Category: Arizona State Sun Devils

Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson resigns

The Sun Devils’ AD said it was the right time to move in a statement from the university. He took over the role in 2014.

Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson resigned effective immediately on Monday, the school announced.

Anderson, who first stepped into the role in January 2014, said it was the right time in the school’s statement.

“It has been a privilege to serve as ASU’s athletic director for nearly a decade,” Anderson said in the release. “We have entered an unprecedented era where the number and magnitude of changes in the college sports landscape are astounding. As I approach my seventh decade of life, these are not matters that my leadership would be able to corral during my tenure. Continuity of leadership will be needed, and I am choosing to step aside to let the university find that leader.”

The longtime athletic director promoted Missy Farr-Kaye as the Sun Devils’ women’s golf coach in 2015, who led the team to a national championship two years later.

However, the Arizona State football program has been tumultuous during the last years of Anderson’s tenure. The Sun Devils haven’t won more than eight games in a season since 2014, and they’ve played in one bowl game in the past four seasons. Legendary coach Herm Edwards took over the program for the 2018 season but was dismissed after three games in 2022 amid NCAA investigations of recruiting violations. The team self-imposed a bowl ban before this season, an announcement five days before the season that apparently caught the team and new coach Kenny Dillingham off-guard.

The new Arizona State athletic director will oversee the Sun Devils’ transition into the Big 12 and help usher the program into the NIL era.

Jose Perez commits to Arizona State, his fifth school in six years

The long and winding career of Jose Perez is set to continue at Arizona State

Former West Virginia, Manhattan, Marquette, and Gardner Webb guard Jose Perez will continue his collegiate basketball career at a fifth school.

On Sunday, Perez announced that he will be continuing his career with the Arizona State Sun Devils. He announced his decision on his Instagram. It’s not only the fifth school of Perez’s career but is his fourth school in four years.

Perez entered the transfer portal this past offseason after spending last season in Morgantown with West Virginia. Unfortunately for Perez and the Mountaineers, the NCAA did not approve a waiver for the 6-foot-5 guard out of the Bronx to play in the 2022-2023 season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CycXF89LjCU/?ig_rid=b8bc8522-6495-4009-8559-b08d5f260855

Prior to his lone year in Morgantown, Perez started his collegiate career with Gardner-Webb, where he averaged 15.1 points per game across 57 carer games with the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

He would transfer to Marquette following the 2019-2020 season, but only played in 10 games for the Golden Eagles, averaging 3.1 points per game. Following his disappointing junior season, he would make his way back to New York playing for the Manhattan Jaspers, averaging 18.9 points per night across 30 games.

Then prior to last season, he would find his way to Morgantown following the firing of Jaspers head coach Steve Masiello. That being said, Perez never officially registered any time as a member of the Mountaineers’ men’s basketball program due to the NCAA not approving his waiver.

Originally, it appeared that Perez was going to return to West Virginia for this fall after originally entering the transfer portal following the resignation of Bob Huggins in July. Then this past month, on September 30, West Virginia head coach Josh Eilert announced that Perez was no longer with the Mountaineers. 

Perez will join an Arizona State program that went 23-13 last season, including 11-9 in Pac-12 play, making the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed. The program is set to enter the ninth season in the tenure of head coach Bobby Hurley, who is 141-113 during his time in Tempe while leading the Sun Devils to a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances.

Arizona State sells out Mountain American Stadium with Buffs coming to town

Mountain America Stadium is officially sold out for this afternoon’s matchup between Colorado and Arizona State

The Arizona State Sun Devils are 1-4 and haven’t won since the first game of the season. They were shut out by Fresno State at home although they showed fight at home against the USC Trojans.

It’s safe to say this year’s Sun Devils team isn’t the most exciting, but it will have a sold-out crowd with Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes coming to town on Saturday.

ASU football’s social media account announced the sellout but mentioned there are tickets available on the secondary market, so there’s still a chance to see Coach Prime and the Buffs.

Despite the Buffs losing two straight games, there is substantial hype and appeal to see Coach Prime and this loaded roster play.

With all of Arizona State’s injury concerns, it might not be close, but the Sun Devils are still selling tickets.

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Arizona State injuries, lack of offensive line depth dominate headlines heading into USC game

Arizona State has four offensive linemen out for this game. A fifth, Cade Briggs, will be a game-time decision. Drew Pyne won’t be in a position to thrive.

The Arizona State Sun Devils will start Drew Pyne at quarterback against USC. When Pyne played the Trojans last year as a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, he completed 23 of 26 passes. One big key: He had a strong offensive line.

Pyne will not have a strong offensive line on Saturday night in Tempe.

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, ASU will be missing at least four offensive linemen who have started games for the Sun Devils, with a fifth — Cade Briggs — being a game-time decision. These are not the third-stringers on the depth chart. These are players who were expected to play for much if not all of the 2023 season.

Here’s more from Thamel:

“ASU is down to nine healthy scholarship offensive linemen, which has limited how it can practice. The Sun Devils are without linemen Ben Coleman, Max Iheanachor, Isaia Glass and Emmit Bohle, all of whom have started or were expected to start. ASU has just 82 scholarships available as it is down three because of self-imposed NCAA sanctions from former coach Herm Edwards’ tenure, further impacting depth.”

ASU has 10 projected (preseason) or actual starters out for this game.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State

Drew Pyne (leg injury) will start at QB for Arizona State against USC

Pyne was injured last week, but is healthy enough to play. ASU coach Kenny Dillingham said he will start. Pyne faced USC last year with Notre Dame.

Drew Pyne, the former Notre Dame quarterback who played well against USC last November with the Fighting Irish, transferred to Arizona State in the offseason. He will now get the chance to start another game versus the Trojans.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said that Pyne will start this game. Pyne suffered a leg injury last week against Fresno State. He had been dealing with a hamstring injury for the past month. He suffered that injury in August preseason camp. Over the course of the week, Pyne’s leg injury healed enough to give Dillingham confidence that Pyne can start.

Dillingham could be reacting to the prospect of having to start fourth-string quarterback Jacob Conover. It will be interesting to see how mobile and functional Pyne is in the first few possessions of the game. If he physically struggles, Conover would be next in line to replace him.

ASU has Jaden Rashada, the Day 1 starter, out with an injury. Second-string quarterback Trenton Bourguet, who started last week against Fresno State, is also out.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State

Former Southern California native will suit up for ASU against USC in Week 4

Arizona State is desperately looking for big contributions on offense. This is one possible source.

Southern California native and Serra High School product Melquan Stovall will try to shine this weekend against the USC Trojans. He is one of the players to watch this weekend in the Pac-12 matchup.

Stovall, one of the Sun Devils’ wide receivers, is a 5-foot-10 speedster who transferred from Colorado State. He had previously played at Nevada.

Stovall played for three years at Nevada. In his career he recorded 108 catches for 1,064 yards in his time with the Wolf Pack.

Though he was a starter after transferring to Colorado State to start the season, Stovall elected to sit out after three games in order to redshirt and transfer. He had 13 catches for 106 yards.

He was the No. 214 wide receiver in the class and No. 1,835 overall prospect. The SoCal native did not get any scholarship offers from the Pac-12, where he aspired to play until the Sun Devils gave him the opportunity five years removed from high school.

Juniors Elijhah Badger and Xavier Guillory are the top two wideouts on the Arizona State team. As the ASU offense tries to get going, look for Stovall to play a big role as their slot receiver moving forward.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State

Former BYU linebacker, now with Arizona State, becomes a focus for USC

A Romney is in the news … for football reasons related to USC’s next game. @DonJamesSports has more.

Tate Romney, who spent just one season in the program after this LDS Mission for two years, was a highly-touted three recruit. He signed with BYU as part of the 2020 signing class. Tate is the younger brother of BYU wide receiver Gunner Romney and former BYU quarterback Baylor Romney.

During his senior year of high school ball at Chandler High, Romney racked up 115 tackles, seven sacks, and six pass deflections. When Arizona State plays USC this Saturday, ASU’s starter at quarterback could be Romney’s high school teammate Jacob Conover. They both attended BYU together before transferring to the Sun Devils.

Romney has racked up 15 tackles in three starts for ASU against Southern Utah, Oklahoma State and Fresno State.

The Sun Devils’ defense has been a bright spot for ASU this season. If the Devils want to have any chance versus USC and Caleb Williams — arguably the best offense in the country — they need stops and turnovers. It starts with Romney and the four transfers up front for the Sun Devils on Saturday.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State

Arizona State enters USC game under the worst possible set of circumstances

It truly could not be any worse for ASU as the Sun Devils prepare to face a rested USC team in Week 4. Let’s lay out the details.

Human beings, including people who write about sports, can slide into exaggeration very easily. A specific event or occurrence can easily become “the worst” or “the best” or “the most important” thing in a heartbeat, when of course that’s not even close to being true. However, when we say Arizona State is in the worst possible shape heading into its game against USC on September 23, that’s no exaggeration. Not at all. The Sun Devils truly could not be in a worse set of circumstances than what they’re facing right now.

Unconvinced? We will make sure to spell it all out for you:

Former four-star QB Jacob Conover could start for Arizona State vs USC

Arizona State doesn’t have a lot of good choices. This is probably the healthiest one.

As of Sunday night it was unknown whom Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham will have available to play against USC on Saturday night. For many, it might not matter in a game where USC will be a heavy favorite.

However, it certainly matters to the players who would love the opportunity to play against Caleb Williams and the rest of the Trojans. Jacob Conover, Drew Pyne and Trenton Bourguet are the three quarterbacks who played for Arizona State this past Saturday night. They all struggled. They combined for 17-37 passing, generating 188 yards, five interceptions and two fumbles, leading an offense that was shut out at home for the first time since 1988. ASU lost 29-0 to the Fresno State Bulldogs.

Arizona State QB Jaden Rashada out against USC

ASU’s Day 1 starting QB this season won’t face USC.

Arizona State is beaten up as it prepares to face USC this coming Saturday, September 23.

ASU starting quarterback Jaden Rashada missed Saturday’s contest with Fresno State. He missed the game due to “something that has been lingering since high school that he re-aggravated” versus Oklahoma State in Week 2. He will mis four to six weeks with the injury, head coach Kenny Dillingham said after the Fresno State game.

Backup Trenton Bourguet took over the reins and was hurt on just the second possession of the night with a foot injury.

Then Notre Dame grad transfer Drew Pyne was also injured. He left the game with a different muscle injury in the same leg in which he hurt his hamstring.

After Arizona State’s first three quarterbacks on the depth chart went down, fourth-stringer Jacob Conover stepped in. He could start next week for the Sun Devils against USC.

Bourguet, Pyne and Conover combined for 188 yards on an abysmal 17-for-37 passing rate and didn’t score a single point against Fresno State, losing 29-0.

Offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin and head coach Kenny Dillingham will have their work cut out next week against one of the best offenses in the nation when the Sun Devils host the USC Trojans on Saturday night.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State