Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham emphasized size, athleticism in new recruiting class

Bigger.

That was a word Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham used often in talking about the 18-member high school class he signed on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for high school athletes.

The Sun Devils are coming off a 3-9 season, in which injuries decimated the team from a personnel standpoint. This is Dillingham's first full class after he arrived in late November 2022 and inherited many who had committed to the previous coaching staff.

"We got bigger up front and we got longer in the back end, linebacker included. And I think that was one of our goals, become a bigger offense and a bigger defense," Dillingham said. "We needed to become a bigger team. The games that really got out of control for us were when we faced size. So we tried to attack that, to clean that up."

"The defensive line we need to continue to get bigger. That's something we have to continue to address is the size. Our edge guys, very very athletic. That was something I was very pleased with, the athleticism we signed at the edge. I think both those guys there can rush the passer as freshmen in the Big 12. Both crazy explosive."

The various recruiting services bear out that it was a successful group for the Sun Devils. The 24/7Sports metric had ASU's class ranked 45th, which included a fifth in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech, TCU, Central Florida and Kansas and ahead of state rival Arizona. The transfer class checked in at eighth.

Rivals had ASU pegged 54th overall for its high school class but fourth in the transfer department.

The new group includes four offensive linemen, the position of greatest need. That quartet includes interior linemen Terrell Kim (6-3, 328) out of North Medford (Oregon), Filiva'a Saluni (6-5, 272) out of Kahuku (Hawaii), Semisi Tonga (6-4, 310) out of Salt Lake City West and Champ Westbrooks (6-4, 265) out of Los Angeles Loyola.

Dillingham said the work is not quite done there yet. He still looking for help at the tackle positions. He added that senior left tackle Emmit Bohle, who sustained a broken leg in the second game of the season, does plan to apply for a medical redshirt in the hope of playing one more season, which will help at that position.

"I still think we need some length. We've got some big bad, fill-in-the-blank next word dudes who are going to road rage people but I think we need some length at tackle still," Dillingham said. "That would be the one thing, we need more length."

Dillingham said he needs to add another linebacker and a defensive lineman, who can fill the void left by the departure of junior B.J. Green who entered the portal and committed to Washington.

Dillingham was pleased with the secondary group of four additions — Chris Johnson out of Aledo (Texas), Rodney Bimage out of Dickinson (Texas) safety Martell Hughes out of San Diego Madison (California) and Tony-Louis Nkuba out of Lewisville (Texas), admitting that some will push for immediate playing time.

The coach also said edge rusher Salesi Manu out of Bishop Manogue in Reno is another who could see playing time early.

More ASU football: Here's a list of Sun Devil high school recruits

There were four athletes from Arizona signed including punter Kanyon Floyd out of Horizon, whom Dillingham referred to as a "sneaky good" get because there rarely is talk about a punter. It's another place where ASU struggled last season after it having been a spot of strength traditionally.

Dillingham couldn't say exactly how many newcomers will enroll early, so they're eligible for spring ball but estimated it would be around nine.

Dillingham reiterated that his recruiting classes should and will get better and it all comes down to building relationships. The longer you have to build those relationships, the more successful you will be in landing top-end talent.

"If you're a good recruiter it's not a one-year process. It's a two to three-year process," he said. "So your best class should not be your one. It should not be year two. It should actually be years three and four because if you're not talking to someone in the '26 class right now. If you're not having him call you. You can't call him. But if you're not slowly building that relationship today, somebody else is. I think the ability of the players we're going to sign is going to get better and we were 3-9 and still put together another year of relationships with guys and a better year on the field, the standard is only going to get raised."

"We should be a top two, top three team recruiting in this league. I don't think we did a great job. I thought we were average. That's the standard, I want to finish one through three with the guys we evaluated and we're not there yet."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bigger players emphasized in ASU's 2024 football recruiting class