Kenny Dillingham confident ASU can retain standout freshmen like Cardae Mack, Jake Fette

We’re in the thick of the roster movement era in college football, as questions of “But can they keep him?” surround seemingly every standout performer at programs that are not the blue bloods.

Look no further than all-world talents quarterback Kamario Taylor or wide receiver Jesse Legree of Mississippi State and Oregon State, respectively, the latter of whom even recently held a midseason re-signing party akin to a high schooler’s commitment party.

Arizona State freshman running back Cardae Mack garnered the same sorts of questions after just a handful of strong performances, and the questions began for quarterback Jake Fette before he even saw the field.

But ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham has a track record of retaining important players he signed out of high school, and he’s confident the trend will continue.

“I think we have a minimum of four to five … guys that we’ve seen on tape that I think will play this game for a long time in that freshman class,” Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta Friday. “I think those guys want to be here for the long haul. I know the initial reaction’s going to be ‘Are you going to be able to keep them in this new era?’ … Yeah, we are.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that these guys that we recruit and that we sign that are really good players out of high school, that we retain.”

Dillingham added he thinks this freshman crop for ASU includes at least four or five players who will eventually play on Sundays.

Mack has 531 total yards and seven total touchdowns over his last four games, rushing for at least 100 yards in three of those contests. Fette has thrown for 224 yards and two touchdowns on 52% passing without an interception (102.8 passer rating) over his three halves’ worth of action.

In addition to the backfield pairing, some of ASU’s biggest freshman standouts have included:

• defensive lineman Julian Hugo, four sacks and four tackles for loss
• offensive tackle Filiva’a “Suka” Lokotui, one pressure allowed in 87 pass-blocking opportunities
• defensive back Daquwan Dunn, two receptions allowed on five targets across 71 coverage snaps

The Sun Devils had four players drafted in 2026, with defensive back Keith Abney II being the only one who signed with ASU out of high school. Abney was an early entrant for the draft after he was part of Dillingham’s first signing class in 2023.

How does ASU keep players like Mack and Fette in tow to potentially add their names to Abney’s down the line?

“That’s kind of the ever-present part of managing a program right now in any sport,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo Thursday. “The quality of relationship between coaches and student-athletes has got to matter. They’ve got to see the vision.

“There’s more curiosity now with a lot of our young athletes, and so the openness of conversation becomes really important. Open communication on plans for the program, role definition and clarity and that’s all part of a productive process when you go into these retention moments.”

Dillingham said ASU getting back to a sellout for this week’s game against Colorado in what’s expected to be Fette’s first home start at Mountain America Stadium is a sign that the community is pushing in the right direction for retention efforts.

The previous home game against Kansas State broke a streak of 10 straight sellouts under Dillingham.

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