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— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 16, 2026
Size ‘Em Up
There is no doubt that the 2026 roster will be the most formidable off-the-bus team in the Kenny Dillingham era. Over 40 players on this year’s squad came into camp having added 10 or more pounds to their frames from their listed Spring and/or high school playing weights. Long-time strength and conditioning coach Joe Connolly has been no stranger to reshaping Sun Devil student-athletes into athletes throughout his tenure and his efforts over this past summer might rank among the most noticeable since joining the program in 2018.
Especially noticeable this year will be an offensive line that might rank among the most robust in program history. The first week of camp has seen a lot of Champ Westbrooks (6-5, 300), Maki Stewart (6-5, 340), Tano Alo-Tupuola (6-1, 335), Wade Helton (6-4, 310) and Jalen Klemm (6-6, 300), with Jarmaine Mitchell (6-8, 320), Siosaia “Leni” Lapuaho (6-6, 325), Makua Pule (6-3, 320), Marques Uini (6-4, 310), Rob Lapuaho (6-6, 350) and Luke Baklenko (6-7, 305) all seeing a lot of the grass.
Taking the all offensive linemen into consideration, the group has an average height of just a tick under 6-5 with an average weight of 317 pounds. For perspective ASU’s 2024 roster had an average height of just under 6-4 and 309 pounds, the 2014 roster was just under 6-4 and 299 pounds while 2013 was 6-3 and 295 pounds.
Beef in the trenches is the cornerstone to any program hoping to be a contender. Just take a look at last year’s final Top-10 teams in the AP polls, which checked in with a combined OL height/weight average of 6-5 and 312 pounds. ASU will look to that advantage to offset the group’s general lack of game experience, which features just 25 Division I starts spread across the entirety of the position group - 14 of which coming from Baklenko at Stanford in 2023 and 2024.
A behind the scenes look at how the Sun Devils are fueled at Camp Tontozona 🍴 pic.twitter.com/76DttgL4i1
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 15, 2026
So Fresh and So Clean
With the implementation of the new “5-for-5” eligibility rules across college sports, gone are the days of having to “save” your most promising newcomers in an effort to maintain their four years of eligibility and develop them for a season. That ability to throw the freshmen into the fire has shown immediate dividends with this 2026 roster with a slew of young bucks flashing throughout the first week of camp.
When asked which young player was primed to surprise folks this season at the Big 12 Media Days in Frisco last month, the Pat Tillman Leadership Council in attendance all responded with the simultaneous answer of “Bull"...that would be the sobriquet for Daquwan Dunn and it turns out the Leadership Council knew what it was talking about as the cornerback Richardson, Texas, has had one of the most impressive first weeks on the team, let alone among the freshmen. The lengthy and rangy freshman has solidified himself with the two’s at the corner position and has been at absolute pest at the point of contact - breaking up numerous passes in team, skeleton and one-on-one drills and has established footwork among the upper echelon of the defensive backs.
Other freshmen standouts on the defensive side include lineman Julian Hugo, perhaps one of the most physically imposing true freshmen to grace the defensive trenches for the Sun Devils in years - if not decades. With a game-ready body on day one, the 6-4, 275-pound youngster out of Cibola, Texas, has seen plenty of reps at end and even shown the ability to slip inside in pass-rush downs with the top group. Fellow lineman Sinei Tengei (Mesa, Ariz.) has also seen his time earning reps. Zeth Thues, another local out of Phoenix will also certainly press some of the veterans on the two-deep from the safety position, having a nose for the ball and constantly greeting pass-catcher and running backs alike at the point of contact or line of scrimmage - noticeably standing out in inside run and skelly periods. Oscar Aguilar (Downey, Calif.) and Mason Marden (St. Louis, Mo.) have also flashed in a linebacker group that has been among the most impressive units in the first week of action.
Offensively, the team’s highest touted freshman in Jake Fette has earned consistent reps and shown plenty of flashes of why he was so highly regarded out of high school. The El Paso native has been a pest for the defense with his ability to extend plays and get outside containment for lengthy scramble yards. The dual-threat quarterback continues to evolve as a passer but has not been fazed in the early-goings of camp. And sometimes, Fette has been receiving the snaps from fellow freshman Marques Uini - a 6-4, 310-pound center out of Copperas Grove. With injuries limiting the tight end group early in camp, freshmen Hayden Vercher (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Landon Miree (Cincinnati, Ohio) have seen plenty of action while freshman running back Cardae Mack (Houston, Texas) had cracked the first team rotation at points through camp as well.
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— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 14, 2026
No Fly Zone
While many position battles remain ongoing early in the camp season, perhaps the most settled position one week into camp is the team’s first team corners with returner Rodney Bimage and LSU transfer Ashton Stamps making it nigh impossible for the offense to get anything going down field through the first seven days.
With the departures of NFL draft selection Keith Abney and transfer Javan Robinson - a duo that had started 26 consecutive games together at corner for ASU up until the Sun Bowl to conclude last year - this could have been the most wide-open competition of camp. Instead, Bimage and Stamps have themselves looked the parts of guys that aren't going away, not just with their play on the field but the confidence exuded off of it.
Bimage was perhaps the hottest player in the Sun Devil lineup prior to his season-ending concussion sustained in the West Virginia victory last season. Among FBS corners with at least 100 snaps played in coverage, his 4.4 yards allowed per reception were third-lowest in the country. Only 35.7 percent of opponents passes in Bimage’s direction resulted in a reception (on 107 snaps) - the 13th-lowest tally nationally. He allowed just .21 yards per coverage snap last season, the third-lowest total among FBS corners with at least 100 coverage snaps, while tying for second with his 1.6 yards allowed per coverage target.His 7.1 1D/TD percentage when targeted was tied for the lowest allowed in the FBS.
Those numbers have proven to not be a fluke through one week of camp with the very limited attempts to even target the lengthy corner from H-Town ended in pass breakups or stops for minimal gains. Bimage’s lockdown efforts have perhaps led to a rise in targets toward Stamps, who has responded by being an absolutely takeaway machine at the other corner position, recording several interceptions and forced fumbles throughout camp.
The nickel corner position has seen a lot of Boogie Wilson and Montana Warren. Warren has made two of the most highlight reel interceptions of camp so far while being a physical force at the line of scrimmage, including maybe the biggest hit of camp to blow up a wide receiver screen play on Thursday at Camp T. Wilson has provided the veteran savvy and leadership while also being versatile enough to bounce back and play reps at free safety, the position he manned last season. Wilson capped off Thursday’s Camp T practice with a tackle for loss on 4th-and-1 on the final play of the practice to drive home his role. Kyan McDonald, who saw significant playing time in the back end of the season last year has also had numerous flashy moments.
Newcomer Lyrik Rawls (Kansas) has established himself and earned the honor of being named to the Pat Tillman Leadership Council despite being a fresh face on the roster. Rawls recorded a pair of fumble recoveries in the team’s first padded practice on Tuesday. Fellow newcomer Jessiah McGrew (FIU) - the nation’s 27th-highest graded safety in coverage last season - had four picks and five PBUs with the Panthers last season and has shown the ballhawking ability throughout camp, earning reps with the first and second teams.
Daquwan Dunn and Zeth Thues have already been mentioned as freshmen with the ability to crack the rotation while Ben Alefaio-Lili has provided great depth at the safety position. SEC transfers Caleb Chester (Texas) and Nigel Pringle (Arkansas) also add depth in the secondary and have seen action on early-camp two-deep.
The success of the secondary is no surprise as the group is under the guidance of among the deepest assistant coach and support staffs in the country at the position. Bryan Carrington heads the group as he was recently promoted to Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Passing Game Coordinator after his success with the team’s corners the past couple season, highlighted by Abney’s fifth round selection in the NFL Draft this past spring.
Carrington is supported by secondary/safeties assistant David Gibbs - a 30-year coaching veteran across both the college and NFL ranks with the Broncos and Texans. Gibbs has been a defensive coordinator at Auburn, Texas Tech, Minnesota and Houston throughout his career. Then there’s another 30+ year coaching veteran in DeWayne Walker, currently special advisor to the head coach after several seasons as an analyst for the defensive backs. Walker’s illustrious career includes defensive backs coach stops with the Patriots, Redskins, Jaguars and Browns, BYU, USC and Cal while being a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State and USC. As if that weren’t enough, the team went out and added Demetrice Martin to the staff in the offseason as a senior defensive analyst working primarily with the team’s corners and has spent the past two decades coaching corners and defensive backs at places like Oregon, Washington, Michigan State, USC, Colorado and UCLA.
Middle of the Lineup
The Sun Devils also find themselves in a position where they will have to replace nearly 23 percent of their tackles for a season ago with the departure of linebackers Jordan Crook (101) and Keyshaun Elliott (98). Elliott was a fifth-round selection by the Bears this offseason while Crook joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL where he is third on the team with 35 tackles. The duo started every regular season game at linebacker last year and 20 games between them in 2024, leaving a massive hole to fill in ASU’s base nickel formation that only ever features two linebackers on the field at a given time.
So, who is the next man up? The early leaders in the clubhouse look to be returning junior Martell Hughes and Colorado State transfer Owen Long. NAU transfer Ramere Davis has certainly made a mark while the developmental work of linebackers coach A.J. Cooper has especially shined with the emergence of Tristan Bacon, Prayer Young-Blackgoat, Isaiah Iosefa and Lee “Puka” Fuiamano with Pat Tillman Leadership Council member Zyrus Fiaseu anchoring the group.
Long was the nation’s leader in tackles at Colorado State last season (151) and a member of the Butkus Award Preseason Watch List announced this week. While maybe not the most physically imposing player of the field, the first week has made it easy to see that last season was no fluke as perhaps no player through the first seven days has been around the ball more than Long. The junior has an incredible knack for knowing exactly which gap a running back is looking for and has been an absolute plug in filling those, recording numerous tackles for loss in inside run periods. Not content just stopping the run game, Long has been a menace in coverage as well, recording several picks (and he probably should have several more after a pair of drops on Tuesday and Wednesday) while breaking up numerous other passes.
Hughes has been an especially high-IQ player in his limited reps through two seasons. While his on-field reps have been limited simply by playing behind such high quality players as Crook, Elliott and Caleb McCullough, the Barrett Honors College student has recorded a tackle or pass defense on nearly 15 percent of the plays he has seen in his career and his efforts in the weight room have certainly paid dividends this year as he enters at 6-2, 230 for his third year with the program.
Two years ago, Davis had a career high nine tackles in ASU’s season opener against the Lumberjacks in a redshirt season before going on to be named an FCS freshman All-American last year. Another physical specimen that aligns with ASU’s needs for lengthy athletes that can stop the run AND play in coverage, Davis has seen plenty of action so far.
Tristan Bacon will appear o] many “breakout” lists following the preseason camp schedule for the Sun Devils and that includes his own coaches with A.J. Cooper several occasions lauding the leaps the sophomore has taken, and the young buck came out on Thursday’s Camp T scrimmage with a tackle for loss on one of the first team periods of the day to emphasize the point. Young-Blackgoat started his tenure at ASU as a walk-on and has since become one of the most physical backers on the team, earning reps with the second team after being a staple on special teams for ASU last year and seeing action in the team’s bowl game. Iosefa and Fuiamano likewise saw extended stints on special teams a year ago - though both had their freshmen campaigns limited by injury - and have flashed plenty as ASU might be looking at its deepest group at this position in several years.
Pick Your Poison
Perhaps the most difficult task for the Sun Devil coaches this season will be allocating snaps to the team’s running backs, which is likely the most talented top-to-bottom group on the offensive side of the ball. It seems every practice, another back breaks out and has their best day of camp. This could be a season where the team might be unlikely to see a 1,000-yard rusher - something ASU has produced 10 times in the last 14 seasons - simply because they might have five players rush for 2,500 yards instead.
Heading the group is fourth-year running back and Pat Tillman Leadership Council member Kyson Brown - a Barrett, The Honors College student that missed much of last season with an injury sustained in Game Two. “Sip” as he is colloquially known, has track-star speed and is perhaps the best pass-catching backer of the group while obviously having the advantage of a whole career under the tutelage of running backs coach Shaun Aguano.
Behind him are the dynamic force of Jason Brown and Demarius “Man Man” Robinson, a duo that broke onto the scene in ASU’s Sun Bowl appearance last year as they combined for 281 all-purpose yards between them.
Where Brown, Brown and Robinson might be considered the “lightning” with their ability to break off massive gains in both the run AND pass game, incoming FCS transfers Marquis Gillis (Delaware State) and David Avit (Villanova) are the “thunder” featuring different physical statures. The two transfers will certainly look to ease ASU’s woes in short yardage situations after managing a paltry 56.0 conversion percent on 3rd and 4th and 1-2 yard scenarios - the seventh-worst total in the nation. Gillis is coming off a 1,000-yard season of his own last season and has the ability to be an every-down back as demonstrated by his electric spring campaign but the Sun Devils will certainly look to spread the ball around the group early on.
Then there are youngsters Cardae Mack and Grayson Rigdon - with Mack seeing some time with the first team offense in camp while Rigdon has gotten plenty of looks in passing down situations and in the return game. This seven-headed monster in the running back room will be a fun one to watch as the season progresses.
Wide Open Wide-Out Room
While much ado was made - and for good reason - about ASU’s gains in the transfer portal at the wide receiver position in the offseason, that trio of Reed Harris, Omarion Miller and Raiden Vines-Bright and have been reminded every day that there are also three very good returning wideouts in the room with them in Jalen Moss, Jaren Hamilton and Corey Butler and that has provided one of the most exciting position to watch through the first seven days of camp.
The transfer group featured the No. 2 (Harris) and No. 4 (Miller) wideout transfers in the nation according to 247Sports while Vines-Bright was productive as a true freshman for Washington last year. Harris had an electric spring and is one of the most physically impressive wideouts in recent ASU history, posting his best practice of Fall Camp with the longest reception for a touchdown in the team period on Thursday at Camp T. Miller and Vines-Bright have been among the standouts in camp amongst the new players on the roster with both constantly filling the social feeds with their highlights from one-on-one and skelly drills - constantly giving defenders a handful in man coverage.
For numerous reasons, Moss (illness/injury), Hamilton (consistency) and Butler (freshman) didn’t put up eye-popping numbers last year - though Moss and Hamilton came on strong toward the end of the year with All-American Jordyn Tyson hampered by injury the last month of the season. Moss was electric in the Sun Bowl with five catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. But regardless of their contributions last year, the group has come to play this fall.
Hamilton, for the second-consecutive season, has been among the standouts of camp with the ability to break any play off for a touchdown while Moss has shown why he has been so successful as a possession receiver and has built quite the rapport with his quarterbacks on out routes and back-shoulder fades. Butler has shined out of the slot alongside Vines-Bright and the duo have been an especially pesky matchup for the defense all camp.
Perhaps most prominent among the group, however, has been their perimeter blocking. The most explosive plays through the first seven days of camp have almost unanimously come on screens and outside runs and that success has been spearheaded by the wide receiver room. One of those came on a 60-yard house call by Miller spearheaded by a Vines-Bright perimeter block on Friday with another coming in ASU’s full contact red zone efforts on Tuesday with Hamilton scoring on a play broken open by Butler’s perimeter blocks. Harris got in on the action with a “game-winning” 50-yard gain on a screen in a team period where the team needed just one yard to run out the clock. This all comes as byproduct of playing under one of the most physical wide receivers in NFL history in Hines Ward, the program has emphasized the “Don’t Block? No Rock.” mantra since he joined the program. The Sun Devils rank 24th in the nation with 912 wide receiver run block snaps over the last two seasons.
ASU also will have the luxury of going deeper into its bag with Derek Eusebio providing a veteran presence and big play threat out of the slot while Michael “Butter” Tollefson has been a pleasant surprise as a route-runner after making the transition from quarterback in the spring and has earned himself second-team reps in the process. Uriah Neloms was the first receiver in camp to really have a net positive day in one-on-one matchups, recording several drive-extending plays in two-minute offensive drills on Thursday at Camp T as he has been among the standouts among the group up in the mountains.
In The Trenches
With a team defensive philosophy that leans into picking and choosing the right moments to blitz as opposed to making it a staple of the defensive identity, much of the onus of getting to the quarterback falls upon the defensive line and a simple four-man rush. But the group also has to be sturdy enough to contain the run as well. And like the running back room, there likely won’t be a player registering 10 sacks upon that line simply because there will be almost hockey style line changes in a group that is as deep as it has been under Kenny Dillingham.
Veteran C.J. Fite will pace the interior group as the nation’s fourth-most tenured returning interior lineman over the last three seasons with his 1,469 career snaps. Blazen Lono-Wong - the lone Sun Devil on the roster the precedes the Kenny Dillingham era - has made his claim as one of the first interior lineman to take the field thus far in camp. They will be supported by a pair of players that look to be fully healthy after battling injuries last season in Zac Swanson and Rashad McKenzie while Jeffrey Manns has stood out as a transfer out of Hutchinson College.
There is no shortage of options at defensive end, with incoming transfers Jalen Thompson (Michigan State) and Emar’rion Winston (Baylor) making their presence felt immediately at the position while veteran Roman Pitre has made some of the biggest strides most physically and technically to earn himself a shot at running with the first team as well. Albert Smith and Joshua Shanklin continue to add the smaller speed rush ability while Ramar Williams has shifted to the outside to offer ASU another option at that position. Clayton Smith returns as one of the team leaders and a dynamic option with his size and length that can impact the game in a number of ways.
While it is hard to see the impact this group will have until the true contact scrimmages star with the past, there have been no shortage of two-hand touch sacks by the group and the defensive front has been largely dominant in the teams inside run sessions thus far. There is no doubt that there will be plenty of room to tinker with different matchups here with a variety of skillsets available to defensive line coach Diron Reynolds.