Charlie Ragle completes overhaul of Arizona State's special teams units

Charlie Ragle was one of new coach Kenny Dillingham's first appointments. Not only was he named special teams coordinator, but assistant head coach as well. And he was tasked with completely overhauling ASU's special teams units which have traditionally been a strong suit.

Gone were two kickers, two long snappers and a punter who also served as the holder on place kicks. Oh, and two return specialists as well.

Ragle relied on previous connections with other players who were in the portal and secured replacements for the specialists who were starters at their respective schools previously.

Josh Carlson (New Mexico State), a native of Gilbert will inherit the spot vacated by punter Eddie Czaplicki while Dario Longhetto (Cal) will fill the shoes of placekicker Carter Brown. Long snapper? Ragle got one of those too in Slater Zellers (Cal). Like Carlson, Zellers is a local, having graduated from Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep.

"I had a plan when I was coming in here and doing this as long as I have, I know what happens with transitions," said Ragle, who worked for five years at Cal. "I knew from Day 1 based on what the situation was for the long snapping spot I was bringing in Slater Zellers. It's a kid I recruited, played for me, redshirted. Played for four years so I had an extensive relationship with him."

Ragle said when he was at Arizona he tried to recruit Longhetto as a preferred walk-on but Longhetto ended up going to a prep school for a year. Ragle then moved over to Cal and he had a kicker he planned on there who didn't work out. He then reached out to Longhetto who ended up playing for him there.

Carlson proved to be a good find as well.

And yes, Ragle uses the Arizona climate as a drawing card.

"There's no better place to punt or kick. You're never going to run into bad weather, most likely. You have a little bit of elevation so the air is a little bit thinner. You come out here in the heat and what happens to your muscles? They warm up quicker. It's a whole combination. You start looking at the Bay area, LA schools. You're kicking at sea level. The air is thicker, 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. game, a little denser. A little harder to punt. All the things special teams coaches geek out on, most people don't think about."

Related: New ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham celebrates addition of 43 new players to program

Defensive line situation improves

At one point it looked like defensive line coach Vince Amey was going to have a massive rebuild on his hands with every player on the two-deep graduating or transferring. But Amey re-recruited his players and coaxed Anthonie Cooper, B.J. Green and Gharin Stansbury out of the portal.

"To see their faces when we first got here and we have this all energy and they're looking at us. I get it they don't know me, I don't know them so it took some time. We had to re-recruit Coop. Now they're here and you see how everything is going. These guys are happy. That's what you want."

He admits he didn't necessarily get it off to a good start with Cooper, a product of Millennium.

"I was working at the school down South and I recruited Coop and he was mad at me because he said when I recruited him I told him he was too short. I was like, 'Hey, I was real with him about how height might be an issue. So we went back to the drawing board as to what we were looking for. ' So he had a bitter taste in his mouth. So then I got hired on and he was like, wait. But now we have a great relationship. We talked it out, with a great understanding. It's a part of the process, getting a young man to understand that. Now he's back, working his tail off and I'm happy about that," Amey said.

Other good news at the position comes in the form of senior Michael Matus, who tore an ACL before the 2022 season started. He had not said if he planned to use his extra season but Amey says Matus is back in the fold. It is a boost not just from a performance standpoint but Matus is highly thought of in terms of his leadership.

Walden returns home

Of the 25 Division I transfers ASU has acquired, 10 are locals. That group includes red-shirt sophomore offensive lineman Bram Walden, who transferred from Oregon but prepped at Saguaro. He's a former four-star recruit whose college career has never really taken off due to injuries.

He was the No. 1 offensive tackle recruit in Arizona by multiple services coming out of high school.

"His athletic ability," new offensive line coach Saga Tuitele said, when asked what jumped out about Walden. "You see him running around, big, long body and his ability to get from point A to point B with a bunch of obstacles in his way. And still being able to maintain his balance, his speed and being able to get in position to block guys."

Dillingham coached Walden last year at Oregon and sees a completely different player now.

"He's battled the injury bug a little bit and to see him healthy and moving around and smiling. I worked with him a year and I can count on one hand the number of times I saw him smile. This dude smiles now, he's happy to be home. He has a joy about him. He's got a bounce in his step. That's the biggest realm of growth he's had is the mentality that he's happy again. That's a kid that moved home. You can see him move better, he feels better. Because of that, he's going to play better," Dillingham said.

For subscribers: Tracking Arizona State football players in and out of the transfer portal

Spring game scheduled

The spring football game is slated for April 15 and will be held in Sun Devils Stadium after the conclusion of Pat's Run. Dillingham wouldn't divulge also the details but guarantees a good time. The move is genius and sure to capitalize on an already present crowd for the run which typically draws in excess of 20,000.

There will be fan-fest type activities held in conjunction with both events. Dillingham encouraged spectators to show up, much as he has at every other opportunity.

"It's going to be a fun event. We're going to create a fun event for people that are there. You're going to want to be there," he said. "I have a few things, we're not going to say what we're going to do. You're going to want to be there. For me, I need you there. If we want to win at a high level, we're going to have prospects there. In order for us to show we're invested at a level that we're competing to recruit these kids against. They have to see it. I can tell people we're activating the Valley. Great. Sounds really good as a hashtag. Unless people show up, we haven't activated crap. So how do we do that? Show up."

Read more: Arizona State football spring game to be held after Pat's Run

Odds and ends

• Rivals has ASU's transfer class ranked No. 2 nationally behind only Colorado while 247Sports puts ASU at No. 10. On3Transfer Portal tabs the Sun Devils as No. 11.

• Dillingham said the team will be returning to Camp Tontozona for the traditional four-day training leading up to fall camp. The Sun Devils have not made the trek since 2019 due to COVID. The past two years they did go for a one-day retreat that was not open to the public, with that venture used for team-bonding purposes.

• When Dillingham went about compiling a staff, having local ties was a priority and that is one thing the majority of his staff boasts. Defensive coordinator Brian Ward came over from Washington State where he served in the same role but he too has those ties. Ward said his first job was working for The Arizona Republic as a paper boy.

• Dillingham, the entire coaching staff and the team attended Thursday's basketball game between ASU and Oregon State at Desert Financial Arena.

ASU Digest: Defensive lineman Nesta Jade Silvera to compete in Reese's Senior Bowl

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Charlie Ragle completes overhaul of ASU football's special teams units