Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway home, and I sure hope your week is going well!
More on the Sun Devils below, but first, if you’re not following both our PHNX Sun Devils and PHNX Wildcats accounts, you’re missing out, as they are both live and on the ground in Frisco, Texas for Big 12 Media Days! Make sure you catch their live shows and follow closely on social media to catch exclusive interviews and loads of other content as the wheels begin to turn on the upcoming 2025 season.
The Sun Devils were first up yesterday, taking the stage alongside seven other conference teams. Don’t despair, Wildcats fans, coach Brent Brennan and co. take the stage today, and you can bet I’ll have plenty on them tomorrow.
On to the show!
Big 12 Media Days: What You Missed, Sun Devils Edition
Yes, we’re just getting into the high heat of the summer.
Who cares? College football is right around the corner!
The Big 12 kicked off its annual Media Days yesterday, and members of the ASU football team met with local and national media along with seven other teams: Baylor, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech.
The remaining schools, including Arizona, will hit the stage tomorrow.
Dillingham was very pointed with his answers, and you can catch interviews with him, Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson on our YouTube channel, but the Sun Devils’ third-year coach was clear and concise with his message throughout the day:
Last year was just that.
Sun Devils Reset, Look To Build Upon Big 12 Championship
Arizona State won the Big 12 in their first season as a member of the conference, and almost everyone knows the story of how it came to be: Dillingham’s crew rolled over the competition en route to a bye in the College Football Playoff despite being picked to finish last in a preseason Big 12 poll.
Hindsight is 20-20, but it’s an awfully big coincidence that there is no preseason poll this year — not that Dillingham cares either way.
“I couldn’t care less,” Dillingham said. “I’m not a voter, and I don’t really care where people put us. Vote us first, vote us last, vote us in the middle. If we’re so focused on other people’s expectations of us, then you’re going to limit yourself.”
Of course, even without an official poll, the preseason is being much kinder to the Sun Devils compared to a season ago. Quarterback Sam Leavitt is a preseason Heisman favorite (+3000 according to bet365) and Dillingham is on the Dodd Trophy watch list, with more early accolades unquestionably on the way.
All of that, though, is based upon last season, and that logic doesn’t fly with Dillingham.
ASU enjoyed the moment, but it’s time to move on.
“It’s over,” Dillingham said. “You had your time to celebrate. Celebrate. You had your time where people are going to tell you how good you are … The reality is, there’s been a lot of teams in college football who have done what we’ve done, who have won one year and then come back to reality.”
That level-headedness is nothing new to anyone who has followed the program in recent memory. Dillingham wasn’t low on his team following a 3-9 season in 2023, and he’s certainly not riding the coattails of 2024’s success.
New season, new team, but same Dillingham, and that should be all the reassurance any Sun Devils fans need heading into a season in which Sparky has a target on his back.
“We really didn’t do anything special; we did something that’s actually normal,” Dillingham said. “What would be special would be to continue to build off of that. The real challenge is how do we not become what normal teams in our situation do, which is fall back to where we’ve always been.”
Message received, coach.
Only 52 days until kickoff!
Take a Deeper Dive: You can find complete coverage of Sun Devils media day on our social media and YouTube channels! Our main show is below, but you can also check out interviews with Leavitt and Tyson, as well!
Feelin’ Frisco: Wildcats fans, you’re up next! Brent Brennan, Noah Fifita, Rhino Tapa’atoutai, Tre Smith, Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith throughout the day, and stay tuned to our Wildcats channels to remain in the loop! Catch up with Damon and Kevin after Day 1!
No Luck: The D-backs fell 1-0 to the Padres last night, unable to muster a run despite loading the bases twice. The ball just didn’t bounce Arizona’s way, wasting a gem of a start from Merrill Kelly, and both Corbin Carroll and Josh Naylor were robbed of home runs along the way. Both teams have won one game in this four-game set.
Special De-Liver-y: The Suns signed Isaiah Livers to a two-way contract yesterday, inking the vet following a three-year stint in Detroit with the Pistons. A former second-round pick (2021), he shot 35.8 percent from beyond the arc in his career while averaging 6.2 points per game.
What’s the Beal? Stay tuned to PHNX Suns for the latest on the Bradley Beal buyout saga, which is hitting a fever pitch. If you’re reading this and it already happened, well, sorry —- it hadn’t by the time I wrote this late last night 😅
Home, Sweet Home: The Mercury signed veteran DeWanna Bonner yesterday, who played 10 seasons in The Valley after she was selected in the first round of the 2009 draft. The three-time All-Star, who also won championships in 2009 and 2014, played just nine games with Indiana this season, and was waived back on June 25. Welcome home!
Tip Of The Hat By Branded Bills
Great stuff from the PHNX Sun Devils crew!
