Good programs with good coaches know when it’s time to make changes and wrestling coach Zeke Jones and the Arizona State administration knew that time had come.

The proud Sun Devils program had its moments the last few years with a national champion and a handful of finishes between fourth and seventh at the NCAA Championships. But ASU had become more of a tournament team because the program’s overall depth did not equate to producing stable dual meet teams.

Injuries played a role, especially during last year’s 4-11 finish, but when a number of sixth- and seventh-year guys departed after last season, it was time to hit the reset button, Jones said.

“With the roster cap, the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing and then obviously watching what happened to us, you can see we needed to adjust and change,” said Jones, now in his 12th year as the head coach in Tempe.

“And the great thing was we did,” he continued, “we had two major changes in the program, probably the two biggest things that have happened since I've been here. The athletic department went in big and made a huge, substantial financial increase to the program where now 95 percent of our kids on our roster are on some form of scholarship.

“The athletic part of the equation is the athletic department went in with almost a million dollars in terms of just being able to make the team competitive, from scholarships to travel to training to folkstyle, and a commitment to freestyle, and did this through the athletic department budget.”

Fourteen wrestlers on this year’s 30-man roster are new to the program. 

“That increase will make us competitive, and it will just take a couple of years to acclimate those scholarships into the program, but that's how we were able to find 14 kids, and pretty good ones,” Jones said.

The second change is the Southwest Wrestling Club, which is effectively replacing the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club after decades of financial support from legendary founder Art Martori. 

“We have guys on our board — Ken McElroy … Willie Pyette … Dave Kylie — who came in and said ‘We’re going to help you be competitive again,’” Jones said. “We’ve got the Southwest Wrestling Club and the regional training center that’s going to fund the Olympic model and help with NIL and being able to support athletes financially. They’re helping line up companies with kids on our team.

“There's (nearly) 7 million people in the Phoenix metro area; there are companies. That's to our advantage, right? We're not a town of 50,000, we're a town of 7 million. Companies are working with our athletes and getting visibility within our large city,” Jones said, noting that ASU program history is morphing into the Southwest Wrestling Club and that it will support Olympic hopefuls and the RTC and team members.”

Jones said the Sun Devils attracted instant depth. 

“We can put full scholarships in two or three weight classes and we've never been able to do that; we had to split up 9.9 (the previous NCAA allotment for wrestling),” he said. “So the quality of the kids that we're getting now are just much better.”

Time For The Youngbloods

Three freshmen and a sophomore will anchor ASU’s lineup. Kyler (133) and Kaleb Larkin (149) of Gilbert, Arizona, and Pierson Manville (141) of State College, Pennsylvania, have freshman eligibility and Nicco Ruiz (165) of Ontario, California, is a sophomore. Kaleb Larkin is listed as a sophomore, but the program will apply for a medical redshirt, Jones said, adding that “they're the nucleus of this young group.”

The Sun Devils, #18 in Flo’s team tournament rankings, opened by winning six individual titles at the Michigan State Open and then lost to Michigan and Lehigh in the National Duals Invitational and to Oklahoma State in ASU’s home opener.

Jones said Missouri transfer Colton Hawks (197) has been injured but is on the mat and should be ready by January. He said at least half of the weight classes are still being “sorted out.”

An Early Blockbuster Bout

Richie Figueroa won the 125-pound NCAA title for the Sun Devils in 2024 but transferred to Oklahoma State after last season. He returned to Tempe with the Cowboys and lost a 10-5 decision to Kyler Larkin at 133 on Nov. 23.

“You could feel the whole energy in the arena rise. It was a lot of fun to see,” Jones said. “That's what makes our sport fantastic when we create those types of matchups. I love Richie. Richie is a Sun Devil national champ and that will be his forever, but on that day, we want Kyler to win.

“Kyler is really starting to show the country how good he is. We know how good he is, and I think people do believe he's good, but I don't think they really understand how good he is. And he is just relentless and he is aggressive, and he competes with intensity and drive and focus. He pushed him all over the mat.”

ASU lost 25-11 to the #5 Cowboys, winning three and losing three close bouts among the other seven. 

“We had three matches that we could have won, and certainly would have swung the dual our way,” Jones said. 

“I think our kids are competing hard. They're not backing down. They're battling. We’ve just got to continue to get better at wrestling, and I think it's positional. We've got to get better at finishing. We're all over everybody's legs; we've just got to be able to finish and clean up stuff, and we're working on that now.”

Time For An Early Peak

The Sun Devils’ schedule maintains its intensity as the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas is next, and a trip to Wisconsin follows two weeks later.

“Vegas is the first place we really want to hit a good peak,” Jones said. “We think there's a lot of national seeding implication in Las Vegas. The format is like the NCAA Tournament. It's our first chance to get in a tournament setting where we're certainly a better tournament team than we are a dual meet team with a core of four kids that can really have a lot of success on any given day; the other six are competitive. 

“We need to get out of the gate fast, get some momentum off each other, and we can have a great tournament. I do think we're battle-tested.”