Sam Leavitt might have landed a spot in Kenny Dillingham’s Arizona State, but he is still fighting for the spotlight in the Sun Devils’ camp. A few days back, Dillingham, being the motivated head coach, made some noise on the recruiting trail, landing a quarterback for the 2026 class. That was none other than Jake Fette. Already, analyst Brian Smith started to sing in high praise of Dillingham’s new quarterback.

He shared, “Let’s talk recruiting. Jake Fette, quarterback out of El Paso. LSU’s made a run at him and a bunch of other schools. Really good recruit.” While there is still some time left for Leavitt to board the NFL wagon, he was already losing his spotlight. As his make-or-break year awaits, Leavitt shared another core memory from his fight during last year’s Camp Tontozona.  

By now, we know what value Camp T holds for the team and fans alike. After all, it’s a 66-year-old tradition for Dillingham’s squad. It has been equally important for Leavitt, too. On August 6, coming out of the camp, the quarterback faced the media. That’s when he made an interesting confession, stating that a lot has changed between last year’s Camp Tontozona trip and this year. Leavitt shared, “Last year at this time, I was still fighting for a job. I was still competing with Jeff. Had a lot of belief in myself. Not a lot of people had a lot of belief in me leading up to this point.” The clock was already ticking for Leavitt as less than three weeks were left for their season opener against Wyoming.

That’s when Dillingham’s quarterback had to prove himself fighting against Jeff Sims, against whom he played in the Big 10 in 2023. During last year’s camp, Leavitt had some flop moments. For instance, his first pass attempt was batted down at the line of scrimmage by linebacker Keyshaun Elliott. The quarterback then fumbled two plays later. During this year’s camp, Leavitt got the flashbacks from last year. The quarterback shared, “There’s definitely a different outlook.”

Even though he did not have many good memories, Leavitt followed the same routine. “I came out here last night and did my stretching routine like I did last year. And it was just a cool memory, to get back to your roots and just kind of look out here. This reminds me a lot of back home, where I’m from. So, just to get back in that mindset and understand the work that you put in and then to get to this point,” Leavitt shared his experience. We have seen how even after the camp, the struggles were not over for the quarterback. Dillingham counted on Sims when Leavitt was sidelined due to a rib injury. While the quarterback is pumped up, hoping for a better season, Dillingham, too, is counting high on his boys, especially his running back room. 

Kenny Dillingham can’t stop talking about his running back room

Dillingham is feeling confident in his running back room. Sounds confusing, right? Definitely. After all, Arizona State has to fill the empty place for someone like Cam Skattebo, who left for the NFL. Dillingham could have been filled with nostalgia and regret for losing Skattebo after Rook Watch posted, “Skattebo’s personality has reportedly already “infected” the Giants locker room and is changing the culture.” But no. The head coach is now confident in what his present roster brings to the table.

The three major players in the 2025 running back position battle are junior Kanye Udoh, second-string back returning from last season, Kyson Brown, Skattebo’s backup, and former five-star recruit Raleek Brown. And Dilligham already can’t stop talking about their camaraderie. “They’re all very close. But I mean, I can be close with my brother and want to beat his b- -t, right? But he’s still my brother. That’s what good competition is. Bad competition is when you’re not close with the people around you. I mean, I compete the hardest versus the people I’m the closest to, my best friends, my family,” the head coach sounded all confident.

He continued, “Those are the people, when I compete, not somebody I’ll never meet again. I compete the hardest for my closest people. I think that’s the goal of the running back room. That’s what they have right now, is they have a competition of really, really close friends.” Back at the Army, even though the spotlight was solely on quarterback Bryson Daily, Dilligham’s new running back racked up 1,117 yards. In the season finale against Arizona, Brown ran for 100 yards on only eight carries. Now the question remains, will the trio help Dillingham forget the Skattebo heartbreak?