Sparky rallies ASU fans at the Georgia Aquarium during a pep rally before facing Texas in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, 2024. Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona State's Recruiting Shuts Down Any Doubt

Originally posted on Arizona State Sun Devils on SI
By Caleb Sisk | Last updated Jul 28, 2025 10:00 AM ET

The term underrated can often be used when you’re speaking about the Arizona State Sun Devils , even though they had arguably one of the greatest seasons in the program's history. For a quick recap, let’s go all the way back to the college football playoffs, which is exactly where the Arizona State Sun Devils finished their season, which is already impressive enough.

The Sun Devils suffered a shocking loss when it came to the Texas Longhorns, as that is what ended their season after they won 11 football games and only lost three of them, with their loss in the incoming via overtime by eight points. Even with the impressive season from their players like Sam Leavitt or Jordan Tyson, they still didn’t stop people from underwriting them.

Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Kenny Dillingham, as someone who isn’t shy to being underrated as he has helped produce many different talented prospects and put them inside the NFL and now he is bringing the best staff with him as they continue to recruit extremely well, which is something that others should be afraid of.

The better this team recruits the more dangerous they become as they are gradually ancient closer to the national championship and could likely even make a run this year but what many don’t realize it’s the fact that this 2026 classes is a home run class for Coach Kenny Dillingham, and these Sun Devils have plenty of potential to go back to the college football playoff sooner rather than later, but this time make a deep run for the national championship.

This race is the question. Is it still valid to under-rate the Sun Devils? It is a quick answer of no no it is not valid at this time to discuss how outstanding this Sundevil staff is as I continue to bring in the best recruits, which help push them to a national title type of contention.

In my professional opinion as National Recruiting Reporter, I firmly believe that the teams that recruited the best simply play the best. This is something that we have seen with Ohio State which just won the national championship.

They aren’t afraid to put time into recruiting prospects, and they land the better prospects in the country. Dillingham and his staff is ancient closer and closer to this, which makes them a dangerous threat to many, even including Ohio State, which is hopeful for a back-to-back run.

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

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