Storylines that will shape Arizona State's 2023 football season

There is nowhere to go but up for the Arizona State football team, which finished with an abysmal 3-9 record in 2022. That included a 2-7 mark in Pac-12 play.

Days after the season-ending Territorial Cup loss to Arizona, Kenny Dillingham, previously the offensive coordinator at Oregon, was named the head coach, making him the youngest head coach at a Power Five school. It also fulfilled his long-time dream of coaching the Sun Devils as he graduated from Chaparral and Arizona State and later served as a graduate assistant at the school on his way up the coaching ranks.

There has been a massive roster overhaul. With a lot of new players and a first time head coach, few know what to expect.

Here is a look at some of the key factors that will go a long way in determining how the Sun Devils will fare this season.

1. Will the Sun Devils throw the ball down field?

The Sun Devils were ninth in the Pac-12 last season in passing at just 251.9 yards per game, the only teams worse being Utah, Oregon State and Colorado. ASU seemed content at short patterns or passes in the flat to the running backs and didn't take a lot of shots down field and there were far too few explosive plays. Part of that was simply the play-calling but the offensive line struggled too and that was a huge factor.

The Sun Devils have a strong receiving core, led by Elijhah Badger, Idaho State transfer Xavier Guillory and tight end Jalin Conyers. That core and the defensive backs look to be this strongest position groups this season so it would be good to utilize those weapons and be able to spread the field.

With true freshman Jaden Rashada named the starting quarterback, it's a good bet that the Sun Devils will indeed take some shots down field. He also has good scrambling ability which should add another dynamic to the new offense. Should Rashada falter, veteran Trenton Bourget, who ended last season as the starter, and transfer Drew Pyne will be ready. Pyne injured a hamstring in ASU's Camp Tontozona scrimmage so he is out of the mix for now.

2. Can ASU eliminate the penalties?

The Sun Devils were the most penalized team in the Pac-12 a year ago at 72.8 a yards per game. That put them 123rd out of 131 FBS schools in that department. That is only slightly better than the previous year when ASU averaged 78.08.

The biggest difference is that the bulk of the penalties in 2021 were pre-snap penalties such as false starts where 2022 saw more calls in the flow of the game and many of them negated positive yardage plays. Either way, it's an area that needs significant attention. Dillingham has shown that he will hold players accountable for their mistakes, particularly mental ones.

3. How will lack of depth play out at some positions?

There are some places that ASU is particularly thin. One of those is linebacker with Merlin Robertson and Kyle Soelle both exhausting their eligibility and Connor Soelle transferring to Oregon. That leaves Will Shaffer and Caleb McCullough as players returning at that position and neither was really an impact player.

That situation wasn't helped when Tennessee transfer Juwan Mitchell was dismissed from the team along with defensive back Isaiah Johnson. Mitchell likely would have been starter. The Sun Devils will rely on transfer Travion Brown, who played under new defensive coordinator Brian Ward last year when both were at Washington State.

The other place the Sun Devils are a bit thin is the defensive line, which also took a hit with graduation and defections, with the situation further complicated by injuries.

4. How will the team gel?

There are 60 or so newcomers this season with 35 coming through the transfer portal. It might take some time for the team to come together. Practice and games are also a different story so it will take seeing the team in game conditions and how it responds to adversity to answer that question.

Many of the new additions are going to be asked to fill prominent roles, either as starters or rotational players with the offensive line the key are in which transfers will be most counted on.

5. The learning curve of a first year coach

Dillingham seems to have said and done all the right things since taking the reins, but there is still a learning curve that comes with being a head coach for the first time. Dillingham has largely been credited with reinventing quarterback Bo Nix last year when he went to Oregon from Auburn. But now Dillingham is entrusted with all the other responsibilities that come with being a head coach and you never know how one will deal with that until they're actually in that place.

Dillingham has said nothing has really surprised him as far as on the field, coaching responsibilities but what has been the biggest challenge are the off the field, administrative things that need attention.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 things that will determine if Arizona State football improves in 2023