Texas to Tempe pipeline expected to fuel Arizona State football with move to Big 12

Arizona State assistant football coaches Ra'Shaad Samples and Bryan Carrington know one of the keys to recruiting nowadays is meeting prospective players in their own space, and a big part of that is social media. Since the two are not that far removed from their playing days it is something that comes natural to them.

Samples, 29, heads up the Sun Devil receiving core while Carrington, 33, handles the secondary. But they have been instrumental in the success ASU has had in recruiting Texas, which was always important, but more so now with the school headed to the Big 12. The program will be competing against Texas schools, as well as others in that geographic area.

So each time they land a prospect from that talent-laden state, the message goes out on social media - "Texas to Tempe."

"The Texas to Tempe thing is real. And it's just getting started," Samples said.

Dillingham's priorities on the recruiting trail

The Sun Devils held their first of 15 spring practices on Tuesday and as was the case last year, several of the players hail from the Lone Star State, a total of 21 to be exact. Some of those Texas natives are among the veterans, who likely still have thoughts of the 3-9 season last year still in their heads.

Among those are defensive standouts Prince Dorbah and Clayton Smith and wide receiver Troy Omeire, who are starting their second years in the program after beginning their college careers elsewhere.

The state also is reflected in the transfers that were brought in this year as well as the high school signing class.

Head coach Kenny Dillingham has said on multiple occasions that Texas is a priority, and the success Samples and Carrington had in recruiting that territory were a key reason why Dillingham brought them here.

Samples, a native of Dallas, excelled as a wide receiver at Houston and Oklahoma State, so he knows the Big 12 footprint well. He's also held coaching positions at Houston, Texas and SMU.

Carrington, a native of Houston, had previously served as an offensive analyst at TCU the year that school made the BCS championship game. He has also worked at Texas and Houston.

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New era of recruiting

"I feel like in this world of social media you have to create other pipelines to pool talent. Activate the Valley, Texas to Tempe, the Poly Pipeline, Cali Sun Devils. We could come up with more. It's wise in this era of college football with social media, and technology being at your fingertips. Kids are different now, their mindsets are different," Carrington said.

"They have so many interests outside football, NIL is important, they want to create NIL value for themselves but they want an experience,'' he added. "Where are you going to spin outside of a heavy metropolitan area, so Tempe from a long-term standpoint in this NIL era is an exodus. No one knows what it's going to look like but these kids are wanting to gravitate toward these metropolitan areas vs. being in any town USA."

The Sun Devils boast 23 Division transfers, among those are offensive lineman Josh Atkins and linebacker Jordan Crook. Crook came from Arkansas but he's a Texas native who played at Duncanville High School, which is coached by Reginald Samples, Ra'Shaad's father. So that was an easy get.

There is a heavy Texas emphasis in the high school class too. Among those are defensive backs Rodney Bimage (Dickinson HS, Houston), Chris Johnson (Aledo HS, Fort Worth) and Tony-Louis Nkuba (Lewisville HS, Lewisville). Bimage and Johnson took their official visits in the fall together and they're sharing living quarters with two returning players who are Texans too, defensive lineman C.J. Fite and defensive back Montana Warren.

"Coach BC (Carrington) started pushing the Texas to Tempe pipeline and being able to go out of state and bring some of the in-state guys with me has been great," Johnson said. "Rodney and I came on a visit together and we loved it. We wanted to do something special, change the narrative about ASU football. That's what we came here to do."

A pipeline to ASU

All say that word of mouth helps too. Bimage knew some of the players already at ASU and he says he got a favorable review from his peers who preceded him to Tempe.

"They're honest about what they say," Bimage said. "A lot of coaches, they don't really tell you the truth. They tell you what they think you want to hear and then you get down there and it's not that way. These coaches are cool and they make you feel like you got a home. And it's great to be here with my friends, Chris and Tony. We're all on a group chat and we've talked about starting a pipeline to ASU, we can change things up."

All are excited about the move to the Big 12, which will mean a lot of games closer to home, where they're friends and family can be in attendance. In fact ASU's first game in the new conference will come on Sept. 21 at Texas Tech. And the week before that they will be playing their final nonconference game at Texas State.

The players say they are excited about that and coaches have said that is definitely part of their pitch as they look to get more entrenched into the new conference footprint.

"Now your parents are going to get to see that much more of you, your games, the travel, proximity to home, just makes it that much closer," Samples said. "It's definitely opened a lot of opportunities to get into that territory even more than we were before."

Carrington noted that getting a footprint in Texas will open the door to recruiting other nearby areas with plenty of talent.

"It's game changer," Carrington said. "Going from playing in LA and Seattle to now, have a game in Houston, Lubbock, Dallas, game in Waco, game in Stillwater. Now we get to put our product in front of some of that demographic where we desire to recruit from so that opens up Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana. And all it takes is getting one of those kids and that kid has a good experience here, and next thing you know you're getting five kids from there. And it's only going to get better."