(Photo: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)
TEMPE – While Arizona State football geared up for its 2025 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl matchup against Duke on New Year’s Eve in El Paso, Texas, redshirt senior linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu was in the midst of fighting an even greater battle.
He had appeared in only four games in his second season as a Sun Devil before being ruled out the rest of the way due to a foot injury that required surgery.
Although NCAA rules state that a player can be granted an additional year of eligibility if they played in four or fewer games during a season, a limit of five calendar years to play four seasons is also imposed; a threshold Fiaseu had just reached.
Fiaseu was hopeful he could be an exception to the rule, having submitted a waiver to the NCAA, but hope was all he could do as he spent months cheering from the sidelines, wondering whether or not his career at the collegiate level had already come to an end.
As his teammates warmed up on the practice fields in El Paso, the answer to his burning question finally arrived.
“I was sitting there, watching some of the boys warm up, and the (NCAA) compliance (officer) came up to me, and they told me, ‘Congratulations, you got the sixth year,’” Fiaseu said.
The Henderson, Nevada, native and former three-star prospect transferred to Arizona State in Dec. 2023 after playing in 15 games across two seasons at San Diego State.
His tenure in Tempe kicked off with a pick-six on the second play of the 2024 season opener, and by season’s end, he finished with the fourth-most tackles among the team’s linebackers with 34.
Nearly two years later, Fiaseu is gearing up for another shot at ending his time in the maroon and gold on a high note after recently completing his injury rehabilitation process.
“Once we came back for the offseason, I just started easing back into it, and the trainers had gotten me right over here,” Fiaseu said. “So, I eased back into it and then I’ve slowly made my way (with) more and more reps with (the) team each week. Right before spring ball, I got cleared.”
This time around, however, he carries a whole new mindset into the 2026 season following a life-changing development. A month after being allowed to return to ASU with another year of eligibility, Fiaseu became a father for the first time.
“I just feel like I’ve transitioned that well,” Fiaseu said. “Being a dad is awesome. I have something bigger to play for now. It’s just about me and my family. It’s just me and my son.”
As a result, ASU linebackers coach A.J. Cooper called Fiaseu the “father figure” of the team’s linebacking corps.
The fourth-year coach is more than happy to spend another year with Fiaseu under his wing, and expects that his title, both in the figurative and literal sense, will provide much-needed stability to a position group currently in a state of transition.
“It’s good to have him back,” Cooper said. “Just a veteran presence. Literally the father figure in the room, literally now that he’s got a kid, but just the way he carries himself and his maturity.”
Although six of the ten linebackers currently only on the Sun Devils’ roster are returners from the year prior, it comes with the caveat of the position group’s top two contributors, Jordan Crook and Keyshaun Elliott, moving on to the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears, respectively.
Furthermore, Fiaseu, alongside junior Martell Hughes and redshirt sophomore Prayer Young-Blackgoat, are the only three members who appeared in at least one game in 2025.
In the midst of the linebacking corps embracing a sense of competition during spring practices, Cooper isn’t wasting the opportunity to challenge the team’s most experienced linebacker to further his development as a leading voice.
“He’s been extremely productive,” Cooper said. “But (I’ve) been really, really proud of where his leadership’s grown and we’re going to need it. He’s really going to have to step up from a vocal standpoint, or by example being an alpha.”
Fiaseu hasn’t shied away from using his coach’s test of leadership to lend a helping hand to any teammates on the defensive side of the ball by applying the lessons he’s learned over the past six years, both old and new.
“I just feel like I’m here to serve everybody there,” Fiaseu said. “I have a whole new perspective on life, but to be like one of the older guys, I have a lot of experience from San Diego State to coming here now. I’ve been in this defense for three years now.
“So if I don’t go and I don’t help, what’s the whole point of me being here? It’s not about me doing well. It’s about me helping everybody be their best.”
The linebacker has also utilized the challenge to continue encouraging his teammates to grow stronger together while away from the football field.
His Christian faith has helped him become a part of team bible study groups, and he’s often credited as one of the founders of the Sun Devils’ teamwide bowling competitions.
“It really just started with Jacob (Rich Kongaika) and Zyrus last year,” sophomore tight end AJ Ia said. “We used to just go just to have fun, and then everybody on the team, they started to get bowling balls, and then it started to get serious.”
Fiaseu and Ia’s relationship is particularly unique considering the two are cousins. Endeavors such as hitting the bowling lanes or going for a swim at Fiaseu’s house have not only helped the two develop a tight-knit bond but have also reunited the linebacker with a side of his family that he once considered distant.
“It’s crazy to see how close me and AJ got,” Fiaseu said. “Lately, it’s been a little hard to hang out with my son and all that, but it’s definitely good. I haven’t seen my uncle and talked to him this much in years, and the past year and a half, I’ve talked to him more than I have in the past 20 years of my life.”
Fiaseu’s final go-around at the collegiate level is not only about what he can provide on the field as a linebacker, but also the standard he’s setting for those around him as a teammate, leader and friend.
However, the first few chapters of his journey into fatherhood have also helped him realize that there is no greater responsibility than leaving behind a legacy that his own son would be proud of.
“One day, I want to be able to tell him that I played football and I succeeded in football and what I’ve done,” Fiaseu said. “I’m walking that path and trying to climb up there, and hopefully, I set a great example for my son.”
