TEMPE - Arizona State’s tight ends were still waiting for a real role in the passing game Saturday night, even with the offense sputtering through a 55-19 loss to Baylor at Mountain America Stadium.
With senior Khamari Anderson out for the season after suffering a lower-left-leg injury against Kansas on Sept. 19 in London, the Sun Devils had to sort out both the depth chart and the bigger question of how much the position would matter through the air. The answer against Baylor looked a lot like the answer so far this season: not much.
Sophomore AJ Ia, listed at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds, was the clear replacement for Anderson in practice leading into the game. He entered Saturday with two catches on two targets for 19 yards and a touchdown, and he remained ASU’s only tight end to reach the end zone this season.
He got a brief look early against Baylor. Ia matched his season high with two targets in the first quarter, catching one pass from quarterback Cutter Boley for six yards.
His second and final catch came with 10:22 left in the second quarter and went for no gain. From there, the ball never came back his way.
Boley did not target a tight end again, and ASU’s offense had bigger problems anyway. The Sun Devils managed just 99 rushing yards on 30 carries, a 3.3-yard average, in a game where the ground attack never gave the passing game any breathing room.
Coach Kenny Dillingham had made his expectations for the position clear earlier in the week, and Saturday offered little evidence of a shift.
“I think for the tight ends, they have to be able to help us run the football,” Dillingham said. “And if they do that, the screen game, the play-action game, all that’s gonna open up off of it, but it’s not gonna be there if we can’t run the football effectively.”
After the game, he kept the focus on the same issue.
“There was some growth and some positives in (tonight’s game) as well, it’s just not good enough,” Dillingham said. “So we’ve gotta continue to evaluate that and it starts with me.”
The lack of tight end involvement wasn’t because ASU’s system has ignored the position completely. Under Dillingham, Chamon Metayer caught 70 passes for 681 yards and nine touchdowns over two seasons, and Jalin Conyers added 30 catches in 2023, Dillingham’s first season in charge.
But that kind of production has been rare. Metayer is one of five tight ends in the Dillingham era to catch a touchdown, and he’s the only one to catch more than three.
Ia said he knows the way to expand his role is simple, even if the chances are limited.
“Just keep comin’ up and showin’ up at practice every day and taking advantage of all the opportunities I got,” Ia said. “We really don’t get much, but still just gotta, every opportunity, we gotta take advantage of it.”
ASU’s other tight end work on Saturday came from a different kind of body entirely. Freshman tackle Filiva’a “Suka” Lokotui, wearing No. 92 instead of his usual 57, split snaps with Ia and functioned as a sixth offensive lineman. He mostly ran decoy routes and drew little attention.
That usage fit what Dillingham said the staff needs from the position.
“At the end of the day, that position is a physical position,” Dillingham said. “We need guys that are gonna go in there and block somebody and win their one-on-one in the court.
I think that’s the key for us. That’s the challenge.”
Dillingham and tight ends coach Jason Mohns both pointed to the same idea: the role depends on the opponent and on trust, and trust has to be earned day by day.
“I think it’s a day-by-day basis,” Mohns said. “The only way you build trust is with consistency, and consistency starts on Monday night at walk throughs, Tuesday at practice, Wednesday at practice and all of a sudden you start stacking good days.
“Then you show up on Saturday and that’s how you build trust. We know that they can do it. It’s ‘Can they do it consistently?’”
For now, Ia and Lokotui look more like support pieces than featured options. And after another night in which ASU’s offense struggled and the tight ends stayed mostly on the edges of it, that doesn’t appear likely to change soon.
In Other News...
ASU's Blowout Loss Exposed A Problem Fans Can't Ignore
Baylors 55-19 win over Arizona State did more than extend a four-game streak. It also offered a clear snapshot of an offense finding its footing, with quarterback DJ Lagway throwing a career-high four touchdowns while the running game and offensive line both took noticeable steps forward. The defense held up its end, too, making it a complete performance on a day the Bears looked much more balanced than they had earlier in the season.
For ASU, the loss came with plenty to sort through, especially because Baylors attack looked sharper and more varied under offensive coordinator Jake Spavital. The Sun Devils were left chasing a game that had already tilted hard in Baylors favor, and the margin only magnified the concerns fans have been raising about where this team stands after a result like this. [Read more 🡒]
ASU Suddenly Has An Identity Problem Kenny Dillingham Must Fix
Arizona States 55-19 loss to Baylor was more than just a rough Saturday, it was the kind of game that forces a team to take a hard look at what it is right now. The defeat was the Sun Devils largest margin since joining the Big 12, and it left Kenny Dillingham visibly frustrated afterward as his team tried to sort through a performance that never found much traction.
Cutter Boley was among the players acknowledging the mistakes and the need to get better, which is where the conversation turns for ASU heading into its final nonconference game against Hawaii. With conference play looming, the bigger issue is not just cleaning up one bad result, but figuring out how quickly this group can recover its footing and show a clearer identity. [Read more 🡒]
ASU Just Made Its Identity Problem Impossible To Ignore
Baylor junior quarterback DJ Lagway lit up Mountain America Stadium with a career-high four touchdown passes as the Bears rolled past Arizona State 55-19, and the Sun Devils never found a way to steady themselves. The offense sputtered from the start, with turnovers and dropped passes repeatedly interrupting any chance of building momentum, leaving a home crowd watching a game that quickly got away.
Arizona State now turns to Hawaii at home to open an eight-game stretch that will define the rest of the season, and the biggest concern is not just the final score but how many different issues showed up at once. The Sun Devils have plenty to clean up before that run begins, and after a performance like this, their identity questions are no longer hard to see. [Read more 🡒]