Kenny Dillingham jokes how he will keep Sam Leavitt humble amid preseason hype

Kenny Dillingham and Sam Leavitt have a special relationship as the coach-quarterback combination that elevated Arizona State in 2024. Now, the hype is more real than ever, as the duo looks to create an even better encore in 2025.

Leavitt is getting Heisman hype, and Dillingham has the Sun Devils positioned as a College Football Playoff contender. They’re media darlings now, after being overlooked last season, but the coach is looking to keep his quarterback, and his team as a whole, humble entering a new campaign.

“We’ve had conversations,” Dillingham stated, regarding how he keeps the main thing the main thing for Leavitt. “I said, ‘Don’t worry, everybody else will tell you’re good. I’m going to tell you that you suck. We can be transparent there. I’ll be the one to humble you.’ But no, in all fairness, Sam has such big dreams and goals for himself that anything he reads about isn’t as big as the goals and dreams he has for himself. I think that’s what drives him. He wants to be the best.

“It doesn’t matter what somebody writes, doesn’t matter what somebody says — you’re probably not dreaming as big as he is dreaming. Even though some people may hear him say things and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s cocky. That’s arrogant. That dream isn’t real.’ Don’t you want somebody to achieve the very best version of what they believe they can do? If you don’t believe you can do something, you’re never gonna do it. I think Sam embodies that.

“His confidence is not cockiness, because he works and he prepares and he loves it. So, I love the fact that he’s confident. I think it’s only going to fuel him to be the best version of himself.”

While Leavitt is receiving a ton of hype entering a new season, Dillingham recognizes that all the individual goals his quarterback has can’t be accomplished if the team around him isn’t up to par. It’s the success of the entire roster that drives the coach, and that’s where his focus is at the moment.

“I know that the press clippings aren’t going to be relevant to what he wants to accomplish. He’s definitely somebody that we can get behind and make that push. At the end of the day, we have a lot of guys on our football team that can win these individual awards. The only way you win an individual award is through team success,” Dillingham added. “That’s why football is so great. It’s the ultimate definition of you pouring into other people, and those other people lift you up higher than you ever could by yourself.

“I think that’s the message to our football team this year. If people want individual success, if people want to reap individual benefits, then our team has to be the best version that we can be, because that’s how you actually get those individual accolades in football, is through team success.”

Alas, Sam Leavitt is a rising star in college football, and Kenny Dillingham recognizes that. For Arizona State to reach their full potential, it’s going to be a team effort, and everything that come with that can be accomplished if the whole does their job.