(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)
TEMPE—As April wound down, Arizona State football remained focused on finding talent through the transfer portal. Progress was made earlier this spring when Houston sophomore safety Maurice Williams II declared Tempe as his transfer destination. Along with additional secondary depth, the move deepened a steadily growing pipeline.
Williams played at Shadow Creek High School in Pearland, Texas. Coincidentally, the same high school that produced ASU redshirt senior safety Xavion Alford. Their paths may differ, but both reflect a rising wave of Texas-bred talent in The Valley.
More than 20 Texas natives now wear maroon and gold. The Sun Devils have embraced Texas football’s signature traits: physicality, swagger and packed Friday night stadiums. That background keeps players sharp, preparing them for the grind of college football.
“I played in front of 40,000 people in high school, the state championship,” Alford said. “You don’t really do that too much anywhere else.”
The integration of Texas heritage led to the phrase “Texas to Tempe” — three words that transformed into a movement. At the helm of this movement is cornerbacks coach Bryan Carrington. Hired in 2022, Carrington brought deep ties to the Lone Star State after recruiting at Texas, TCU and Houston.
With nearly a decade of recruiting under his belt, Carrington watches trends closely. In a constantly evolving landscape, his job is to keep the Sun Devils ahead of the curve. One of his first big ideas: brand the Texas pipeline. In short time, “Texas to Tempe” went from a recruiting pitch to a strategic anchor.
“The way the world is now, you gotta have a national brand. You gotta have pockets of talent pools that you can pull from,” Carrington said. “Whether it’s Southern California, Las Vegas, Texas.”
Last season was both ASU’s debut in the Big 12 and the conference title game. Since 2017, that game has been held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With four Texas-based schools in the conference, the fit is natural.
But the pipeline began long before the Big 12 move with two key factors driving it. First, the Pac-12’s west coast heavy makeup prompted the Sun Devils to look elsewhere. Second, Carrington aimed to prepare for future Big 12 competition regardless of which conference ASU was in.
“My hope when arriving at Arizona State, even though we were still in the Pac-12, was, ‘Hey, either we’re gonna establish an immense pipeline in Texas, or we’re gonna lose to a team in the Big 12 that does exactly that,'” Carrington said.
For the Sun Devils, a byproduct of moving to the Big 12 has been more efficient recruiting out Texas. Across the 2023 and 2024 signing classes, 10 Texas high school players joined the program. After ASU’s first season in the Big 12, the 2025 class alone brought seven players from Texas to Tempe.
Looking ahead, six more Texas natives are set to arrive in 2026. That group includes four-star quarterback Jake Fette from Del Valle High School in El Paso. With his commitment, the Sun Devils will have at least one player from Texas in every position group.
“We have a lot of players from Texas to where we don’t even have to promote it,” Carrington said. “Every coach will have a living testimony from the state of Texas in their room.”
Off the field, Carrington is heavily involved in recruiting. On the field, he coaches ASU’s cornerbacks. To keep his corners sharp, Carrington introduced a “next level” competition. The format is simple: make a big play, earn a sticker that says, “next level.”
The competition aspect is seeing who can earn the most stickers by the end of spring. The sticker is small, but the message is big — bring intensity every snap or get left behind. Junior cornerback Keith Abney II, a Texas native, praises the competition.
“After you make a play, he’ll give you a next level sticker,” Abney said. “It’s great just having that competition and knowing that we’re getting rewarded.”
To add extra incentive, Carrington told the corners there would be a reward for who earned the most stickers. From the beginning, the reward has been set up as a surprise that would be revealed at the end of spring practices. What the award turned out to be and if it was given out is unknown, but the mystery element kept corners motivated throughout spring.
“You just keep racking them up,” Abney said. “By the end of the spring, we’ll see who made the most plays.”
Another goal of the competition is to encourage Sun Devil corners to earn style points. While football is commonly seen as grueling, Carrington still believes players should exude swagger on the field. Similarly to how swagger is an element of Texas football’s physical identity.
High school football in Texas is built on pressure, pride and performance. Carrington taps into that mindset, reinforcing the Texas standard and making sure it spreads across ASU. With more players from the state arriving, he might not have to worry about it spreading at all. It’s already in the soil, taking root in Tempe.
“Guys are familiar with what the standard is in Texas and it translates to the practice field,” Carrington said. “It’s kind of infectious. Everybody else feeds off of it.”
