Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State football came up short this week, not on the field, but in a recruiting battle off it. A priority target for the Sun Devils, Cooper Perry, chose Oregon over Arizona State. Perry, a four-star WR prospect from Scottsdale, ranks as the No. 1 2025 recruit in the state of Arizona (247 Sports).
Following practice Thursday morning, Dillingham didn’t need to be asked about Perry’s decision before indirectly addressing it.
“We’re going to win here,” Kenny Dillingham says
“We’re recruiting people that love ball and want to be at Arizona State,” Dillingham said about recruiting following Thursday’s practice. “We are never going to trick somebody to come here. We’re never going to lie to somebody to come here. I want people who want to be here. And those people are going to be from Texas, California, Hawaii, and maybe Arizona. That’s not my choice, that’s other kids.”
Dillingham has been very vocal about his efforts to keep in-state kids in-state. Even in cases with the transfer portal, he’s brought former Arizona kids back to the state, most recently Cole Martin. Martin went to Basha High School in Chandler before attending Oregon. Coming out of high school Martin was a four-star and the No. 4 prospect in Arizona’s 2023 class.
Now after his lone season at Oregon, Martin is coming home to play for Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State. However, Dillingham is making it clear he plans to win no matter where his players are from.
“We’re going to win,” Dillingham continued. “We’re going to win here. That is going to happen. I can guarantee it. Whether we win with the kid from five miles away or we win with the kid from 300 miles away. I would love to do it with a kid like me who was born and raised here. That’s not my choice. But we will win. We’re going to win with people who want to be Sun Devils and want to be here for the long run.”
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