One Reason to be Optimistic About 2025 Arizona State Football

Kenny Dillingham is setting out to accomplish something that no other coach has been able to as a leader of the Arizona State football program - leading the program to back-to-back seasons of truly contending for a national title.

The Sun Devils took advantage of a wide-open Big 12 conference in 2024 - fully coming into form late in the season en route to an 11-win season.

Skeptics of the program and the upcoming 2025 squad remain, but there are numerous reasons to be optimistic about the squad.

CBS Sports writer Will Backus believes that the main driving force of optimism ahead of the 2025 season is the returning production from a year ago.

More from Backus below:

"The overall returning production. Arizona State has 17 starters back -- which leads the FBS -- from a 2024 team that won the Big 12 championship and earned a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. That includes 10 on the defensive side of the ball and star quarterback Sam Leavitt, a legitimate dual-threat option with a "dawg" mentality. "

Leavitt is the headliner of the returning players - as is preseason All-American wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, but there are other returners that very much serve as a vessel for the bullish approach to the upcoming team.

Stars on the defense in DT C.J. Fite, S Xavion Alford, and LB Keyshaun Elliott are just three of the 10 returners - the only departure is nickelback Shamari Simmons.

Both sides of the ball are well-connected and bear the advantage of continuity over fellow Big 12 competition, with the talent being a factor that can't be ignored either.

Perhaps the most unheralded piece of the continuity angle is that every single position coach and coordinator returns from last season.