10 takeaways for Arizona State from Big 12 Media Days

This week saw the Big 12 host its annual Football Media Days at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Over the course of two days, coaches and players met with media to answer questions and make their case for why their team can be conference champions this year.

The actual reigning champions, the Sun Devils of Arizona State, were unsurprisingly the center of attention. After spending much of Tuesday speaking with the contingent of Sun Devils in Frisco, these are the top 10 takeaways I had from the experience.

1. Kenny Dillingham is more confident than ever

Kenny Dillingham has likely never been described as someone who is unsure or lacking in confidence, but there was something different about his demeanor this time around.

When he was first hired to lead his alma mater, Dillingham was the youngest head coach in FBS football. He had a detailed plan, but there's a stark difference between having a plan and actually making it work. In his first season trying to implement said plan, things didn't go so well, but that hardly surprised anyone given the state of the program.

Now, though? Dillingham has proven he has what it takes to not only bring in talent but coach that talent to winning football games. After whiffing on his first offensive coordinator hire, Dillingham struck gold with Marcus Arroyo, and the head coach feels freed up to do even more now that he knows he can trust Arroyo with the offense.

Dillingham also sees his team culture settling in after last season's successful run. Now, the pressure is on to keep that culture in place and push his team to go even further than they did last year.

2. Sam Leavitt is ready for prime time

This time last year, nobody knew what to expect from Sam Leavitt. He had never started a college football game, and his playing time as a true freshman at Michigan State was sparse and hardly informative.

Now, Leavitt is being mentioned as a Heisman candidate and was voted the Big 12's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. At the Football Media Days in Frisco, Leavitt - looking snappy in a light blue suit - was unbothered by the lights being brighter entering his second season in Tempe:

"I really don't think it's that much pressure. At certain times, it might get overwhelming, but that's what I've asked for since day one. I asked to be in this position and I put myself in this position; for me, it's kind of like this was supposed to happen. So for people that say it's too much pressure, then this isn't the situation for you. "

Like his head coach, Leavitt has always been a confident person, but his comments this past week hinted at the internal makeup of this quarterback. He's wired for the big moments, and Leavitt has no problem with Arizona State being the team now in the spotlight.

3. The chip on the shoulder has only gotten bigger

For most of last year, Arizona State was the underdog. From being picked to finish last in the Big 12 to being passed by Boise State in the College Football Playoff seeding, the Sun Devils were never given the benefit of the doubt at any point last season.

They used that as a motivating factor, too, relishing the role of the underdog and playing with a chip on their shoulder all year.

If anyone was worried that chip might be gone, though, think again. Whether it was Dillingham or Leavitt or safety Xavion Alford or center Ben Coleman, one common theme from the Sun Devils this past week was that they fell short of their own goals last year.

While Dillingham avoided the bait a couple of times in interviews when asked about the controversial targeting call in last year's Peach Bowl, he and his players were honest about that game's conclusion leaving a bitter taste in their mouths.

They know they were capable of beating Texas and advancing in the College Football Playoff, and that knowledge has been driving them to do what it takes to get back in 2025.

4. A unique perspective on recruiting

Dillingham became the youngest head coach in the FBS largely because of his recruiting ability. While he didn't call plays until the 2022 season, right before getting the Arizona State job, Dillingham held offensive coordinator roles at Memphis, Auburn, and Florida State precisely because he was a recruiting ace.

That made his new take on recruiting all the more interesting in the world of the transfer portal, NIL, and now revenue sharing:

While much of the recruiting game has now become about who offers the biggest dollar amount, something that particularly frustrates Dillingham, Arizona State has built their model on retention and development instead.

In Tempe, the Sun Devils offer a chance to play football at a high level and earn NIL dollars rather than simply being handed a paycheck to join the team. It's a departure from what other programs are doing, even within the Big 12, but it's one Dillingham believes will better preserve the team's identity.

5. Jordyn Tyson is entering his final form

Jordyn Tyson had a breakout year for the Sun Devils, snagging 75 passes for 1,098 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns despite missing the postseason with an injury. He's healthy now and looking to anchor a passing attack alongside Sam Leavitt.

That's not all, though. Tyson went through a period of personal growth this offseason, one that included becoming a born again Christian, something that Tyson spoke of having an enormous impact on his mentality this past week.

Tyson also added 10 pounds of muscle while seeing a 1.5 MPH increase in his GPS-tracked top speed, according to Dillingham. Tyson's ability to get both stronger and faster was something the head coach attributed not only to Tyson himself, but also to wide receivers coach Hines Ward.

The Sun Devils used the transfer portal to deepen their receiving corps behind Tyson, primarily with Fresno State transfer Jalen Moss, but Tyson's championship caliber work ethic may make that irrelevant with the improvements he's already showing.

6. Kenny Dillingham, special teams coordinator?

One of the few weaknesses on Arizona State's 2024 squad was easily special teams, where inconsistencies at kicker routinely made for challenging coaching decisions on fourth down. Look no further than the Peach Bowl, where the Sun Devils missed a field goal and also allowed a punt return touchdown in a game that was decided in two overtimes.

Dillingham is taking that to heart, quickly citing special teams as their biggest area for growth this year. He also plans on being heavily involved with that unit, an area he's never coached directly given his close work with quarterbacks at every point in his career thus far.

Special teams coordinator Charlie Ragle is one of Dillingham's top mentors, so the two already have a strong foundation in their relationship, but it seems as if Dillingham is taking it upon himself to figure things out there.

While they do have added faith in the kicking game thanks to big-legged transfer kicker Jesus Gomez, Dillingham also said he plans on running a lot more fake kicks and punts, hoping to weaponize special teams rather than let it be a source of self-inflicted wounds, as it was last year.

7. Ben Coleman is ready to anchor the offensive line

With last year's starting center, Leif Fautanu, now a member of the Detroit Lions, left guard Ben Coleman is moving over to anchor the offensive line. He's never played the position before, and early on in spring practice there were issues with Coleman's snapping ability, but Coleman feels confident and ready for the new task:

"The best thing they said is don't worry about the snap, let's talk football. The snap is repetition, so it'll come, and it got so much better.

As far as calls, that's why last year we harped so much on everybody needing to know the calls, not just the center. You should already have the call in your head. As soon as he says one word, oh cool, I was already thinking it. So that made the transition easy for me, because I knew the whole offense. Now you're just the voice that everybody hears."

The exchange between Leavitt and Coleman is of paramount importance, as poor center play can ruin an offense regardless of the skills they have elsewhere. This week in Frisco, though, Coleman dispelled any lingering concerns about him playing the position, and Leavitt shared that he has complete trust in his new center entering the season.

8. Sun Devils feel right at home in the Big 12

It's surely not controversial to say that Arizona State's first season in the Big 12 went swimmingly. The football team won the conference championship, one of several Sun Devil sports programs to do so, and the university was awarded the conference's first ever Commissioner's Cup.

Their comfortability in the new conference goes beyond that, though. Dillingham spoke about how the Big 12 perfectly aligned with their own recruiting strategies, as Arizona State has three primary recruiting footprints: Arizona, California, and Texas.

Geographically, Arizona State is right next door to California, but their placement in the Big 12 - where a fourth of the teams hail from Texas - has opened up doors for recruiting success in the Longhorn state. Dillingham noted how several of the players who attended Media Days this year are from Texas, and they had the chance to have their families come out and attend, watching their children up close as they give answer after answer in interviews.

Both on the field and off of it, it's pretty clear that Sun Devil football is thriving in their new conference.

9. Mutual respect from conference foes is clear

A year ago, nobody in the Big 12 respected Arizona State. The coaches poll at last year's Football Media Days picked the Sun Devils to finish last, which was quickly turned into a meme when they won the whole thing.

Not only did that result in the Big 12 coaches agreeing not to hold such a poll anymore, but multiple coaches and players from other teams made repeated references to Arizona State throughout the two-day event.

Coaches such as Joey McGuire of Texas Tech and Matt Campbell of Iowa State circled the Sun Devils as the team to beat, while coaches like Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State and Scott Satterfield of Cincinnati pointed to them as proof that any team jump to the Big 12 title game after a down year if they just get the right mix of players in the building.

Looking at it from all sides, it was a very different tune this time around, and it made clear that these other programs hold Arizona State in high regard entering the 2025 season.

10. This team feels different

At the risk of sounding like a homer, this year's Sun Devil squad just feels different.

There was no sense of entitlement from Dillingham or any of the six players he brought with him to Frisco. Leavitt seems to have the Michael Jordan mentality when it comes to handling great expectations; Tyson looks and sounds like an NFL player already; Coleman spoke with the confidence and clarity of someone who's been playing in this scheme for a decade.

Most importantly, these Sun Devils seem to understand that last year wasn't good enough.

Not only was it not enough to simply reach the College Football Playoff, but the team itself wasn't good enough to beat Texas, no matter how close the game was. Rather than patting themselves on the back or acting as if they've staked their claim on the Big 12, every representative of Arizona State made it clear they've spent months obsessing over how to fix those issues and get better.

That's the ticket, especially when returning so many starters from last year, as Arizona State does. There are obviously a litany of external factors at play as well, but the Sun Devils have put themselves in an excellent position to get back to the College Football Playoff this year and go even further this time.