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Arizona State Star Ruled OUT vs Texas State
Aug 30, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) hands off the ball to Arizona State Sun Devils running back Kyson Brown (1) during warm ups before the game against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

TEMPE -- Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, and running backs coach Shaun Aguano will have to coach tonight's non-conference finale against Texas State without one of their premier players.

RB Kyson Brown has been ruled out for the game - according to local insider John Gambadoro.

This will mark the first contest that Brown has missed during the 2025 season after backing up program legend Cam Skattebo for the duration of 2024 - he emerged as the de-facto starting back during fall camp and accounted for 145 all-purpose yards in the season opener against Northern Arizona.

Brown then suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury in the first quarter of last Saturday's loss to Mississippi State - a game that was set up to be a major homecoming story for the native of the state. Dillingham also did not sound optimistic that Brown would be able to suit up during Monday's weekly press conference.

The listed co-starter Raleek Brown and second-stringer Kanye Udoh took the mantle over during last week's matchup - both were incredibly productive in the impromptu stand-in. They combined for 215 yards, while R. Brown also hauled in three passes.

The pieces of good news out of an unfortunate situation is that the offensive staff has a great contingency plan in place - Udoh and R. Brown are set to be in a position to be efficiency once again. The other positive spin is that K. Brown's absence is unlikely to extend beyond two weeks, as he was moving fluifly during practice and appeared to be in good spirits.

This remains a major opportunity for the Sun Devil run game to exploit a Texas State defense that allowed 27 points to Eastern Michigan and 36 points to UTSA in the first two weeks of the season. Establishing the run game early is also likely to be the key to get QB Sam Leavitt back into a groove within the contest of Arroyo's game script.

Arizona State-Texas State is set to kickoff just over an hour from now from Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.

Read more on major takeaways from Arizona State's week two loss here, and on taking a dive into coach Dillingham's comments after the game here.


This article first appeared on Arizona State Sun Devils on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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