Young players take the reins during ASU’s Sun Bowl preparations

Arizona State’s postseason contest, the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl, is 20 days away. But before head coach Kenny Dillingham focuses on game preparation for the matchup in El Paso against Duke, the Sun Devils have spent the last three days conducting what resembles a mini-camp centered on young player development. On Thursday, the team rested most of its two-deep and veteran players to allow the underclassmen to be the focal point of this week’s sessions. 

Dozens of players were in attendance that didn’t practice, including junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who declared for the NFL draft, and several other players watched along and helped coach the young players in their position groups.

“All the seniors didn’t practice today,” Dillingham said. “It was senior day off to really focus on the younger guys. Good energy, good passion. It was a fun day.”

Senior safety Xavion Alford also declared for the NFL draft following Thursday’s practice. Alford was in attendance as he has been for much of the 2025 season, despite not playing since Week 2 after a season-ending injury. Dillingham praised the older players who chose not to skip practice and instead supported their teammates.

“You see [Tyson] is out here, and you see [Keyshaun Elliott], and you see [Keith Abney II],” Dillingham rattled off. “ Clayton [Smith] is not out here because he just had knee surgery, so he’s gonna be back out here once he gets back. 

“These guys, they love each other. They love Arizona State, and they want to be out here hanging out with their teammates for the next two and a half weeks. I mean, these are the last two and a half weeks this group of people will ever be together.”

Injuries have already prompted many young players to step up in particularly up front. On the offensive line, freshman Maki Stewart, along with redshirt freshman Wade Helton and returning players Terrell Kim and Makua Pule, all played or started Big 12 games for the Sun Devils this year.

Because of this, now that the same bunch of youthful linemen are continuing to practice and not getting any days off, and their growth from August to December is evident. 

“I feel really, really good about the depth of our football team with the youth,” Dillingham commented. “Especially on up front on both sides. That’s obviously in the history here, depth up front has been a struggle, and I think that we’ve done a really, really good job getting big people that we’re going to be able to count on in the future.”

An improving group of offensive linemen will be blocking for senior quarterback Jeff Sims against the ACC Champions on Dec. 31. Sims started the final four games of ASU’s season, going 3-1, but his four turnovers in the Territorial Cup Game scripted a bitter end to his final regular-season game in Tempe. 

Dillingham confirmed Thursday that Sims will be the starter in the Sun Bowl, but that freshman quarterback Cam Dyer will make his collegiate debut that day. On Thursday, Dyer ran with the first team for the entirety of practice.

“We’ll have a few times, we’ll throw Cam in there,” Dillingham remarked, “get his feet wet in college football and, stuff like that, potentially, and we’ll rock and roll.” 

If Dyer gets a chance to play, he might be throwing the ball to fellow freshmen wideouts Cory Butler Jr and Uriah Neloms. The pair have played with fierce energy for the second unit this week, and Butler has also had short stints of game time as a special teams returner. Nonetheless, adding experienced receivers from the portal is undoubtedly a goal of the Sun Devils ahead of the 2026 season.

“Uriah was a quarterback, converted, and I think he’s gotten better and better from spring to now,” Dillingham stated. “Cory’s gained 15 pounds since he’s been here. I think we’re in a really good direction there. We’re gonna have to go get some good guys out of the portal that are a little bit older.”

Dillingham explained his perspective on how the transfer portal impacts the team. The early signing period took place at the beginning of December, and the lone January window for players to enter the portal is from Jan. 2-16. This renders the traditional February signing period, which begins on Feb. 4, literally meaningless because it’s doubtful that you could still bolster your depth with a younger player.

“I think that the portal is just a numbers game,” Dillingham claimed. “You got to get a certain amount of numbers and because the portal opens after an early signing day, if you lose a guy you weren’t expecting, it’s hard to replace that kid with high school guys because a lot of those high school guys were taken up early.

“Based on the timing of the portal window and of the high school signing day, it almost kind of pushes you more to have to replace all of your transfers with portal kits. So, if we lose a transfer or if we have a number, we’re probably going to have to replace it with a portal guy to get us to that depth going into next year.”

Regardless of who joins the ranks in Tempe in 2026, the current roster aims to end the 2025 season on a high note, and giving the younger players a bigger stage in practice to perform can surely pay dividends next season.

“You would hope so,” Dillingham said when asked if he expects young players to improve throughout December. “You can feel the energy out here. Those guys are flying around. They’re having fun playing football. And that’s why I told them at practices, football is fun. Like, have fun playing football.”

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