Arizona State’s secondary took another hit just days before the Sun Devils are set to take the field at Mountain America Stadium.
Safety Lyrik Rawls, who had already been sidelined after an injury against Baylor, is now expected to miss the rest of the season. Rawls had been working his way back since suffering a leg injury on Oct. 3, but head coach Kenny Dillingham delivered a grim update.
“Barring something crazy, he’ll probably be out for the year,” Dillingham said. “So you know, unless something drastic happens, it’s not a positive, but more than likely, he’ll be out for the remainder of the year.”
Rawls is a fifth-year senior, and Dillingham said the current rules leave little room for him to get another season back.
“By the rules, no. I’ll say it like (that), I don’t know, though,” Dillingham said about Rawls’ chances at playing again in college.
“By the current rules, no, he cannot get a year back. There are no more waivers.
There are no more injury waivers.”
The loss stings inside the safety room, where Rawls had been one of the older, more experienced voices.
“It’s immeasurable when you have a leader that’s out for the year. That’s two years in a row. We’ve lost a leader in the safety room who is kind of an old guy in the room that just has a lot of experience and a lot of wisdom and maturity and brings the habits that you want into that room every day for those younger guys to learn and have an impact on,”
“Losing a guy like that, you don’t replace him. You have to find different ways to adapt without him.
So, losing him is a big deal. But we have guys stepping up, we’ve been without him for the last four weeks, I believe, so we’ve been steadily progressing, without him, but with a plan for him to come back, this came as a shock to all of us,”
“It’s like anything else: how do you respond to adversity? You can’t change the plan. You’ve got to just adapt, you’ve got to adjust, and got to continue to find ways to re-emphasize things that are important in order to be successful.”
Arizona State has already spent the last month without Rawls, so the on-field adjustment won’t be brand new. The defense has still turned in some solid performances in that stretch, including holding Kansas State under 20 points and keeping the Sun Devils in the game at No. 7 BYU.
The situation also isn’t unfamiliar for the defense. Ward pointed to top safety Xavion Alford, who suffered an early-season injury in 2025 and missed the rest of the year.
Still, losing another veteran in the secondary matters, especially with two of the Big 12’s top offenses - Oklahoma State and Arizona - waiting in the final four weeks.
Arizona State will try to move forward when it faces Colorado on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. AZT.
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