Arizona State Still Has Top-10 2026 Recruiting Class

There are seemingly infinite amounts of reasons to be excited about the Arizona State football program moving forward from the perspective of a fan.

Perhaps the most glaring is the efforts that head coach Kenny Dillingham and his coaching staff have made on the recruiting trail.

The Sun Devils have done some of the most significant roster building work over the last two seasons via the transfer portal, but recent tangible success, the track record of player development, and an improving NIL landscape have re-inserted the program as a consistent threat in the high school recruiting world.

Craig Haubert of ESPN revisited the current top 25 recruiting classes for the 2026 class - and Arizona State remained at the same spot as previous at number nine.

More from Haubert below:

ESPN 300 commits: 2
Top offensive prospect: QB Jake Fette
Top defensive prospect: DE Julian Hugo

"Kenny Dillingham deftly pulled all the roster-building levers available to him as he rebuilt the Sun Devils back to national relevancy. They have an interesting 2026 class so far that includes a pair of ESPN 300 recruits. Fette, a four-star Texas native, is a dual-threat playmaker with excellent short-area quickness and a smooth, consistent release."

Fette truly could be the future of Sun Devil football post Sam Leavitt - more on that here. On top of that, Nalin Scott projects as a future playmaker on the outside as well.

The class is already built up quite nicely - with fourteen players currently committed. Even more significant is that half of the 14 commits are from Texas - which could be a sign that the program has become a legitimate threat to poach recruits from major Texas colleges.

On the slightly negative side - the program did lose the commitment of a top tight end in the class, but rebounded nicely and ultimately have one of the best overall classes to this point despite the de-commitment.

"They lost a key, potentially productive, target with the decommitment of Israel Briggs, but still sit in good position. The class already included another TE in Hayden Vercher, who possesses excellent ball skills and is a good route runner, with more than 1,000 yards receiving in 2024. Shortly after losing Briggs, they added ESPN 300 WR Nalin Scott, a big target at roughly 6-3, 210 pounds who moves well for his size and can be tough to tackle after the catch."

While several months remain before National Signing Day, there's little doubt that pacing ahead of powers such as Georgia, Oregon, and Florida State is a phenomenal sign for things that are to come.

Read more about the current season at hand - more specifically bold predictions about the upcoming team - here.

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