Arizona State football gears up for spring practices ahead of 2026 season

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE – The final calendar day of 2025 not only saw Arizona State football end a tumultuous campaign with a heartbreaking Sun Bowl loss, but brought forth a near three-month standstill from Kajikawa Practice Fields to Mountain America Stadium.

75 days removed from the ball drop, such silence will soon be replaced by the sound of cleats returning to the grass as the Sun Devils are officially moving towards the 2026 season with spring practices set to begin on Thursday.

Fourth-year head coach Kenny Dillingham spoke with the media on Tuesday about the program heading into spring practice, outlining his goals and expectations.

“As a staff, we’re going to try to become more efficient,” Dillingham said. “Our goal is to be 20% more efficient this spring, cutting down some periods, changing a little bit how we structure some things.”

Around this time a year ago, the conversation surrounding ASU honed in on the vast amount of returning production and veteran presence featured on the roster. The Sun Devils now face the inverse of such a situation, considering 22 players exited through the transfer portal throughout the offseason to bring the total number of departures to 49.

Dillingham fought off any thoughts of a winter hibernation by putting together the No. 15 transfer portal class in the country, according to 247Sports. ASU’s 27-player haul includes two particular pieces that reflect the burning question of who will replace Sam Leavitt at the starting quarterback position following his departure to LSU.

Redshirt sophomore Cutter Boley arrived in Tempe on Jan.3 after playing 15 games across two seasons for Kentucky, and his 6-5 frame alongside considerable athleticism offers intriguing upside to the Sun Devils.

“What excited me was I saw the tape,” Dillingham said. “I saw him operate within [Kentucky’s] system really well, get the ball to where they were supposed to go, extend with his legs when he needed to.”

Five days later, ASU landed a portal commitment from Michigan quarterback Mikey Keene. The Chandler native is set for his sixth season at the collegiate level after spending time with three other programs, and will look to step onto the field as a starter for the first time since 2024.

Keene has had previous success at Mountain America Stadium, albeit in the form of a 29-0 win over Dillingham in his third game as head coach while the quarterback for Fresno State during the 2023 season.

“Literally the first time I saw him, I go ‘You realize you were associated with the most embarrassing game since I’ve been here’,” Dillingham said. “But no, what I told him was I saw you operate. I saw you get the ball out versus pressure. I saw how efficient you were, and that’s what excited me the most about his was just his efficiency in college football and that he could do it at this level on the road.”

Dillingham also didn’t rule out the possibility that redshirt sophomore Cameron Dyer and four-star signee Jake Fette seriously compete for the right to start by Week 1, and is taking the approach of encouraging competition from all four players throughout spring practices.

“I’m excited for the competition,” Dillingham said. “Brought in competent guys. Guys who have done it in college football, not guys that we’re hoping can do it in college football, and then Jake, obviously, a really productive high school player. One of the best athletes on our team already. So, really fired up about the room as a whole.”

Running back will also be a position group bound to be closely watched in the coming weeks. Despite First-Team All-Big 12 back Raleek Brown deciding to forgo the NFL Draft to transfer to Texas, ASU brought back junior Kyson Brown for a fourth season after missing eight games in 2025 due to injury.

On top of redshirt freshman Jason Brown Jr. and freshman Demarius Robinson looking to parlay brief flashes of potential last season into larger roles, both Villanova transfer David Avit and Delaware transfer Marquis Gillis further deepen a race for position on the depth chart that is currently wide open.

“I think that room’s probably one of the most up-in-the-air rooms we have in terms of competition,” Dillingham said. “We’re going to be a little more 20, 21 personnel this year, so I think that room’s got to have a more versatile role because we have so many backs.”

In order to ensure that the moves involving the quarterback and running positions reach optimal success, getting a head start on determining the starting five on the offensive line during spring practices is of critical importance.

13 out of 20 rostered linemen stayed put at ASU, but regular starters such as Josh Atkins, Ben Coleman, Max Iheanachor, Jimeto Obigbo, and Kyle Scott have all departed. To help with the search for which of the returners are ready to step into a starting gig, Dillingham added three more faces to the mix via the portal.

On Dec. 3, the Sun Devils secured the No. 1 JUCO recruit by flipping offensive tackle Jarmaine Mitchell from Georgia. Oklahoma transfer Luke Baklenko and Georgia Tech transfer Tana Alo-Tupuola came aboard a month later with prior experience in holding down a stable role.

“I think everybody saw in the bowl game, we’ve got a lot of young guys who we think are really good,” Dillingham said. “I think we recruited a lot of the guys that are going to play for us, and we supplemented it with a few transfers that can really elevate us, but it’s not just a transfer-ridden group, and it was never our plan to have it that way. And I think those young guys are really maturing, and I’m really excited about it.”

The roster wasn’t the only place to undergo change as Dillingham also shuffled various pieces around on his coaching staff during the offseason.

Three changes were made on the offensive staff: former ASU quarterback Trenton Bourguet is moving from assistant running backs coach to assistant wide receivers coach, and Jeremy Platt is taking over as assistant quarterbacks coach from Omar Farman, who is shifting over to assistant tight ends coach.

Along with adding Demetrice Martin from Colorado as a cornerbacks coach and moving David Gibbs to secondary and safeties coach, the defensive staff sees two major changes being made.

The first comes from Brian Ward moving away from being the safeties position coach to focus solely on his responsibilities as defensive coordinator. On the other hand, Bryan Carrington has been promoted from cornerbacks coach to defensive pass game coordinator and assistant head coach as a result of his success as a recruiter.

“He’s grown leaps and bounds as a football coach,” Dillingham said. “At the end of the day, coaching is not very difficult. Can you learn information and then can you communicate that information, and then can you just be honest with people so they trust you? It’s really that simple. He had those qualities and I wanted to give him a little bit more role in terms of being able to talk to different position groups in recruiting. I wanted to get him out sharing our message as a football program because I think he could a head coach one day.”

The other important development in terms of the team’s scheming going forward is that Dillingham himself plans to have more of a hands-on role with the offense. While this does not alter Marcus Arroyo’s duties as offensive coordinator, it does mean that the head coach is expected to take more time to help with the game planning process.

“It just means I want to probably run around a little more and a little more engaged and a little more involved in those meetings because I have the time to be a little bit more involved,” Dillingham said.

Dillingham also provided updates on the players who will either miss a portion or the entirety of spring practices due to injury.

Gillis is expected to miss two days at most, while junior defensive lineman C.J. Fite will not participate for the first half of practices. Otherwise, redshirt junior defensive back Adrian Wilson, redshirt junior wide receiver Derek Eusebio, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Ramar Williams, and redshirt freshman Harry Hassmann are the current list of ASU players ruled out for spring ball.

Nevertheless, Dillingham doesn’t plan on hitting the brakes and instead views the next month as an opportunity to show both returners and new faces that it’s time for the team to start picking up the pace before the start of next season.

“Just watching our practices last year, I didn’t think at times we were as efficient as we were the year prior,” Dillingham said. “This season, we’re going to kind of merge that together, try to be more of an efficient team because I feel like that’s where I could grow as a head coach, is become more efficient with our staff and our players on the field. Get the same amount of work done with 20% less time.”