It's been over a month since the Peach Bowl and ASU's loss to Texas. In the last AP Top 25 College Football Poll of the season, ASU ranked No. 7 ahead of Southeastern Conference teams like Ole Miss and Tennessee. Now, the program and fandom head into this offseason with legitimate steam and hope for the future.
The goal is for the success to be sustainable for a long time. It starts with allocating more resources to the program, and the ASU athletic department has done that. It began with extending head coach Kenny Dillingham's contract by five years. With Dillingham staying for the foreseeable future, it makes ASU an interesting place for recruits and players in the transfer portal.
READ MORE: BREAKING: Kenny Dillingham receives 5-year deal
With the first part of the offseason concluding and the transfer portal closing, ASU gained and lost some players to the jaws of the new age of the NCAA. Despite multiple high school commitments, much of the focus has been on what the program gained in the transfer portal.
"What we're looking to do is make our team better," Dillingham said in a virtual press conference. "I tell every person I ever sign, my job is to sign somebody better than you, point blank, and that's going to be from now until forever."
Notable Departures (Eligibility/NFL Draft)
RB Cam Skattebo
DL Jeff Clark
OL Emmit Bohle
OL Leif Fautanu
The first player who comes to everyone's mind in the Valley is Skattebo. He gave fans a season to remember, as he finished fifth in Heisman voting and even had three first-place votes. For good reason, too — Skattebo accumulated over 2,300 yards and 24 touchdowns. He is the first FBS player to put up over 1,500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in one season since Stanford's Christian McCaffrey back in 2015.
It may be difficult for ASU to replace a talent like Skattebo, but fans could expect to see him in an NFL jersey soon.
ASU lost two starting receivers. Guillory played opposite redshirt sophomore receiver Jordyn Tyson, and Stovall primarily operated in the slot. Both left the team and were vital to the run ASU achieved this past season. Guillory had two touchdowns in the Big 12 Championship game, and Stovall caught a clutch fourth-and-one pass in the same game.
Fautanu will be another hard player to replace. He got named to the All-Big 12 First Team with Skattebo and Tyson. He's played 3,329 snaps in his collegiate career. A persistent presence and anchor in the middle of the offensive line will be a tough loss for the Sun Devils.
Simmons was another leader on the Pat Tillman Council along with Skattebo, Fautanu and Bourguet. While he has declared for the draft, ASU fans had the opportunity to see him play once more when he participated in the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 30.
Clark, Bourguet, McCullough and Bohle had essential roles within this team. McCullough had two interceptions against Utah, earning him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.
Departures (Portal)
WR Troy Omeire (UNLV)
WR Kaleb Black (Sam Houston)
WR Korbin Hendrix (Montana)
WR Jamaal Young II (North Dakota)
TE Markeston Douglas (Florida State)
OL Sirri Kandiyeli (Southern Utah)
OL Luis Cordova
DL Landen Thomas (UNLV)
DL Harold Brooks
DL Tristan Monday
DL J'Mond Tapp (Southern Mississippi)
DL Kyran Bourda (Texas State)
LB K'Vion Thunderbird (Fresno State)
CB Cole Martin (UCLA)
CB Keontez Bradley (Buffalo)
CB Laterrance Welch (UNLV)
S Kamari Wilson (Memphis)
While none of the portal losses may have been starters, ASU did lose some depth pieces and transfers who only spent a year in the Valley.
Martin transferred in from Oregon but got sidelined for the year with a hip injury. He enters a Bruins program where his dad is the secondary coach.
Welch transferred in from LSU before the season and played some significant snaps for the Sun Devils, even getting a pick-six against UCF. Kamari Wilson transferred to Memphis, where Dillingham previously coached.
Additions
RB Kanye Udoh (Army)
WR Jalen Moss (Fresno State)
WR Noble Johnson (Clemson)
WR Jaren Hamilton (Alabama)
TE Khamari Anderson (Kentucky)
OT Jimeto Obigbo (Texas State)
OT Xander Ruggeroli (Nebraska)
DL My'Keil Gardner (Oregon)
CB Kyndrich Breedlove (Purdue)
CB Adrian Wilson (Washington State)
CB Nyland Green (Purdue)
K Jesús Gómez (Eastern Michigan)
"Wide receiver. We've got to get some more -- we're going to lose a lot of wide outs, so we're going to take a wide out," Dillingham said during a virtual press conference. "(On the) offensive line, we're moving some guys around, so we're going to take a couple, one, if not two, offensive linemen ... Skat is leaving, and Skat is pretty good. We need to find somebody to take on some of these carries."
Dillingham made this comment before the portal even opened. Safe to say he got everything he wanted.
Last season, the kicking game was one of the biggest knocks on ASU overall as a team. After the Cincinnati game, Dillingham went viral for a moment, saying ASU would hold open tryouts for a kicker. While he apologized for those comments, it was still clear that it was a weakness of the team.
ASU addressed that early on in the portal, signing Gómez, who is a transfer from Eastern Michigan. He is 46-for-58 on field goals and 95-100 on extra points over the last three seasons. His career-long is a 57-yard field goal against Washington.
While it may not be entirely possible to replace the production and talent of Skattebo, Udoh is a great start. For the Army last season, he had 179 carries, 1,117 rushing yards, and 10 touchdowns. He helped facilitate the Army to its best year since 2018.
Tyson saw significant production and targets, but ASU has added new wide receivers to help Heisman-hopeful and Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year Sam Leavitt take a step-up next season. Moss, Johnson and Hamilton all stand above or at 6-foot-1, hoping to learn from ASU wide receiver coach Hines Ward.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Edited by Henry Smardo, Abigail Beck and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at danielr1102@gmail.com and follow @daniel_rios72 on X.
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Daniel is a senior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN, OC Riptide, 1550 Sports and AZPreps365.
