Former ASU football standouts visit practice

TEMPE, Ariz. — A little over a week ago, ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham invited all former Arizona State football players to stop by practices in the spring. An open invitation.

It’s hard to spread the message but former ASU players EVERY practice is open to you! We practice Tuesday / Thursday on field at 9:15 am , Sat on field at 10. I would love to see more former players out and involved! Open Invitation! #SunDevil4LIFE #ActivateTheValley

— Coach Dillingham (@KennyDillingham) March 28, 2024

Well, this morning several former players stopped by, but two of them are fan favorites and some of the most successful players to wear the maroon and gold uniforms in the last decade.

Brandon Aiyuk and Eno Benjamin stop by ASU football practice

Brandon Aiyuk and Eno Benjamin headlined a group of former players who stopped by ASU’s spring practice this morning. The two had illustrious careers in Tempe, before finding themselves on NFL rosters.

Great to see Brandon Aiyuk and Eno Benjamin! Proud of you guys! Forks Up! 🤙🏽🔱 pic.twitter.com/T5r1aPePoW

— Shaun Aguano 🔱 🏈🤙🏽🙏🏽 (@aguanos) April 6, 2024

Aiyuk spent two seasons in Tempe with ASU football, in 2018 and 2019. His breakout year was in 2019 where he racked up over 1,000 receiving yards. Aiyuk averaged 99 receiving yards per game in 2019, just shy of averaging over 100 yards per game.

For ASU career he tallied 1,666 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

His play in college was strong enough to impress scouts and he was taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the 49ers. Now he’s finding his stride in the NFL coming off a season where he amassed 75 receptions, 1,342 receiving yards, and seven receiving touchdowns.

Aiyuk has found NFL success already in his four-year career, and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down.

Eno Benjamin

Benjamin played for ASU football from 2017-2019. The running back broke out his sophomore season rushing for over 1,500 yards and adding 16 rushing touchdowns. As a junior he followed it up by again surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing mark and tallying double-digit TD’s again.

The Sun Devil was taken in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Benjamin played in the NFL for two seasons, tallying over 400 yards and three touchdowns for his career.

It’s always great to see former players in Tempe, especially ones who significantly impacted ASU football.

Dillingham speaks on the importance of returning players

“Having those guys out here, back around, it just shows, where do they want to be? Neither of them are from here,” Dillingham said. “But where do they come back in the offseason? Right back here. And that’s what makes this place a little bit different than most schools throughout the country, that this is a destination location. We’re going to win here. And when we do win here, people are going to want to live in a destination location with a top-40 university. And we’re just on our way there.”

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