fences instead of trying to get a base hit to score some runs) and struck out to end the inning without causing damage. I just checked back and it is top 4 tied 3-3.

For those who have watched most all games and closely follow, am I nuts thinking more often than not that when we fail to cause damage, the other team usually causes some damage to us in their next ABs? Is it just my mind playing tricks on me or is that happening?

Here's to pulling out the W!

Tucker Smith, a mid-range 5.6 rated 3-star IOL recruit (according to Rivals) "committed" to Ohio State

there are currently only 5 3-star AZ OL recruits in the class of 2026 (2 5.7s, 2 5.6s and 1 5.5) and no 4 stars

according to Rivals, ASU has offered 4 of them including Smith

not that this is a surprise

“It’s weird to see that I’m the old head. I got to uphold the standard and show these younger guys the ropes a little bit.” Veterans realize that their stature on the team requires new responsibilities this year, complementing on the field performance

"Nobody cares. We're trying to make last year irrelevant." That quote by head coach Kenny Dillingham manifested the attitude of the first day of spring practice stressing that a new mindset in 2025 is needed. Here are our takeaways from the Tuesday session:

Warren Nolan currently predicts that ASU will finish
38-18

RPI #41

How many wins do you think ASU ends the regular season with?