ESPN: ASU football returning 2nd-most production in country for 2025

By now, everyone knows the drill. Aside from Cam Skattebo and a few other standouts, ASU football is set to return much of its roster from a special 2024 season.

It’s returning so much that ESPN has only Clemson ahead of the Sun Devils in how its model projects returning production, which makes sense given that running back isn’t weighted as heavily as other positions.

Offensive positions are instead valued as so: 40% for snaps on the offensive line, 35% for receiving yards by wide receivers and tight ends, 22% for quarterback passing yards and finally 3% for running back rushing yards.

That’s where ASU bringing back Sam Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson and Chamon Metayer in addition to four of its five starting offensive linemen pay dividends.

The defense may be set up for a repeat even more than the offense. Of the 17 defensive players to play at least 200 snaps, 14 are returning, including all but one member of the front (Jeff Clark).

Defensive numbers were calculated as such: 66% for returning snaps, 19% for returning tackles and 15% for tackles for a loss.

The Sun Devils are in an exclusive group relative to recent history, as it cleared a bar only 22 (out of 398) other FBS teams have in the past three seasons by returning more than 78% of its production. Clemson was the only other team to do so this season.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly writes ASU has a chance to beat the incoming return to the mean in close games, which it won six out of seven of in 2024:

Outside of Skattebo, this was an awfully young team, one that has a chance to offset a potential reversal in close-game fortune by being good enough to avoid close games altogether.

How does the rest of the Big 12 stack up behind ASU?

National averages for returning production have been on a steady decline over the past several years due to the transfer portal era, dropping from 76.7% in 2021 down to 53.7% in 2025. This is before the spring transfer window from April 16-25.

Well above that national average, though, is the Big 12 as a conference, which stands at 60% to lead all conferences. The SEC was right behind at 59.3%, followed by the ACC at 59.1% and the Big Ten at 56.2%.

Texas Tech, which was the only team to beat ASU with a healthy Sam Leavitt in the 2024 regular season, isn’t far behind ASU and is still in the national top 5, even with its third-place transfer class. It’s likely to pose one of the biggest threats to the Sun Devils’ repeat efforts.

A full look at how the conference shook out:

1. Clemson (81%)

2. Arizona State (79%)

3. Illinois (76%)

4. Texas Tech (75%)

5. Kennesaw State (73%)

11. Baylor (68%)

12. Cincinnati (68%)

16. Arizona (66%)

23. Houston (65%)

41. Utah (61%)

45. BYU (61%)

49. TCU (60%)

55. Iowa State (58%)

56. Kansas State (58%)

76. Kansas (54%)

89. Colorado (50%)

98. West Virginia (46%)

104. Oklahoma State (45%)

106. UCF (45%)

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