(Photo: Grace Johnson/WCSN)
TEMPE – Before nearly every offensive drive in football, the special teams unit and its returner have the chance to impact the outcome of the game. Whether it be a punt or a kickoff, a good return down the field increases the offense’s likelihood of scoring points at the end of the drive.
The return game is an underappreciated but extremely important part of a football team’s success. A bad return could leave the offense noticeably clogged on its side of the field, while good returns that give the offense a field position advantage are often taken for granted.
ASU Special Teams Coordinator Charlie Ragle understands the significance of special teams and has spent much of his spring at the Kajikawa Practice Fields, identifying players who can tune out the noise and get the job done, filling the vacated returner roles left by graduating players.
“Most of the time, nobody pays attention to it unless you hit a big play, but (the) majority of the time, it’s when it’s in a negative light,” Ragle said. “At the end of the day, you look at your special teams unit and you’ve got to be performing at a high level.”
Last year, graduate wide receiver Melquan Stovall recorded nine of ASU’s 10 punt returns and redshirt senior wide receiver Jake Smith was the man behind nine of ASU’s 11 kickoff returns. The two departures leave a gaping hole at the returner spots. Fortunately for Ragle, there’s a group of ASU players with the skill sets required to take over the return game.
Freshman wide receiver Cory Butler Jr., redshirt freshman wide receiver Jaren Hamilton, redshirt senior wide receiver Malik McClain and freshman running back Demarius Robinson have all been given looks as players who haven’t yet returned at the college level. Transfer redshirt junior wide receiver Jalen Moss and redshirt junior running back Raleek Brown offer Ragle coveted experience as returners.
“There’s no price to put on getting the repetitions in a game,” Ragle said.
Moss has the most recent extended stretch of experience returning at the college level. He returned 18 punts and 15 kickoffs for Fresno State last season, putting up 459 combined returning yards and a touchdown. Moss’s efforts got him recognized as a Second Team All-Mountain West punt returner. His resume has earned him time this spring as one of the primary returners on both kickoffs and punts.
“I’m just trying to mold myself to a team that’s already built itself up from last year,” Moss said.
Moss will almost surely play an integral role in the Sun Devils’ offense in 2025 after recording 1,269 receiving yards in his two seasons as a Bulldog. Alongside the confidence and experience that he gained as a returner last season, Moss could be a multi-faceted threat for opposing teams.
“Being confident, being electric once the ball gets into my hands, being a playmaker, that’s what I do,” Moss said. “That’s what I’ve built my mantra on, growing up playing football and being back there, punt and kick return, it just allows me to feel the game out.”
The California native learned from veteran wide receivers like Erik Brooks, Jaelen Gill, Nikko Remigio and Jalen Moreno-Cropper during his first years at Fresno State. He was able to take in their knowledge in both the receiving and returning and apply it to his own game. It’s now something that he’s passing on to Butler Jr.
“It’s just trying to get (Butler Jr.) to understand where you got to get to at some points in time and understanding where holes and creases are going to get,” Moss said. “Not everything is going to hit in the same hole and not every hole is going to be open. … Whatever you do, you’ve got to do it fast because another 11 guys are running at you to tackle you.”
Moss has split first-team returning reps this spring with the speedy Brown. While Brown has experience returning in college, he hasn’t done it since 2022 with USC. In that season, Brown returned 24 kickoffs for 517 yards, including one return for 40 yards. Despite not seeing action as a returner in a few years, he has embraced the challenge of getting back to his former self and improving.
“(I) just keep working on it, working on it every day,” Brown said. “Getting extra punts after walk-through stuff like that, catching on a machine and the coaches (are) giving me confidence for it.”
Brown has all the skills required to be a good kickoff and punt returner. He has a high football IQ, the ability to catch the football out of the air and explosive speed. In high school, Brown had a verified 40-yard dash time of 4.47 seconds according to 247sports. That speed hasn’t gone anywhere, even after missing most of 2024 with a leg injury,
“You’re looking for the ability to be explosive, lateral quickness and the ability to get north and south in a hurry, and Raleek can do that all,” Ragle said. “He goes from zero to five, five being top-end speed, like that.”
Brown is one of the smallest players you will find on Arizona State’s roster in 2025, standing just 5-foot-8, 190 pounds. Despite the return forcing him to run towards bigger opponents, he isn’t fazed.
“You can’t be scared, you’ve got to be fearless and just have a good IQ and just get upfield,” Brown said.
Brown and Moss’s proven aggressiveness, experience and IQ as returners give them an advantage over the rest of the Sun Devil locker room in earning time returning once the season rolls around in August, but Ragle’s competition is far from over. He expects to see his players continue to put in work over the summer and come back in the fall ready to battle for the returner spots.
The players taking part in the friendly competition will need to pour their blood, sweat and tears into becoming the best returners that they can possibly be. No matter what player or players Ragle selects to take over kickoff and punt return duties to start the season, they’ll have showcased the determination needed to be productive and the willingness to put their bodies on the line for their teammates in their often overlooked role.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Ragle said. “I think that those guys know that there are a lot of good guys in that room trying to fight for that position and it’s going to push every one of them.”
