We. Are. So. Close.
After profiling the iconic Keith Poole yesterday, we are just two days away from the Sun Devils kicking off the 2025 season against FCS Northern Arizona. And with that, today's spotlight appropriately shines on Xavion Alford.
Growing up in East Texas, Alford was a stud. As a junior, he helped his high school team reach the Texas State Championship game, compiling 58 tackles, 20 pass breakups, and six picks along the way. Rated as a 4-star prospect and the 15th best safety in the nation, he committed to the Longhorns.
In Austin, Alford played sparingly. Texas played 10 games that year due to the pandemic-shortened season, but leadership decided to fire head coach Tom Herman at the end of the year. The coaching change prompted Alford to transfer to USC, where he became a key figure on the Trojans defense.
Alford played in 11 games, making two starts, and posted 31 tackles with three interceptions. By season's end, he was playing himself into a starting job for the next season, even as head coach Clay Helton was fired two games into the year.
Then, tragedy struck. An injury caused Alford to miss the entire 2022 season and, after seeing others thrive in the role that would have been his, he entered the portal again. Alford did so under the impression that he'd be eligible to play right away in 2023 despite it being his second transfer, since the first one was due to a sudden coaching change.
However, the NCAA ruled that Alford was not eligible, and he was forced to sit out the 2023 season. That news came after Alford had chosen Arizona State, one of the first transfer players to buy into newly-hired Kenny Dillingham's vision for rebuilding Sun Devil football. Given his pedigree, Alford was easily the biggest pull of that first offseason for Dillingham.
The news that Alford would be unable to play in 2023 was a gut punch for the team, as well as for Alford. Despite having successfully rehabbed from an injury that wiped out an entire season, Alford was forced to sit on the bench for a consecutive year.
He did just that, and had a front row seat to a miserable 3-9 season, yet Alford never wavered. He stuck with the Sun Devils and Dillingham, earning a spot in the team's Pat Tillman Leadership Council along the way, and preparing himself for the day when he could finally don the maroon and gold.
That day finally came in 2024.
Xavion Alford, ball hawk. Diving interception off the deflection. pic.twitter.com/xBrDQoY5I5
— Savanah Tujague (@savanah2j) August 19, 2025
Alford became a key cog in the Sun Devils' secondary, picking off two passes and tallying 85 tackles, second on the team. Defensive coordinator Brian Ward was empowered to move him around the field, alongside Myles "Ghost" Rowser, to create a unique scheme that confounded quarterbacks.
Eventually, the NCAA also reversed course on their rules limiting transfers, which cleared the way for Alford to return this year for one last ride in Tempe. And after helping lead the Sun Devils to the College Football Playoff - which saw him nearly beat his former Longhorns program - Alford is hoping his final season at Arizona State ends with a bang.
At the Big 12 Football Media Days this summer, I asked Alford about what it means to have been a foundational member of the Dillingham era and helping rebuild the program, and he had this to say:
"It's a product of [Dillingham's] vision, it's a product of the work, it's a product of the process. Since we got here, we talked about what we wanted to do, and we knew that we had to do it, we had to change it, and put in the work to do it.
He's done a great job of motivating us and keeping us energized. The leaders of the team have done a good job of passing it down. It's just a blessing, it's crazy to see the story and, obviously last year going to Media Days and being predicted last and then winning the conference... this year, it's all eyes on us.
It just shows that respect is earned, not given. And we earned the respect we're getting now. "
Certainly nobody is overlooking Alford or his teammates this year, and in just two days the star safety will play his last first game as a college athlete. He and everyone else on the roster are determined to make it a year to remember forever and ever.