There was no bad blood despite QB Sam Leavitt’s constant exit talks and missing the team banquet. In fact, HC Kenny Dillingham was overly positive despite one of his stars entering the transfer portal. The 35-year-old maintained a similar approach when his standout WR was going pro.

ASU wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, 21, declared for the NFL Draft and is also set to skip the Sun Bowl matchup against Duke. The head coach, though, isn’t holding anything against him.

Dillingham made it clear he fully supports Tyson chasing his NFL dream. “He’s an unbelievable person, unbelievable player, he’s a special, special person,” the coach said during Thursday’s press conference. “We spoke for 15 minutes last night just on the phone, and he’s such a great kid. I couldn’t be happier for somebody to go achieve success in this game than him.”

Jordyn Tyson was entering his third season at ASU after starting at Colorado in 2022, and he had become a huge part of an offense that made a run to the College Football Playoff last year.

He led the team with 75 catches for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns. This season, even with a hamstring injury that cost him three games, he kept that momentum rolling. Tyson still put up 61 catches for 711 yards and 8 touchdowns, ranking near the top of the Big 12 in both receptions and scores. The biggest moment that the $1 million star of ASU came in games where he absolutely took over. Like multi-touchdown outings and 100-plus receiving yards against Northern Arizona, TCU, and Texas Tech. In those matchups, it was obvious he was Leavitt’s go-to guy, especially when things got tight.

ASU wide receivers coach Hines Ward even called their chemistry “unreal.” And he wasn’t kidding. In a huge fourth-down moment against Texas Tech, Tyson hauled in a 33-yard bomb from Leavitt to keep the drive alive.

Their friendship was pretty obvious at Big 12 Media Days. While Kenny Dillingham was doing a live interview on College Football Live, Leavitt and Tyson were in the background grinning at the camera like two kids who couldn’t help themselves. “I’ve got my two guys behind me, you can see them,” Dillingham said. “The key is those guys back there. The key was those guys putting in the work to want to be the best version of themselves that they can possibly be and having fun doing it, as you see right now. That’s our program. That’s our culture.”

Unfortunately for Kenny Dillingham, that superstar duo could barely play two seasons of football. Now with Sam Leavitt in the transfer portal and Jordyn Tyson declaring for the NFL, Dillingham needs to ramp up his roster big time and fill these massive holes.

The quarterback’s dilemma comes to an end

Sam Leavitt’s decision to enter the transfer portal feels less like a shock. The fire of departure was flickering for weeks after he went through the season-ending injury. Once Leavitt went down, the rumors started almost immediately. Whispers about a possible transfer circled the program, even as his family publicly pushed back and tried to quiet the speculation. Inside the building, though, coaches understood the reality.

The first real sign that something had changed came on December 7 at Arizona State’s awards banquet. Leavitt, a team captain, was the only one not in the room. His glaring absence on a night built to honor leaders and standouts spoke louder than anything else. When it came time to introduce him, head coach Kenny Dillingham didn’t pretend everything was normal. Instead, he paused and told the audience the program “wished him well, whatever comes next.”

By the next day, the ambiguity was gone. On December 8, reporter Anthony Totri broke the news that Leavitt intends to enter the transfer portal. For Leavitt, the move creates a fresh start at a time when his career is at an inflection point. For Arizona State, his departure is both a blow and a reflection of the current era. Losing a captain and star quarterback reshapes the depth chart and forces the staff to accelerate plans for the next man up, whether through internal development or their own portal additions.