Kenny Dillingham addresses losing Rashada and Badger to portal

TEMPE, Ariz. — Kenny Dillingham entered the Bill Kajikawa practice fields this morning with a slightly different roster than ASU’s last practice. Jaden Rashada, Arizona State’s starting quarterback from last season (before suffering an injury) elected to enter the transfer portal on Thursday. One day later Rashada was followed by Elijhah Badger, ASU’s leading receiver last season.

Rashada and Badger will both be highly sought after in the portal, with Rashada already scheduling a visit with Georgia.

Kenny Dillingham speaks about the departures of Rashada and Badger

“I wish them nothing but the best,” Dillingham began. “I know they were out all spring for us and they were both working their way back in. Both (are) really good young men, and I wish them the best.”

The young head coach has always been supportive of his players, even if they decide to leave. Dillingham is known for offering supportive social media posts, and publically backing players who transfer. This is rare in the transfer portal era but speaks to Dillingham’s genuine support and relationships with his players.

So what does this change?

“It really changes nothing,” Dillingham said. “We were probably gonna bring in a quarterback regardless, and we were gonna bring in a wide-out regardless. We had 86 scholarships, and we were going to bring in about three to four guys via the portal, planning on losing five to six guys… to be honest this is kinda what I expected dating back to January. In some way, shape, or form. Not these specific guys, but just this thing that was gonna happen naturally.”

Arizona State has two scholarship quarterbacks remaining on the roster: Sam Leavitt and Trenton Bourguet.

How do you navigate the transfer portal?

The transfer portal gives and takes, and can be a difficult thing to navigate. But for Dillingham, his biggest pitch? Transparency.

“Transparency. Like I told our guys today,” Dillingham said. “There’s gonna be people around the country right now, who bring you in, tell you how good you are, tell you how you’re important to the team, how you need to stay here… maybe do something nice for you (like) take you to dinner. It’s real, it’s what happens. What I said is screw that! Compete.”

Dillingham also doesn’t fight for kids to stay.

“If you don’t love to compete, and you’re one toe–that’s why I don’t fight for kids to stay,” Dillingham continued. “Because, if you’re one toe in, if there’s a little bit that’s not all in, you have no chance to reach your potential.”

The head coach is only going into his second season but is laser-focused on building a winning culture, one that emphasizes competition.

“We’re gonna challenge you, we’re gonna push you. If you’re gonna be here, you’re gonna push yourself. And if you don’t wanna be here, then don’t.”

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