ASU's Kenny Dillingham taking more active role with offense until new WR coach is hired

Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham has always preached adapting and overcoming adversity. So he isn't panicking over losing a coach halfway through spring practice.

The Sun Devils suddenly had a void on the coaching staff on Sunday when wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator Ra'Shaad Samples left to join Dan Lanning's staff at Oregon, where he is expected to assume the role of running backs coach and assistant head coach.

Samples, 29, filled a void that occurred after Carlos Locklyn left for Ohio State last week.

He had signed a one-year contract extension that was to have taken him through the 2025 season at ASU.

The Sun Devils were back on the practice field Tuesday morning for their seventh of 15 spring sessions. Dillingham was working more actively with the offense, as was Brady White, the former ASU and Memphis quarterback who is on staff.

"Yes it sucks you lose your wide receivers coach at this time but that's the nature of adversity," Dillingham said. "We talk about it all the time. We can freak out and panic, right, or we can just coach. Like I coached freshman football and I think I coached like three and a half positions. It's still coaching. We can adapt. We can change. Things will move a little differently until we get a guy in place that we feel like is ready to take over that room, which is uber talented."

The wide receiver group is arguably the most talented and depth-laden position ASU has, with only the secondary coming close. ASU returns its leading receiver of the past two years, Elijhah Badger, and returns another game-breaker in Xavier Guillory, whose foot injury derailed the last half of the season. Troy Omeire, who transferred in a year ago, has been impressive in spring drills as has Jordyn Tyson, who missed all of last season with an injury that occurred in his freshman year at Colorado.

Then there is Jake Smith, who needed a waiver to play last year after his transfer from USC and didn't get it, thus he had to sit out.

The loss of Samples is a blow for the ASU staff, not just because of the timing, with the Sun Devils two weeks into spring football, but because he is known as a dynamic recruiter. He had been ranked by 247Sports as the No. 12 recruiter in the Big 12 prior to his departure.

ASU has developed a pipeline to Texas, getting some significant recruits out of that state since Dillingham was named head coach. Samples and defensive backs coach Bryan Carrington have been instrumental figures in ASU's success there.

Samples came to ASU after coaching running backs for the Los Angeles Rams. At 27, he was the youngest position coach in the NFL.

Before Samples' short tenure with the Rams, he worked at SMU where he was an offensive graduate assistant in 2019, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator in 2020 and assistant head coach in 2021. He is a native of Dallas who played at Oklahoma State and later Houston.

"He helped us get off the ground here so nothing but respect," Dillingham said of Samples. "He's going to a great place with a great person, great people there. Nothing but positive things to say. Thankful for him being here and I still think he has a bright future in this profession and I'm rooting for him and I wish him nothing but the best."

Dillingham said he was not in a rush to hire a replacement and he won't hire a coach just to hire a coach. He will name one when the right person comes along.

Reports have surfaced that former New England Patriots standout Troy Brown, who has been on the New England staff the last three years as wide receivers and kick return coach, was on campus recently to talk to Dillingham about the position. Brown won three Super Bowls in his 15 seasons at wide receiver for the Patriots.

"A guy with experience. A guy that can develop," Dillingham said when asked what he is looking for in a coach. "A guy that can demand presence and demand that leadership, that when he walks in a room and people say, `Man, where's my pen, where's my paper. I want to learn. Let me soak in every piece of knowledge this person has because he's done what I want to do. and he's been where I want to go.' "

The Sun Devils will be on the field for their next spring practice session on Thursday morning.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dillingham to be more active coaching offense until WR coach is hired