Below is a list of roster notes, positions and all kinds of other things to know about the 2026 Sun Devil football team. Other items and names to be added over time, but below is some June reading for a Sun Devil football fan to get to know the team.
Hitting reset…third-most wins over two years in 38 seasons
After going 3-9 in back-to-back seasons (2022 and 2023), ASU is 19-8 the past two seasons under Kenny Dillingham. That is the most Sun Devil wins in back-to-back seasons since ASU went 20-7 under Todd Graham in 2013-14. Prior to that the most wins over two seasons under the same coach was 20-4 under Bruce Snyder in 1996 (11-1) and 1997 (9-3).
Most Sun Devil Wins Over Two Seasons (1988-present/38 seasons)
20 (10 in 2013, 10 in 2014)/Todd Graham
20 (11 in 1996, 9 in 1997)/Bruce Snyder
19 (8 in 2025, 11 in 2024)/Kenny Dillingham
Honoring the legacy. Leading the future.
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) May 5, 2026
Introducing the 2026 Pat Tillman Leadership Council 🔱 pic.twitter.com/CXsPmLsrig
Great to have Kyson Back
It will be great to have Kyson Brown back. He committed and signed with ASU and Coach Dillingham when the program was coming off a 3-9 season, stuck with the program after a 3-9 season in his first year, and then was a huge part of the 2024 Big 12 title team. The Lancaster (Texas) high school product has played in 30 games and rushed for 563 yards on 114 carries (4.9 yards per carry) with a pair of rushing touchdowns, both at Oklahoma State on Nov. 2, 2024. His top career marks are 18 carries (vs. UCF on Nov. 9, 2024, when Cam Skattebo was out with injury), 100 rushing yards (at Arizona on Nov. 30, 2024, that included a career-best 38-yard run) and six receptions (vs. Northern Arizona on Aug. 30, 2025). He will earn his BA in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in Design Studies & Real Estate this summer. He started the Northern Arizona and Mississippi State games before getting hurt last year.
Solid Iowa State victories, both away from home
ASU has two wins over Iowa State in the past two seasons both away from home, which is pretty solid since the Cyclones went 11-3 in 2024 and 8-4 in 2024. Iowa State is 10-3 at home in the past two seasons, with only BYU, Texas Tech and ASU defeating them in Ames.
C.J.!!! (38 career games as a Sun Devil)
Coach Kenny Dillingham has often stated how wonderful C.J. Fite is, both on the field and off. The senior from Texas has played in 38 games in his Sun Devil career and has racked up 76 tackles (40 solo). He had career-best eight in the Sept. 21, 2024 game at Texas Tech and had two of his 12 tackles-for-loss (37 yards) at Baylor on Sept. 20, 2025, in the season-opening road win.
Boogie Man
Overlooked is the experience that Boogie Wilson brings in his fourth year overall and second year at ASU. He played in 12 games in 2024 after playing two years at Washington State and had 57 tackles (40 solo) to go along with six pass break-ups and one interception. He played in 16 games at Washington State prior to ASU. He came up big at Baylor last year with eight tackles and had his lone interception in the comeback win over TCU on Sept. 26.
Wade Helton enters the chat (seven ASU starts in 2024)
Wade Helton started the final six games and also got the nod at Utah and played in 10 games in 2026. When the offensive line lost leader Ben Coleman for the season with an injury at Utah, Helton played both center and left guard. Helton's first considerable playing time came against TCU at left guard.
"He (Dillingham) makes football fun. He makes you love the game that you grew up playing.” -- Wade Helton
Jalen Moss (four ASU starts last year)
Jalen Moss started against NAU, Iowa State, WVU and vs. Duke in the Sun Bowl and played in nine games after playing in 26 games at Fresno State. He played in one game in 2002, then played in 25 the next two seasons, so he enters 2026 with 35 games played in his career. He has 12 career touchdowns (11 at Fresno State) and had career-best 129 receiving yards in the Sun Bowl. He had 16 catches last year for 273 yards after having 103 catches for 1,269 yards and 10 touchdowns in the two full seasons at Fresno.
This Texas receiver does return (five starts)
Derek Eusebio earned the starting not at Utah, at Iowa State, vs. WVU, at Colorado and vs. Arizona). After catching one ball for 64 yards – a touchdown at Arizona -- in four games in 2024, he made his presence with 22 catches for 341 yards and two touchdowns in 2025. His 68-yard catch at Colorado tied for the longest of the season, and he will return as the team’s top receiver. He had two touchdowns. While Jordyn Tyson was injured, Derek came up huge in wins vs. West Virginia and at Colorado late in the season that kept ASU in the hunt for Big 12 title until end of November. He posted touchdowns in each game and had six catches for 74 yards vs. West Virginia and four catches for 87 yards at Colorado. His 61-yard late third-down catch at Baylor was monstrous for the season ahead.
We thought we would miss this guy, but he is back!
Defensive end Clayton Smith was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. He was part of the group that signed up in 2023 and part of the 2024 Big 12 title team. Last year he had 19 tackles and four sacks, including two at Mississippi State. The extra year is happening as in 2022 he was injured against Oklahoma and only played four games. He started three games last year (NAU, Houston and WVU).
Bounce back wins
ASU has had two fantastic bounce-back wins in Coach Kenny Dillingham’s tenure, both after tough Utah road losses. ASU fell at Utah 42-10 on Oct. 11, 2025, then came back the next weekend to beat No. 7 Texas Tech 26-22. In 2023, ASU fell at Utah 55-3, then came back the next weekend and won at UCLA, 17-7.
We will miss these guys
No question ASU lost a lot from 2025. It ranged from one-year wonders to guys that joined the team and helped ASU win the 2024 Big 12 title. Some of them were here for 3-9 and then 19 wins two years later. Time was up for these great Sun Devils: Coben Bourguet, Kyndrich Breedlove, Ben Coleman, Anthonie Cooper (started his career in 2019), Jordan Crook, Parker Davis, Prince Dorbah (never forget that strip sack vs. TCU to notch the comeback win), Keyshaun Elliott, Jesus Gomez (all he did was make game winning field goals), Nyland Green, Cameron Harpole, Maxwell Iheanachor, Joseph Jackson, Jacob Rich Kongaika (24 ASU games, nine tackles for loss and four sacks), Malik McClain (thank you for that Peach Bowl touchdown and 33 catches in two seasons in your 19 games), Chamon Metayer, Jimeto Obigbo (allowed just one sack in 330 pass blocking snaps), Elijah O'Neal, Myles Rowser (he just made another tackle), Kyle Scott, Jeff Sims (he might still be running in Ames) and Justin Wodtly (what incredible leadership as a multi-year starter and posted at least five tackles in final six games).
Wide Receiver additions
The last time ASU had a wide receiver transfer from Colorado, it ended up OK with Jordyn Tyson. Boulder transfer Omarion Miller had 45 catches for 808 yards and eight touchdowns for the Buffaloes in 2025 and was a second-team Big 12 selection. The folks at 247Sports had him as second-best wide receiver while On3/Rivals has him as third-best. He had more than 100 yards against both West Virginia and Kansas State. The Louisiana native has played in 27 games and has 66 catches for 1,258 yards and ten touchdowns and has one year in a Sun Devil uniform…Boston College 6-5 transfer Reed Harris had 39 receptions for 673 yards and five touchdowns in 2025, including 142 yards against Georgia Tech and seven catches for 141 yards vs. Stanford. He looks the part…Raiden Vines-Bright is local talent from Corona Del Sol that everyone is glad is in Tempe after starting his career at Washington. He played senior year at IMG Academy and then caught 24 passes for 238 yards and one touchdown at Washington last year.
Raiden Vines-Bright with some smooth route running during one-on-ones 🔥
— Jakob Brooks (@Jakobrooks) March 21, 2026
The 6’1 200 pound transfer from Washington has had a strong start to spring practices. @SunDevilSource pic.twitter.com/IXLrSpF0e4
Like most teams in college football this year, ASU has just one open weekend, the weekend after traveling back from London (Sept. 26)...ASU's first game (Sept. 5) is its latest opening game date since 2015...ASU has six road games and will travel more than 17,000 air miles, led by trips to London and UCF...ASU has two 2025 College Football Playoff teams on its schedule (Texas Tech and Texas A&M) and a third who was one of the first two teams out (BYU) and all three of those games are on the road...ASU will play play nine straight weekends to finish the season, as in 2024 it played five straight, had open week, played four straight, had an open week and then played three to close...nine straight weekends is most since closed 2009 with 11 straight...ASU has four road games in final seven weeks (Texas Tech, BYU, UCF and Arizona)...with two road games and a open week following the Morgan State tilt (Sept. 5), it will mark the first time since 1991 that ASU will play just a single home game before the month of October...the Sun Devils will post over 18,000 round-trip miles in 2026. ASU logged approximately only 9,000 air miles during the 2025 campaign.
Here are ASU's miles in 2026
ASU to Texas A&M: 1,106
Texas A&M to London: 4,880
London to Phoenix: 5,288
Phoenix to Orlando (UCF) round trip: 4,274
Phoenix to Lubbock (Texas Tech): 1,474
Phoenix to Provo (BYU): 1,240
Offensive line additions
Tana Alo-Yupuola started at center and played 455 snaps for the 9-4 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets last year who rushed for nearly 200 yards per gam and will have two years of eligibility...Luke Baklenko is a two-time transfer (Sanford and Oklahoma).
Villanova additon at RB
David Avit ran for 1,610 yards and 17 touchdowns in two seasons at Villanova and earned Coastal Athletic Association Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024 with a Villanova freshman record 923 yards.
Penn State addition
Antoine Belgrave-Shorter had 14 tackles for Penn State last year and was a top-100 prospect in Florida's 2024 class out of Jacksonville.
QB additions
Cutter Boley threw for 2,160 yards and 15 touchdowns at Kentucky last year and earned SEC All-Freshman honors, as he was 26-of-35 vs. Tennessee with five touchdowns and 330 yards...Mikey Keene was darn good at Fresno State and very productive as high school star in Arizona.
Defensive line newcomer notes
Emar'ion Winston brings Baylor and Oregon experience to the end position as he had 26 tackles and 5.5 sacks at Baylor last year and played two years at Oregon...Jalen Thompson started 26 games at Michigan State and had 29 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss last year and has six tackles against Michigan. He has one year to play.
Defensive backfield newcomer notes
Ashton Stamps transferred from LSU after being a two-year starter in 2023-24 who had 74 tackles and 16 pass break-ups and had 12 passes defended iin 2024, second-most in the SEC...cornerback Chance Rucker started nine game in three seasons at Michigan State, all as a freshman, but an injury in 2024 slowed him down...safety Lyrik Rawls is already on the Pat Tillman Leadership Council and had 73 tackles, seven pass break ups and one interception at Kansas in 2025. He also played at Oklahoma State...cornerback Noah Pringle redshirted at Arkansas last year and is another Texas high school product...safety Jessiah McGrew had 67 tackles at Florida International last year including a 10-tackle game vs. Liberty...
Have to be sound in the kicking game
Carson Smith the United Athletic Conference Specialist of the Year at Austin Peay last year as he made 14-of-17 field goals including a 50-yarder and was perfect in 53 point after attempts. Jack Nudo coached him at Austin Peay...punter Nick McLarty is 6-7 and arrives from Ohio State.
Tight end newcomer
Anthony Miller had five catches and a touchdown at Tulane in 2025.
Meet Owen Long
Owen Long led nation with 151 tackles at Colorado State in 2025, and had double-digit tackles in 10 games. He had 17 tackles twice and earned first-team All-MWC honors.
Those that pave the way
ASU will have to replace many parts from the 2025 offensive line, but there was so much promise shown there is much to be excited about...Jermaine Mitchell is one of the most highly ranked junior college offensive lineman in the nation...Champ Westbrooks and Jalem Klemm both started the Sun Bowl when ASU had a heckuva offensive day...Makua Pule stepped in when others got hurt and delivered big time against Texas Tech. He has two career starts...
A myth to debunk
Many thought tons of Sun Devils left for the transfer portal. Yes, some did, but only four players transferred who played more than 150 snaps: Sam Leavitt (510 snaps now at LSU), Raleek Brown (632 now at Texas), offensive lineman Josh Atkins (792 snaps to Missouri) and defensive back Javan Robinson (659 snaps to Wisconsin). Others transferred and were a big part of the program, but with regards to heavy snaps, those four are it.
Random links for your Sun Devil reading pleasure
--Jalen Thompson at home with familiar faces (by Michelle Gardner, azcentral.com/April 15, 2026)
--ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham building program differently (by Logan Stanley, Dec. 24, 2025)