On campus right now offically visiting, hearing from multiple people that things are going very well. Already put in an ASU forecast for him.

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And this window will run until April 30th.

As a reminder the reason that ASU opened their spring practices the last week of March was with the transfer portal in mind.

ASU as we know is going to end spring practice on April 26th just 4 days before the portal will close. I'm not saying that will prevent players from entering the portal but I think it is a good strategic move to give less days for players to contemplate this and having a realistic chance of not losing the players you wanted to keep because they will have less days to decide and could as a result stay with the team.

To be clear I would not be shocked to see a few players who are simply not having a good spring practice, and are realistic enough to know that they're never going to see the field to not want to wait until the end of spring practice to enter the portal. And like I said those are the players that a departure now versus a departure in a week or two really won't make a whole lot of difference for the team.

I think the by and large the majority of the players who will decide to enter the portal are probably going to wait until the end of spring practice to do so but we'll see.

From Jon Wilner's PAC-12 Hotline today in the Daily Star...

According to Wilner, the 10 PAC public schools experienced an $81M shortfall last year and it gets worse when you subtract the support schools give to their athletic depts that take two primary forms...

1) direct transfers from central campus to athletic depts, and...

2) money from student fees that's allocated to athletics...

If you remove that support money, the shortfall for those schools and Stanford totaled $252.8M that is a huge chuck of change...

This has lead David Carter, a professor of sports business at USC and founder of the Sports Business Group, to conclude...

"Schools need to soberly address the role sports is intended to play on campus, and, as a result, schools need to measure both the return on investment and the return on objective associated with funding athletic departments"...

The context for this conclusion is based on these observations...

1) Typically, only men's football and basketball turn a profit or generate income for the athletic dept...

2) This means that over a dozen or so Olympic sports, that include ladies sports, lose money in every athletic dept...

3) On average each PAC school receives around almost $14M from direct transfer funds and student fees to help support all sports at any school...

4) Oregon is the only conference school that generates a profit ($3.8M) within its athletic dept that does not receive any support from central campus...

"Oregon's situation stands in stark contrast to ASU, Cal, Colorado, Stanford and UCLA which have deficits in excess of $30M when campus support and student fees are subtracted from their budgets"...

This leads to this question..."So, how much campus support is too much"..??

"That's a complicated question," says Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist in his 2017 book..."Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It"...

"Schools subsidize a lot of activities at universities. The question is whether the size is proportionate to the importance."

Athletics is considered by many to be the "front porch" where competitive success in athletics engenders all sorts of positive identification for the school...

For instance, Colorado, after hiring Deion Sanders, has seen a significant increase in students wanting to go there and has received millions of dollars in media attention to the school and Boulder where it is located...

It might be worth as much as $25M or more in branding or marketing exposure and even more if players and coaches are considered "ambassadors" to the university...

But, the bottom line is that college sports are now being viewed as becoming more and more professionalized which is viewed by many administrators as not what student-athletes was meant to be about...

And, IMHO, that is where president Crow is these days when in comes to making sure that Sun Devil athletics knows its proper place in the overall scope of things related to the schools primary mission that is not athletics...

Relatedly, from another Wilner article (UA Budget shortfall big but not hardly an outlier) today, he points out that Sun Devil athletics reported an operating shortfall $27.1M that included $16.6M in direct campus support...

Remove that figure and ASU's athletic dept booked $98M in revenue and $141.7M in expenses or a hole of $43.7M which was bigger than that at AU with all of its current financial problems...

And, from that perspective, it might shed some light on why ASU has not hurried in naming a new AD yet and why both Crow and Rossini have re-designed how the Sun Devil do business following the tenure of the former AD at the school...

Go Devils!!!

On a toasty Thursday morning, pads were left in the locker room on a drill-laden session for both sides of the ball. Dillingham said that he noticed that a very good practice on Tuesday resulted in a heavier-than-desired workload. And since he knows that Saturday’s practice this week (which is back to a 9 am start) will have an extended scrimmage (although shorter than last Saturday), he wanted to ease off today, and therefore it was a shorter practice.



Offense Two-Deep



First Team



LT Colby Garvin

LG Ben Coleman

C Sean Na’a

RG Makua Pule

RT Josh Atkins



QB Trenton Bourguet



RB Raleek Brown/Kyson Brown



SLOT Melquan Stovall

WR Jake Smith

WR Derek Eusebio



TE Bryce Pierre



Second Team



LT Emmit Bohle

LG Kyle Scott

C Leif Fautanu

RG Ise Matautia

RT Jalen Klemm



QB Sam Leavitt



RB Cam Skattebo/George Hart III



SLOT Kaleb Black

WR Jordyn Tyson

WR Korbin Hendrix



TE Markeston Douglas



Quarterbacks started their day with Marcus Arroyo getting out of a play-action movement into a rollout and then throwing the ball to Arroyo. The quarterbacks then joined the running backs, working on meshes as the running backs burst through the imaginary line, running over Kit Kat bags to make sure their feet weren’t dragging. Trenton Bourguet and Sam Leavitt looked as usual in team tempo, executing short routes on quick reads while still working their way downfield more efficiently. Jaden Rashada got in a couple of deep throws with the reserves as well. With interceptions biting Bourguet and Leavitt, the offense would go scoreless on three 7v7 drives.



Still making his mark as the wide receivers coach, Hines Ward was the loudest person on the Kajikawa practice fields in a low-intensity session.



“No Balls on the Ground, HALLELUJAH! Elite pass catchers, that’s what we got to be,” he said.



The offensive line worked under the chute, engaging in a block movement down the line to mimic zone scheme blocking. This continued into limb work, shuffling to strike medicine balls engaging the hands. Tight ends and linemen were lined up facing each other, striking up on medicine balls from a close two-point stance. The players then drove forward, maintaining technique. The line then returned under the shoot, working singular blocks from a knelt position. Tight ends ran through a hurdle and blocked a bag sprinting out, which was an emphasis for Jason Mohns today.



Running backs did footwork in and out of cones before exploding forward and jump-cutting on Kit-Kat bags. George Hart and Cam Skattebo led the group. Skattebo took a home run screen pass from Leavitt for a long touchdown in 7v7s.




Defense



First Team



EDGE Clayton Smith

DT CJ Fite

DT Jacob Rich Kongaika

EDGE Elijah O’Neal



LB Caleb McCullough

LB Keyshawn Elliott



Nickel Macen Williams

CB Ed Woods

CB Javan Robinson

Safety Shamari Simmons

Safety Xavion Alford



Second Team



EDGE Prince Dorbah

DT Jeffrey Clark

DT Blazen Lono-Wong

EDGE Justin Wodtly



LB Jordan Crook

LB Zyrus Fiaseu



Nickel Cole Martin

CB Rodney Bimage

CB Latterance Welch

Safety Myles Rowser

Safety Montana Warren




Defensive line drills were nothing out of the ordinary. Coach Reynolds’s “active limbs” circuit started things off before branching out into rushing drills on the edges and interior, timing up jumps with snaps. Reynolds emphasized the block-break technique throughout the morning. Clayton Smith stood out in team tempo with some QB pressures off the blindside.



On the line-backing front, the players showcased their strategic thinking. Dillingham talked after practice about the importance of the linebackers having a high football IQ in the Brian Ward system. They honed their snap reactions and the ability to pick up their coverages quickly. The focus was also on pre-snap adjustments to offensive audibles, a crucial aspect of the game. AJ Cooper's insistence on the correct lineups as the ball was placed on the line of scrimmage was a clear demonstration of their tactical prowess, ensuring they were never caught behind the offense. Martell Hughes showed off his hands in a 7v7 interception of Bourguet.



Working with the defensive backs, defensive coordinator Brian Ward and Bryan Carrington left no room for error. They hammered home the importance of attention to detail, focusing on small but crucial aspects such as the exact distance from their matchup, watching the quarterbacks' eyes, and maintaining proper hand placement. The position drills, standard yet demanding, underscored the precision required in their role, with a focus on footwork, hands, and coverage recognition. Cole Martin and Keith Abney stood out in this group with multiple pass breakups and a live interception by Abney in 7v7s. Shamari Simmons also grabbed an INT in the red zone off of Leavitt.

I don’t follow hockey but apparently they were never any good. I don’t care one way or the other but when these teams want taxpayers to foot the bill for a new stadium but their teams continue to lose—and lose chronically something seems amiss? I don’t live in Az, what are the thoughts there generally about losing the team?

still has another transfer with immediate eligibility .............hopefully he never uses it

already ahead of 6th year Bourguet even though he has been at ASU for 3 months as a RS frosh

get on board !

"Days like this, attention to detail has got to be perfect." When scaling things back on the physical side, the players know the mental edge needed in practice can’t take any steps back.

If he’s returned to Connecticut, it’s a bad sign.

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There's never a dull moment in Tempe. We are joined by @Hod Rabino to break down the news of Jaden Rashada's decision to enter the transfer portal and what it means for the Sun Devils.

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE​

Stream | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio | Pocket Casts

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No one is absolving Bobby Hurley from his responsibility in regards to the state of the program, but in fairness, he has been dealt a very bad hand by the Athletic Department and Michael Crow

Good or bad change remains to be seen

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Gonna be a busy month of official visits from the high school ranks. Complete list here (as always subject to change) https://arizonastate.rivals.com/visits/football/2025

Here is the list for this weekend

OL Matai Jefferson ASU commit
Four-star WR Adrian Wilson
OL H. Kaahaaina-Torres
DB Isaiah Iosefa
OL Maki Stewart
RB Karson Cox
DB Rylon Dillard-Allen
DB Benjamin Alefaio

Sitting behind the dugout and getting ready for tonight’s game. Going to find out who’ll be pitching. Go Devils!

Arizona State sought to put a disappointing home series loss to Utah behind them but were able to take only one out of two on the road at CSF, with the loss on Wednesday coming via a run rule defeat

Sitting behind the dugout. Freshman pitching tonight.

"By the end of the day, it's not just about football, it's about the man that I'm trying to improve." There is a wealth of football acumen Hines Ward can impart to ASU's wide receivers, but it is the non-sport wisdom he's also eager to teach