"I'm going to bring more guys from Arizona": When Kenny Dillingham spilled beans on aggressive recruiting strategy after taking over ASU

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham led the Sun Devils to an incredible Big 12 championship win and the Peach Bowl during the college football playoffs in the 2024 season. It was an incredible turnaround for a program that was tabbed in many quarters to finish bottom of the Big 12 during last year's preseason.

Things were not always so rosy for the Sun Devils and Dillingham after he took the Arizona State job from Herm Edwards in November 2022 after serving as the Orgeon Ducks' offensive coordinator. In his first year, Dillingham went 3-9 but he hit the recruitment trail hard to try and turn around the program's fortunes.

During a December 2022 segment of the "247Sports" podcast, Dillingham revealed his aggressive recruitment strategy during his first year in charge.

"So, I think for us, it's built, start to build relationships, which is simple," Kenny Dillingham said. "Obviously, we don't have a big staff right now, so we're staying more local. We're hitting Arizona hard right now. But I want to make sure people understand this. I'm from Arizona. And we're going to recruit Arizona hard." [1:00]

"But when a kid gets on our roster, we're going to have a roster from all over the country. The best players going to play. We're playing the best players. I am going to bring in more guys from Arizona, because I think there's more guys deserving to be here and to be a Sun Devil."

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Kenny Dillingham's Sun Devils labeled 'America's team'

Kenny Dillingham's Arizona State gained a lot of fans due to their underdog story unfolding last season and were part of the most-watched game in college football history when 17.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the Sun Devils' extraordinary clash against the Texas Longhorns in the Peach Bowl which they lost 39-31.

During a segment of "Pate State," renowned CBS Sports analyst Josh Pate paid the Sun Devils the ultimate honor by calling them "America's team," a tag usually reserved for the Dallas Cowboys.

"I think Arizona State would be my answer here," Pate said. "Number one, it's not an SEC or Big Ten team. You cannot be America's football team and be in one of those conferences. Because you've gotta have a likable quality about you and those conferences aren't likeable right now. The Q ratings of those conferences are way down."

Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils will have a lot of attention focused on them next season after surprising many fans and analysts this past season as the Cinderella of college football.