Arizona State football: What we know about the Kenny Dillingham era so far

It's been almost a month since Kenny Dillingham, previously offensive coordinator at Oregon, was appointed head coach at Arizona State, making him the youngest head coach of a Power 5 school at just 32.

He has a significant rebuild on his hands with the Sun Devils coming off a 3-9 showing and the cloud of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations still hovering. Not to mention that ASU has again lost key players to the transfer portal.

The first chore was to assemble a coaching staff. He's had Zoom calls with area high schools coaches, boosters and alumni. He talked to the crowd at a recent basketball game. He's been busy recruiting. He has been a man on the move, appearing at countless area high schools since being appointed.

Let's take a look at what we know about the Sun Devils so far:

1. Dillingham has lived up to his word on recruiting locally

The first thing Dillingham talked about, and presumably one of the biggest reasons he got the job, was his tie to the community, having grown up here and attending ASU, and later serving on the coaching staff. He spoke about the value of local athletes and local coaches. That has shown, as the majority of the coaches on his staff have a tie to Arizona.

He has also doubled down on his promise to recruit local athletes. Of the 15 high school athletes signing Wednesday, two are locals — wide receiver Lenox Lawson out of Mesa Red Mountain and offensive lineman Sirri Kandiyeli out of Mountain View.

Nine of the 15 transfers are from Arizona schools, most notably wide receiver Jake Smith, a product of Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep who was at Texas, and running back DeCarlos Brooks out of Chandler, who was at California.

There is reason to believe more will follow.

Updates: Arizona State football early signing day announcements

2. Dillingham works quickly

There usually aren't a lot of surprises on Signing Day but Dillingham did a good job of salvaging a respectable class, the coupe being landing four-star edge rusher Ashley Williams out of Zachary, Louisiana, who previously had committed to Auburn. Williams was the high school teammate of another ASU signee, defensive lineman Landen Thomas, and stands as the top-ranked prospect in this class.

Dillingham also got wide receiver Keith Abney of Waxahachie, Texas, to flip from Utah State and got additional signing day surprises in safety Shawn Russ Fort Myers Dunbar (Fla.), wide receiver Kaleb Black of Klein Oak (Spring, Texas) and safety Josiah Cox out of San Diego Lincoln.

The ASU class ranks 53rd by 247Sports and No. 13 for transfers, which given Dillingham's short time on the job is more than respectable. ASU sits ninth in the Pac-12 but is not far behind Stanford. Last year ASU was dead last in the conference

Good start: ASU football ranked No. 3 in transfer portal recruiting

3. The quarterback room is loaded

The Sun Devils have five quarterbacks on scholarship, even with the departure of three to the transfer portal. So yes, we'll be writing about a quarterback battle again come the spring. Like last season the Sun Devils got a high-profile transfer, this time it's Drew Pyne, who started 10 games last year at Notre Dame and would appear to be the frontrunner. Schools don't typically bring in a proven starter elsewhere unless they plan on starting him, which was the case last year when Emory Jones came from Florida and started the first seven games.

But Trenton Bourguet performed admirably in the last five games, which should make the battle all the more interesting. They join BYU transfer Jacob Conover, Bennett Meredith out of the 2022 signing class, and Daylin McLemore.

There was supposed to be another addition in Israel Carter out of Corona Centennial (Calif.) but he did not sign Wednesday as expected, perhaps having second thoughts after seeing ASU add two Division I transfers.

4. What was the biggest question mark is now a strength

The position group that had the most questions surrounding it going into last season was wide receiver, which had lost its top four of the previous year. But this year the emergence of Elijhah Badger (70 receptions, 866 yards) and Giovanni Sanders (40, 500) has this position looking like a position of strength. Add to that the presence of imposing tight ends in Jalin Conyers and Messiah Swinson, who were more present in the game plan late in the season.

There had been some speculation that Badger or Conyers might bolt for greener pastures where they could land more lucrative NIL deals, but Conyers put out on social media he was returning and Badger seems to be staying put as well.

Somers: 3 smart decisions Dillingham has made already

5. Both lines need additions

The Sun Devils graduated two starters and had two others hit the transfer portal — guard LaDarius Henderson and center Ben Scott — so they're starting from scratch up front. ASU has been able to shore up that position through the portal and that will again have to be the case. Two are already in the fold with Ben Coleman, formerly a starter at California, and Aaron Frost out of Nevada. One of the biggest question marks is Joey Ramos, who transferred from Iowa State but sustained a season-ending knee injury in the first game. He was not honored on Senior Day and he's a local product, so there is reason to believe he will come back, which would loom huge.

On the other side of the ball there is equally as much work to do with three key rotation players graduating and two others opting for the transfer portal. The situation could be much worse though as both B.J. Green and Anthonie Cooper opted to return after initially putting their names in the portal. There haven't been any significant additions from the portal there — yet.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What we have learned about ASU football's Dillingham era so far