The back-to-back New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year and ASU's incoming freshman QB shares with us his relentless drive to have his actions speak louder than his words or the praise he has received, and the pride he has representing his home state

Tyson's return now has the Sun Devils set to return 15 starters from their 11-win 2024 season

the boys moved up to #11 nationally this wk.........W Michigan up to #3, Colorado College (who swept us in Dec @ their place) who we play this coming weekend #19..........UND #16.........Denver #5

We were ranked #9 for a short spell in 2020, and were ranked #11 for a short spell L yr.....so 2nd highest ranking of all time

Karma…..

That's the title of an article in the Daily Star this morning written by Justin Spears...

A one time Wildcats fan having grown up in Marana, he walked-on at ASU under Herm Edwards and now has finished his six years at ASU under Kenny Dillingham...

He wants to stay at ASU as a coach, hopefully, since being at ASU has been a "blessing" for him, as has being a player under Dilly, who makes things fun for players, while keeping high standards that have led to some incredible results in the past two years...

Dilly's passion, high energy and innovative approach to coaching have been contagious, as he wants to be the best at everything he does, including leading his hometown Sun Devils to high accomplishments...

Dilly is big on his team having the most fun while working harder than anyone else to reach high goals...

He also takes care of his players outside of the practicing facilities that promotes a caring atmosphere that is appreciated by the players as a team...

He would love to stay at ASU in some coaching role moving forward...

For me, he is the epitome of the type of player Dilly and ASU want to be in their program where the team comes first...

Hopefully, Dilly will find a role for him within his Sun Devil football program moving forward but, in any event, Trenton will find his way into the coaching ranks somewhere, where he will undoubtedly be very successful, IMHO...

We have been very fortunate to have had a player like TB be a part of the program's re-building process...

Go Devils!!!

The media is making a big deal out Sam’s comments about wanting to prove he is the best QB. Getting a lot of play social media, even our local media stirring it up. Bad news to have bulletin board material.

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Opportunity Knocks

Dilly and his staff have done their part by putting together a magical football season and Rossini has done his part by signing Dilly to a long term extension (and both coordinators have gotten extensions with significant pay raises)...

It appears that the Valley has been Activated as season football tickets sales have increased by over 3,000 since the end of the season and Sun Devil merchandise has been moving like hot cakes off the griddle to a hungry Sun Devil fan base...

I'm also assuming that there has been a significant bump in NIL donations to go along with the Sun Devil Cinderella media story of 2024...

Picked last in the Big-12 to become the conference champions, to make the first 12 team playoffs, and to outplay Texas in the Peach Bowl before losing in double overtime...

So, will ASU now be as lucky as UCLA was when they hired Terry Donahue to be their head coach at age 32 to coach the Bruins starting in 1976..??

Over the next 20 years, TD went 151-74-8, where he had the Bruins in 13 bowl games (winning 8 with one tie) that included four Rose Bowls, winning three of them, and were PAC champs five times...

TD was born in LA, played HS football in So Cal, and then played football at UCLA, before starting a coaching career that quickly led him back to UCLA where he stayed for 20 years as their head coach...

Greg Hansen brought this up in the Daily Star today when he talks about "coaching longevity is the key to success" and how the Devils now have a chance to have that with Dilly who grew up in the Valley, attended HS there, and attended and graduated from ASU...

He ties the Devils Dilly story to both Terry Donahue and former Stanford coach David Shaw who was also from CA, attended HS near Stanford, played at Stanford, and then went on to coach at Stanford, where he had a great coaching career that included multiple PAC championships and Rose Bowl appearances, etc...

Hansen calls that sequence the perfect trifecta (ties to state, HS and college) for keeping a coach for the long term as those coaches aren't "vagabonds," who are always looking for greener pastures somewhere else...

Both TD and DS had great careers at UCLA and Stanford but they also had some pretty poor seasons along the way but weren't jettisoned by their schools when the going got tough on occasion...

And, let's also be clear about all of this...Dilly does not appear to be a "vagabond" type coach but he also wants to win at high levels and if he doesn't get the support he needs to accomplish those goals he will start looking elsewhere, IMHO...

That's why it is now up to all of us and the ASU athletic dept administration to make sure that he and his program have what is needed for him to continue to elevate our program, from average at best, to way above average on a regular basis...

We are not going to have miraculous seasons, one after another, but is there any reason for us not to be a championship caliber football team in the Big-12 regularly..??

Dilly needs all of us to do what we can to make this a reality...

Opportunity is knocking at the Sun Devil door and Dilly is doing his part...

There are lots of season tickets available, NIL dollars to be donated, and plenty of Sun Devil merchandise to be purchased, etc...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Here we go, tough first-ever Big 12 game for the Sun Devils, who are coming off of a strong non-conefrence slate

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = 2025 Questions

Will the pundits get it wrong again in this new year regarding where our Sun Devils will land in football next season..??

They picked us last in the Big-12 this past year and will not pick us last this next season, but will they overcompensate, IMHO, and pick us as the best team in the conference in the preseason this year..??

Granted that we have a dynamic and talented QB returning but is that any guarantee that will translate into another conference championship next season..??

My intuition tells me that the over/under for our Devils next season should probably be around 7.5 and not something like 9.5 or thereabouts given the parity within the rest of the Big-12...

I don't think that we can compensate for the loss of Skattebo that easily, although we do have some good. solid RBs in the stable but no Triple Crown winners, either, in my estimation...

It's nice to get Tyson back but what about the other receivers at this point..??

We can ask the same sorts of questions about almost any other position on the team and what about special teams that many, including myself, think is the biggest weakness on the team, and who knows if this will be significantly improved or not by next season...

Dilly is now being considered a Rock Star coach at the age of 34 and he certainly appeared to bring about one miracle after another this season but wasn't Scott Frost, who is back at UCF, also once considered a "rock star" after going undefeated in his second season at UCF, before going to Nebraska, where he was run out of town after several years of futility there...

Of course, Dilly isn't going off to a place like Nebraska and is staying in the Big-12, where there aren't any elite teams like they have in the B1G and SEC...

It looks like he can excel in the Big-12 but maybe not so much in the B1G and/or the SEC, if he ever went to either of those conferences, unless it was someplace like Ohio St or Georgia, etc...

So, can the Devils sustain their newfound success moving forward in the Big-12 or not..??

It doesn't appear that is going to happen at Colorado, where Prime Time turned that program around, with his son at QB, but is now looking elsewhere, it appears, since his coaching fame is at its high point and may be taking a nose dive at CU, if he stays the course there...

And, who thinks teams that failed badly this past season like Oklahoma St are going to continue to be that awful in 2025...

Not me, that's for sure...

That said, Dilly is a savvy New Age college football coach who also brings a lot of moxie to the coaching table, so maybe he will be able to maintain a highly successful program at ASU...

Especially since the transition to a revenue sharing cap will be in place sometime within the next several months for all of the P-4 conferences, as a result of the NCAA settlement agreement...

Of course, the transfer portal and NIL dollars will still be out there as flies in the settlement ointment to borrow from an old cliche...

So, in closing is a 7.5 over/under about right for our Sun Devils this next season based on what we now have returning compared to what other conference teams have returning..??

I like that we have seven home games this next season, along with a NFL prospect at QB and a lot of returning two-deep players, but don't know if that will be nearly good enough to win another 10 or 11 games in 2025...

But, I could easily live with 8 or 9 wins, that's for sure...

Now, if we had the overall pro-level talent of say Ohio St, ND, Texas or Penn St, achieving another 10+ wins would seem to be pretty realistic to me...

But, I like swimming and competing in a much smaller Big-12 pond, as swimming and competing in an ocean full of large sharks is a whole different deal entirely...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

will be interesting to see how they handle the 25 days between games

"I feel that this is a decision that was good for me as a player and for me to mature as a man, too. I've got to earn everything that's going to come my way." Incoming freshman tight end AJ Ia discusses his football journey and what excites him to be a Sun Devil