Kenny Dillingham Wants to Win, Now

Kenny Dillingham Wants to Win, Now

There has been no holding back new ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham

 

There is little debate that the Arizona State football program went through a rough stretch in 2022 and is facing an uncertain future filled with the threat of NCAA punishment for alleged recruiting violations under the previous head coach, Herm Edwards.

None of that uncertainty seems capable of touching Kenny Dillingham who was announced as the new head coach of the ASU Sun Devils on November 26, 2022. Dillingham is an Arizona boy and is bringing an unbridled enthusiasm to the position that fans have been waiting on for years. He has jumped into the position and has already put together one of the most impressive offseasons for the Sun Devils in program history.

Dillingham is an Arizona Boy

A bit of background on the new coach for those who might not know. Dillingham was born in Phoenix and played at Chaparral High School before an ACL injury ended his playing career and kickstarted his coaching one. After graduating from Arizona State in 2012, Mike Norvell hired him as an offensive assistant in 2014. He followed Norvell to Memphis in 2016, and after a brief stint as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Auburn, reunited with him as the offensive coordinator of Florida State.

After two seasons in Tallahassee, Dillingham was hired as the offensive coordinator at Oregon. In his return to the Pac-12, Dillingham engineered an offense that saw QB Bo Nix as a top 15 passer in college football and averaged over 280 passing and 200 rushing yards per game. One of the best passing offenses in the NCAA, Oregon also had two running backs finish over 750 yards to go along with a dual-threat quarterback in Nix that racked up 510 yards of his own.

On November 26, 2022, Dillingham was named the new head coach of his alma mater, Arizona State.

Dillingham jumped straight into the role

Seemingly from the very start, Dillingham jumped onto the recruiting trail and hit the transfer portal to put together a team he thinks can compete in 2023. The sheer quantity of work he has done in such a short time is nothing short of incredible.

Similar to last year, a good chunk of the 2022 ASU squad entered the transfer portal after an incredibly disappointing 3-9 season. Between October and present, 21 Sun Devils entered the transfer portal. Undeterred, Dillingham hit the transfer portal just as hard and has currently brought in 26 players starting just two days after his hiring with former Idaho State wide receiver Xavier Guillory. That was only the start and ASU currently has more commits from the transfer portal than any other Power 5 school in the NCAA.

While the transfer list has a bevy of impressive gets like Drew Pyne and Aaron Frost, it is truly the totality of Dillingham’s achievement in the portal that is impressive. As a 32-year-old rookie head coach, he must have had quite the pitch to convince so many high-level players to come to Tempe even with the threat of NCAA punishment hanging over the program’s head.

Beyond the “top-tier” transfers he brought in, I am most impressed with one “transfer” in particular. Defensive back Isaiah Johnson committed to ASU as a 4-star freshman in 2021 and got some playing time in the 2022 season. Understandably frustrated after a bitter campaign, he entered the transfer portal only to change his mind and return to Arizona State. It seems like Dillingham’s enthusiasm can be contagious and whatever he shared with Johnson as his vision for the program must have resonated and the Sun Devils get to hold onto a promising young cornerback.

All of his efforts in the transfer portal have given Arizona State the No. 10 Transfer Class for 2023 according to 24/7 Sports.

You will find the full list of transfers at the bottom of this article.

Jaden Rashada was a shot in the arm for ASU

Dillingham’s efforts in the transfer portal show that he is ready to win immediately rather than wait to see what happens with some of the uncertainty surrounding the program. His aggression in the portal has been incredibly impressive. However, he also knows that if Arizona State wants a football future he has to hit the recruiting trail and find talent straight out of high school.

In one of the biggest moments for the Sun Devil program in years, quarterback prospect Jaden Rashada flipped his commitment from Florida to Arizona State. The top ten QB prospect injected enthusiasm into a program that has struggled for years to recruit top-tier talent out of high school.

In a similar fashion to Isaiah Johnson, Dillingham brought back C.J. Fite, an incoming freshman from Tatum, TX who had been committed to Arizona State before retracting that commitment in November. By December 12, Dillingham and his staff had Fite back in the fold and the young defensive tackle recommitted to being a Sun Devil.


The current list of players brought in through the transfer portal, by position:

Wide Receiver

Idaho State – Xavier Guillory

Colorado State – Melquan Stovall

Texas – Troy Omeire

USC – Jake Smith

Running Back

Sacramento State – Cameron Skattebo

California – DeCarlos Brooks

Quarterback

Notre Dame – Drew Pyne

BYU – Jacob Conover

Offensive Line

Nevada – Aaron Frost

Oregon – Bram Walden

California – Ben Coleman

UNLV – Leif Fautanu

Defensive Line

Oklahoma – Clayton Smith

Michigan State – Dashaun Mallory

Texas – Prince Dorbah

Wisconsin – Tristan Monday

Idaho State – Samuel Benjamin

New Mexico – Ian Shewell

Linebacker

Kansas State – Krew Jackson

BYU – Tate Romney

Washington State – Travion Brown

Defensive Back

USC – Xavion Alford

Austin Peay – Shamari Simmons

Special Teams

California – Slater Zellers

California – Dario Longhetto

New Mexico State – Josh Carlson


 

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