Arizona State AD: Games vs. Texas State, Texas Tech present ‘tremendous recruiting’ opportunity

Arizona State football has a tremendous recruiting opportunity over the next two weeks with Thursday’s road game against Texas State and a Week 4 matchup at Texas Tech, first-year athletic director Graham Rossini told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo.

Rossini said the Texas State nonconference game has been on the docket for about a decade, and it was intended to give ASU a chance to play in the football-powerhouse state to give recruits a closer look.

“Here we are a decade later, and ironically, we’re back-to-back with our game at Lubbock and Texas Tech next week,” Rossini said Thursday before the Texas State game.

“So we’re really trying to maximize the time on the ground. A number of our coaches are going to stay after the game tonight and get a chance to recruit in Houston and Dallas and Austin and some of the surrounding areas, San Antonio as well. … We need to show up tonight. We need to represent but we also know there’s tremendous recruiting benefits if we play well tonight and again next weekend.”

The Sun Devils come into Thursday night’s game 2-0 after wins over Wyoming and Mississippi State, while Texas State is also 2-0 coming off a blowout win over UTSA. The game will be showcased on ESPN as the only nationally televised college football game of the day.

ASU is now in a conference with four Texas schools (Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor and Houston) with no California teams. Maintaining a foothold in the Golden State remains imperative, but taking advantage of the Big 12 matchups in new states is a priority for the program, Rossini said.

“We’ve got to maintain Southern California, and we will,” Rossini said. “But obviously, having the Big 12 connection with the state of Texas … there’s just a tremendous opportunity across the footprint of the conference to get more awareness onto ASU. And then you add Florida, with Central Florida in the conference as well.

“There’s a reasonable chance we’re going to be on a lot of people’s radars because we are competing against UCF, we are competing against the four Texas schools and maintaining our presence in Southern California. So it’s, in many ways, the best of all worlds.”

Arizona State takes on UCF at Mountain America Stadium on Nov. 9.

ASU’s top-ranked 2025 recruit, wide receiver Adrian Wilson, is from Texas, while the program’s next class of freshmen has 12 players across California and Texas.

Watch ASU visit Texas State with kickoff at 4:30 p.m. MST. Tune to the Arizona Sports app, ESPN 620 AM or 98.7-HD-2 to listen. 

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