Arizona State had a solid early signing day on Wednesday, locking up 21 recruits' signatures and all but ensuring they'll be heading to Tempe next year to play ball for head coach Kenny Dillingham.
Out of the 21 signees only two were four-star recruits and the rest three-stars, causing no unexpected breaking news or dramatic flips from one institution to the other. While those typically make for great coverage and get the most attention, Dillingham's uneventful early signing day is just a sign of his fantastic recruiting skills.
All but one of the 21 signees on Wednesday had been verbally committed to the Sun Devils, signaling they, their parents and high school coaches were buying what Dillingham was selling from the jump. That's damn impressive only having him at the helm of the program for not even two full seasons yet.
Kenny Dillingham's lack of early signing day dramatics is a great sign for ASU fans
Wide receiver Chance Ables was the lone signee that took some convincing by Dillingham and his staff but even so, the senior from Plano, Texas knew he'd make the trek to Tempe weeks ago.
Per 247 Sports, Ables was committed to TCU as early as February but took an official visit to ASU on Nov. 9 - the same day the Sun Devils completed a fourth quarter comeback to beat UCF 35-31.
The very next day he de-committed from TCU and gave his word to Dillingham, signaling he liked what he saw here a lot more than in Fort Worth.
Flipping Ables was huge but the fact that Dillingham didn't lose any commits himself on Wednesday proves that flying under the radar is ASU's best weapon as a program. He's here to "Activate the Valley" and his staple "Texas 2 Tempe" pipeline is just the first step in that process.
Fans should be very excited to see ASU, despite not being high up on national rankings in recruiting, making stable and steady progress with high school athletes across the Southwest.