Big 12 Commissioner Discusses Arizona State Football

Arizona State football is heading into year two of being members of the Big 12 - having won the league as first-year members in 2024.

The anticipation that is surrounding the 2025 season has reached a fever pitch, as just over seven weeks remain before opening kickoff on August 30 against in-state rival Northern Arizona.

As the stretch run of the offseason arrives, so does the uptick in media engagements - that came into full force on Tuesday, as the Sun Devils were one of the focal points in day one of Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas.

Sam Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson, Ben Coleman, C.J. Fite, and Xavion Alford were already named representatives of the program on the All-Big 12 Team ahead of the season, while Leavitt was named the preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Commissioner Brett Yormark spoke on the decision to end the team-centric polls at Media Days just two weeks prior while also upholding individual honors:

"I think it disadvantaged Arizona State last year. It's the right thing for the Big 12 (to get rid of it) & we're glad we did it"

The perception around the nation in 2024 was that the Big 12 was relatively weak compared to other power conferences - that could have been in large part due to teams such as Brigham Young and Arizona State being much better than projected in the preseason poll, while teams that were lauded such as Utah fell flat.

The Sun Devils could be presumed to have been selected as the favorites based on the fact that the five players that were mentioned above had been selected to the All-Conference team - more than any other team in the conference.

Still, the Sun Devils will quite possibly face a more daunting path to replicate last season's success despite the high-end talent, elite coaching, and unmatched continuity that has been built.

Texas Tech brought in a top tier transfer portal class, Baylor returns a high-powered offense, Utah shored up the quarterback position with New Mexico transfer Devon Dampier - even programs such as Texas Christian and Colorado could be major players in the race for the conference crown.

Read more on what Dillingham has to say in his talk with media on Tuesday here, and on Leavitt discussing his expanded leadership role in 2025 here.

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