(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
TEMPE — It was a busy week in Tempe as a slew of news was released. The initial results of the NCAA’s investigation into the recruiting violations committed during the Herm Edwards tenure were finally released, and ASU seems to have served the majority of the more severe penalties.
Next, redshirt freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada entered the transfer portal and was soon followed by senior wide receiver Elijhah Badger graduate tight end Bryce Pierre. Head coach Kenny Dillingham was unable to comment on the violations, but wished the three players all the best in their careers.
In a time of constant movement in the portal, Dillingham’s message has been the same. He wants people that want to be here.
“That’s why I don’t fight for kids to stay,” Dillingham said. “If you’re one toe in, if there’s a little bit that’s not all in, you have no chance to reach your potential. Suppose we have a football team that’s all in with every single person every single day. Everybody’s gonna become a multiplier. If you get 120 kids that are multiplying each other to become better, everybody’s going to reach a higher potential than they thought they could ever be.”
If the departure of Rashada, whose commitment marked a hopeful beginning for the Dillingham era, affected the second-year head coach in any way, it was difficult to tell. Instead, Dillingham showed that same high-energy persona that he has shown in every practice and every press conference for the last year.
When anyone can leave at any time, Dillingham has decided to spend his time with these players, developing as close of a relationship as possible to try to convince them that he is the right man to achieve their dreams at the college level.
“(Dillingham) is so great at that because he understands people,” redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt said. “A lot of coaches are great coaches but don’t understand people particularly. He creates a really good family environment. We’re watching the fight tonight as a team, so just stuff like that, where he’s able to include everybody and bring them together.”
With Rashada now out of the picture, Dillingham said after Saturday’s scrimmage that Leavitt would be the team’s starting quarterback if the season started today, but also said that the team plans to add another signal caller via the transfer portal in order to compete with Leavitt and veteran senior quarterback Trenton Bourguet for the starting position come week one in August.
But Dillingham has challenged Leavitt to win the job, something he doesn’t shy away from. While some coaches around the country might try to guarantee a spot to someone in order to influence them to stay, Dillingham is going to challenge every single player every single day.
“There are gonna be people around the country right now who bring you in and tell you how good you are, and tell you how you’re important to the team and how you need to stay here, make practices easier, maybe do something nice for you, take you to dinner,” Dillingham said.
“It’s real. It’s what happens. What I said was, ‘Screw that.’ Compete. I want to challenge you. We’re gonna push you. If you’re gonna be here, you’re gonna push yourself, and if you don’t want to be here, then don’t. If you’re here, get ready to be challenged.”
Leavitt appeared in just four games in order to preserve his redshirt at Michigan State, but coming out of high school, Leavitt was the consensus No. 1 quarterback out of the state of Oregon in the 2023 class. 247Sports had Leavitt ranked as a four-star, the same as Rashada.
So far in the spring, Leavitt has developed a connection with multiple wide receivers, most notably sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, throwing two touchdown passes to the Colorado transfer in a scrimmage this spring. Even with the departure of Badger to the portal, the receiver room should be strong enough and deep enough to be competitive.
The season is still over four months away, and Leavitt, now the presumed starter, still has time to build relationships with the deep receiver and running back rooms. But he might want to hurry up and establish those deeper relationships because they might not be in Tempe next week.
“Physically and mentally, just getting better every single day and building relationships with the teammates,” Leavitt said when asked what he is working on from spring to next fall.
“With the transfer portal now, you never know who’s gonna go in or out, so just building that culture so that nobody wants to leave. I mean, it’s a great place to be. We’ve got a great staff. This isn’t an elite staff. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to play for them.”
