TEMPE, Ariz.  - In the weeks leading up to the 2026 college football season, Arizona State football fans have had plenty of storylines to follow regarding the Sun Devils’ offense before the season opener on Sept. 5. 

However, as the offense has garnered all the attention for its struggles, one constant in the Sun Devils’ fall camp has been the defense. 

Throughout fall camp, ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward’s unit has shown up in a big way, looking to build on a strong defensive season in 2025, when the Sun Devils allowed 25-plus points only twice. Yet the 2026 group is almost unrecognizable, with only two primary starters, senior defensive lineman C.J. Fite and senior safety Adrian “Boogie” Wilson, returning.

So, with new personnel, how have the Sun Devils been able to mesh so well on defense? 

Senior defensive back Montana Warren ties that strong chemistry dating back to the beginning of spring practice. 

“We used the spring … teaching them how to play as a Sun Devil,” Warren said. “Now we got into camp, and we hit the ground running from day one.” 

Now, ASU and its defense look ahead to the 2026 campaign, where they face four of the Big 12's top five scoring offenses from last season. 

Both returners provide a veteran presence on the field, but Fite’s impact in particular will be hard to ignore in the trenches. After tallying 30 tackles in 2024, Fite followed that with 29 tackles last season. 

Fite will likely be joined by fifth-year defensive lineman Blazen Lono-Wong up front. Lono-Wong, like Fite, played in all 13 games for the Sun Devils last season and enters his fourth year in Tempe.

On the ends, fifth-year defensive lineman Roman Pitre and senior defensive lineman Jalen Thompson are both expected to take the leap into expanded roles for ASU. 

Pitre comes into this season with just four career tackles, all coming last season with the Sun Devils. 

On the other side, Thompson is a veteran, collecting 66 tackles in over 1,000 snaps in his three seasons at Michigan State. 

Sixth-year defensive lineman Clayton Smith is another name to watch at the defensive end position, as he led all returners in sacks in 2025 with four. 

However, Smith’s possible move across the line of scrimmage to tight end leaves the door open for Pitre and Thompson to get the bulk of the snaps at defensive end. 

Behind the line, senior linebacker and Colorado State transfer Owen Long leads a new-look ASU linebacker corps. Long was the 18th-ranked linebacker transfer in all of college football this offseason. 

In 2025, Long tallied 151 total tackles for the Rams, comfortably finding himself leading the FBS in tackles last season. 

Alongside Long, junior linebacker Martell Hughes returns to the Sun Devils for his third season with the team, looking to build on a strong showing in 2025. 

Hughes finished with 39 tackles and two interceptions while taking the field in every ASU game last fall. 

However, the linebacker room for the Sun Devils has already taken a big hit.

Fifth-year linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu will miss the entire season with a lower-body injury, according to head coach Kenny Dillingham. 

With Fiaseu’s untimely injury, the competition for snaps at linebacker opens up in Tempe, with sixth-year defensive back Lyrik Rawls occasionally taking snaps in the front seven. 

Rawls is part of a deep secondary for the Sun Devils, complete with returning contributors and highly-touted transfers alike. 

Wilson and Warren, both major pieces of last year’s defense that allowed 24.5 points per game, have gotten the bulk of first-team snaps at recent practices and are expected to start at safety in the season opener.

Wilson’s 57 tackles and Warren’s 40 in 2025 rank first and second in tackles for ASU returners. 

While the safeties will be familiar faces to Sun Devil fans, the same cannot be said for the cornerbacks. 

The group tasked with filling the gap left by Keith Abney II is mostly comprised of new additions to the ASU roster, led by senior defensive back and LSU transfer Ashton Stamps. 

Stamps put together a solid 2024 campaign, compiling 51 tackles and 14 pass deflections, but only appeared in three games in an injury-shortened 2025. 

Yet after spending his first three years of college in his home state of Louisiana, Stamps wanted a change of scenery for his senior season, leading him to Tempe. 

“Mainly, just trying to achieve something different,” Stamps said. “I just wanted to really learn on my own and get stronger in that way.” 

Stamps isn’t the only Sun Devil defensive back that hails from the South, as Rawls and junior Rodney Bimage Jr. both hail from eastern Texas. 

Similar to Stamps, Rawls and Bimage will likely both be mainstays in the ASU secondary this season. 

Bimage saw limited run for the Sun Devils in 2025, totaling 12 tackles in 10 games, and is poised to take on a larger role in 2026. 

On the other hand, Rawls is new to Tempe, but no stranger to the Big 12. The Marshall, Texas, native started his collegiate career at Oklahoma State before starting all 12 contests at safety for Kansas in 2025. 

ASU faces off against both the Jayhawks and the Cowboys in 2026, with the Kansas matchup taking place across the pond in London on Sept. 19. 

For now, though, Ward and the ASU defense prepare for the long haul of the 2026 campaign, starting with a non-conference clash with Morgan State at Mountain America Stadium.

Despite the large turnover between seasons for his unit, Ward is preaching the same message to this year’s squad. 

“We want to be a team that if you look at our defense, we are sound, we play really hard, we tackle well and we get after the football,” Ward said. “Pursuit is just what we do, it’s how we live … and effort is the number one thing.”