all yr long kept thinking they were a mirage, as we all know sometimes it is hard to give credit where credit is due

Not only did they manhandle a pretty decent Okie team, with or without QB Gabriel, they "appear" to be for real......had their best OL Morgan opt out and still had no problem on OFF putting up pts......and looking thru their depth chart only see 2 kids who could be leaving - J Cowing is a Sr, not sure if any eligibility left, and T End is finished.........on D seems they have a few DLine who are graduating and 1 other.....but short of Fisch having issues with the new budget reality down there, they appear to be on solid footing.....

I dont think any of us saw this coming after 1W in yr one, but Fishsticks has pretty much shocked us all..........depth chart below

Not that ASU is pursuing any of these players, but there are interesting names on this list

I did not realize that the Los Angeles Raiders had picked up Jack Jones in November. This is a great story playing for his HS Head Coach and College DC. Now has two interceptions (both pick-six). I know this may not be news for a lot of you.. but I have not been following NFL too closely.

Here is the link https://arizonastate.rivals.com/commitments/football/2024

In case you missed it over the holidays:

Two years left. Any chance ASU takes a look? He was good with us a couple years ago.

"I’m ready to be on the team and see what we can do when everyone is healthy, full-throttle Texas to Tempe." Being the son of an 11-year NFL veteran doesn't always guarantee a smooth football career and a plethora of offers by power conference teams at an early age. Chris Johnson II, son of Super Bowl champion Chris Johnson, knows all too well about battling to earn the spot that he is in today, part of a talented incoming freshmen group of physical defensive backs from the state of Texas who are poised to make their presence known in the spring.

Remains to be seen if he will come in as a linebacker or defensive end. Came on an official visit in the summer of 2021 and was probably took a pass because of the fresh NCAA investigation that began a month prior

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2025 prospect. Can't drop more hints than that, but be on the lookout tomorrow

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Continuous offensive struggles along with a lack of team energy, doomed the Sun Devils from the jump in a 65-46 loss to Northwestern that ended their non-conference slate of the schedule. Here are our takeaways

That's what the AU Director of Player Personnel - Matt Doherty - for their football program calls it in an article in the Daily Star sports section today by Michael Lev entitled "Fisch Old School In Building Wildcats"...

He makes that comparison because with portal recruiting you usually don't have a lot of time to vet the player the way you do with a HS player that usually takes several years...

You might have a couple of weeks, at best, with which to see if the player has the right "character" you are looking for to add to your team culture and the same goes for the players family...

Whereas, with HS recruits, you've been in the process for a long time (usually years), not only evaluating their "talent" but whether they fit your program character profiles that lead to proper talent development...

AU hasn't ignored the portal as they have a lot of players taken from it but, using it like Colorado has done, won't make the program sustainable in his opinion...

Over the past three recruiting cycles the Utes have taken 17 transfers, AU 20, ASU 59 and Colorado 73 but he makes a distinction between Dilly's set of circumstances and Prime Time's for this reason...

Both CU and ASU have faced desperate times but the Buffs only signed a handful of HS players this cycle while ASU took a regular type HS class...

So, in his estimation, Dilly "gets it" while he's not sure what Prime Time may be up to since that approach won't sustain the Buffs program over time, in his estimation...

Here's my speculation about that...is PT just trying to put his son, who is the Buff's QB, in a better position to land as a high draft pick after next season, to the exclusion of building a sustainable program over time at Colorado..??

He points out, getting back to the subject at hand, without my digression, that the Cats OL this season did not have a single transfer player on it...

The article also points out that none of the College Football Playoff teams have gone crazy with the transfer portal...

Between 2022 and 2023, the Huskies have added 19 transfers, Michigan and Texas 12 transfers, and Alabama 10 transfers...

After reading many of Dilly's recruiting comments, I think he is in total agreement with what was said in the article by Michael Lev, regarding this subject, this morning in the newspaper...

It's going to be interesting for me to follow the paths of the Four Corner schools after they go to the Big 12, to see how those four schools do when it comes to winning games and sustaining or not sustaining success by the way they recruit...

Thoughts about recruiting "speed dating" and whether it can lead to long term sustainable success or not..??

Go Dilly and Go Devils!!!

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = NIL Hits North Pole

I'm sorry to have to report that things are not looking all the good for Santa tonight whose reindeer (saintnicolas magicalus) have been upset that Rudolph has been given a lot more NIL money than the rest of the reindeer who will be pulling Santa's sleigh tonight...

It seems that Comet, Vixen and Blitzen are basically okay with the disparity but not so with Dasher, Cupid, Donner, Prancer and Dancer...

All of the reindeer get that Rudolph, with his red nose so bright, has to lead the sleigh tonight, but it still rankles many of the reindeer, who just don't think it's fair, since they all have to pull the same weight on the sleigh, that is loaded down with presents, for every kid who has been nice this past year...

Unfortunately, things are not much better in the Toy Factory where Mrs Clause has been dealing with a bunch of disgruntled Elves who know what's going on with Santa's reindeer and don't like it one bit...

They've formed a pact of sorts and are not working at their usual fast pace to make sure all of the toys are finished by tonight...

Mrs. Clause gave some NIL bonuses to Buddy, Dobby and Link but that just upset Legolas, Elfo, Honeythorn, Bernard and Elrond further, who have now slowed down the toy production line to an almost total standstill...

The Santa Commission is looking into what is going on but it's doubtful that any satisfactory resolution will be forthcoming in time to save Santa's sleigh ride tonight...

Thankfully, in the meantime, all malls across America will be open most of today to help with things...

Of course, changing the subject some, Bobby's gift from Santa came last year when his contract was extended, so even though he will undoubtedly receive a bunch of coal in his stocking tonight, he will have plenty of cash reserves to weather the ongoing BB storm that is still brewing in and around Tempe these days...

Additionally, the Four Corner schools - ASU, AU, Colorado and Utah - are all looking forward to going to the Big 12 next year...

It appears that the Utes are well positioned to make the transition and AU might just be behind them in football but not sure about either Colorado or ASU at this point...

The Buffs should have better "competitive traction" this next year since Prime Time has his son returning at QB and a bunch of new players, most highly rated, are now in place to provide his son better protection in the pocket during pass plays, etc...

Many Sun Devil fans, including myself, are wondering how much Dilly and his staff can improve the team's win vs loss total in 2024...

It shouldn't be all that difficult to exceed three wins, right..??

At least our Sun Devils won't have to be paying any luxury taxes like the MLB NY Mets will be paying this off-season, even though they were mediocre this past baseball season...

Hopefully, some of the $101 million owed in taxes will go to the North Pole where Santa and Mrs Clause could use it to settle some NIL derived things up there...

On Dancer and Prancer, Cupid and Vixen...dash away, dash away all...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Merry Xmas Eve to Hod and all the passionate Sun Devil Fans, have a great eve with family and friends and Food.......with a couple "beverages" !

Per Rivals team rankings for this 2024 class of recruits...

No team, to my way of thinking, recruited at a Tier One level, where teams like Oklahoma and Texas reside, as both teams were ranked in the Top 10 and are almost always in that Tier...

Here is how the rest of the Big 12 ended up after yesterday's early signing period...

#23 - Texas Tech - class of 21 with one five-star and four, four-star players, for a player average of 3.29

(the NIL money in Lubbock is looking big these days, it looks like)

#31 - UCF - 18 recruits - seven four-star - player average = 3.39

#36 - TCU - 20 recruits - five four-star - player = 3.15

#41 - W Virginia - 22 recruits - one four-star - player = 2.82

#45 - AU - 19 recruits - two four-star - player = 3.00

#46 - BYU - 24 recruits - three four-star - player = 2.88

#48 - Kansas - 17 recruits - four, four-star - player = 3.24

# 51 - Cincy - 21 - no four star - player = 2.86
(TIE)
#51 - Iowa St - 22 - no four star - player = 2.86

#54 - ASU - 18 - two four-star - player = 3.06

#56 - Oklahoma St - 17 - no four star - player = 2.94

#57 - Utah - 15 - three four-star - player = 2.93

#60 - K-State - 16 - one four star - player = 2.94

#67 - Colorado - 8 - one five star and three four-star - player = 3.63

#68 - Baylor - 14 - no four star - player = 2.86

#76 - Houston - 17 - two four-star - player = 2.41

Please remember that it's a numbers game and that Rivals takes a player rating of say 5.5 for a three star that equals 16.5 points...

A three-star 5.6 would get a score of 16.8 (3 X 5.6) and a 5.8 four-star would get a 23.2 score (4 X 5.8)...

And, so on, and I think I have their methodology figured out correctly...

Then you add all those player scores up to get the team score and that's how they end up ranking each team...

Obviously, teams like Bama, Georgia, Texas, etc that have a lot of four and some five star players are going to get much higher team scores as a result...

For instance, a five-star, 6.1 rated player, will earn 30.5 points for their team, while a 5.4 two-star player will only earn a team 10.8 points...big difference, right..??

On the heels of our last regime, after the NCAA investigation was started, our recruiting efforts looked like what has happened with Oregon St right now that finished with 13 recruits for a #96 team ranking by Rivals...

Thankfully, those days appear behind us now under Dilly and his staff and we aren't too far behind any teams, for the most part, in the Big 12...

Probably in the middle somewhere but close enough to all the other teams to not be that far behind any other program moving forward...

Plus, I think Dilly and his staff will turn out to be top of the line recruiters in the Big 12 moving forward...

At least, I sure hope so and I am counting on that to happen...Go Dilly and Go Devils!!!

The freshman DB's name is not on the official site roster and is headed to the transfer portal that will open on Dec. 4. He's the first Dillingham recruit to depart Tempe.

The Fort Myers, Fla. product was going to redshirt anyway and didn't play in any games. Was buried down the depth chart while his fellow freshmen Montana Warren and Josiah Cox made their mark much more than he has. If not for an injury, Warren was a shoo-in to be in the two-deep, perhaps even start, but was forced to redshirt and hasn't played yet (could play this week and/or next). His injury did pave the way for Cox to see action in nine games and thus not redshirt


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At the end of non-confrence play, I sat down with Sun Devil Network analyst Kyle Dodd for a candid conversation on ASU's season to date, the issues contributing to a three-game skid, and how to remedy the situation ahead of Pac-12 play

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Network article with an overview on this topic

"If you’re a good recruiter, it’s not a one-year process. It’s a three-to-two-year process. If you’re not slowly building that relationship today, somebody else is.” Dillingham strives for better recruiting results, but knows the process' timeline as well