Sam Leavitt, other Sun Devils snubbed in Phil Steele's All Big 12 team

The 2024 Sun Devils were defined by disrespect. Picked to finish dead last in the Big 12, they simply won the whole conference in their first year as members. Then they took Texas to two overtimes in the College Football Playoff, proving to everyone they belonged.

Apparently not everyone got the memo.

Late last week, Phil Steele released his preseason All-American teams for Athlon Sports. In the issue, he named just two Sun Devils to his All-Big 12 first team: wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and safety Xavion Alford. Both players are absolutely deserving, but they're hardly the only ones.

On the second team, Arizona State saw cornerback Keith Abney and defensive tackle CJ Fite make an appearance. Both players have legitimate arguments to have been on the first team, but the Big 12 does have a lot of high profile names at those positions.

The biggest surprise, though, is quarterback Sam Leavitt coming in at All-Big 12 third team.

That's the same Leavitt who currently has the 12th best odds to win the Heisman, per DraftKings sportsbook. And the same Leavitt who Steele himself just picked ninth in his own personal Heisman odds pecking order.

No other Big 12 quarterbacks were ahead of Leavitt on either list, yet Steele found two passers he somehow considers to be better in the conference. The names he chose are even more confounding: Baylor's Sawyer Robertson was on Steele's first team, with Kansas State's Avery Johnson on the second team.

Robertson became the starter early on last year due to an injury to starter Dequan Finn. Robertson had some erratic play early on, as the Bears lost their first three Big 12 games, before stabilizing into a reliable starter. Still, he only finished fifth among Big 12 quarterbacks in both completion percentage and passing yards.

Johnson, on the other hand, came into last year with Heisman expectations in his first year as the full-time starter. While Johnson had some impressive moments here and there, though, he fell well short of the hype. His 57.5% completion rate was second worst among Big 12 starters.

Placing both quarterbacks ahead of Leavitt, who just led his team to the College Football Playoff without Steele's first team receiver Tyson, is insane. There's obviously no guarantee Leavitt will be the best quarterback in the conference this year, but based on all available information, he's certainly the frontrunner right now.

Other Sun Devils on Steele's third team list include linebacker Keyshaun Elliott, transfer wide receiver Jalen Moss, and Ben Coleman, who is making the move from left guard to center. Additionally, edge rusher Clayton Smith, transfer running back Kanye Udoh, and transfer kicker Jesus Gomez all rounded out the fourth team All-Big 12 list.

All in all, having 11 players named to the list isn't that bad, but Leavitt's disrespect is astonishing. Not only that, but Steele also picked Arizona State to finish fourth in the Big 12 despite having 11 players singled out here.

If last year's team is anything to go off of, though, the Sun Devils will only feed off of this continued disrespect.