2024 athlete Dylan Tapley commits to Arizona State: 'Coach Dillingham prioritized me'

Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain three-star athlete Dylan Tapley likely wouldn’t have committed to Arizona State four or five months ago. Tempe may be close to home, but he didn’t have the relationship with the head coach at the time that he needed to make that sort of decision.

Enter Kenny Dillingham, and that changed entirely.

With Dillingham leading the way in his recruitment, Tapley ultimately decided to pull the trigger and commit to Arizona State Saturday afternoon picking the Sun Devils over Arizona, Kansas State and Oregon.

“Having a good relationship with the head coach is key for me and that’s not something I had in the past with Arizona State,” Tapley told On3. “Coach Dillingham prioritized me as soon as got the job and that really stood out to me. From there it never let up.”

Tapley’s relationship with Dillingham isn’t something that started once he was hired to lead to Sun Devils back in November. Dillingham extended an offer to Tapley last May while he was still at Oregon and the two stayed in touch since.

While position coaches may lead the charge in most recruitments, the same can’t be said for Tapley’s. Instead it’s been Dillingham who the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder said has been his lead recruiter and something that only helped Sun Devils’ cause in his recruitment.

“It’s huge for me because head coaches have so much going on and they’re very busy,” said Tapley, the No. 536 overall prospect and No. 25 athlete in the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking. It’s special that he made me a priority because you don’t see that a lot with head coaches being the main recruiter in an athlete’s recruitment so it’s something that stuck out to me.”

Dillingham’s vision stuck with Tapley

Tapley’s visited Arizona State 10 times including a pair of trips to Tempe over the last few weeks. Prior to Dillingham, Tapley may have left those trips wondering what the future of the program might look like.

Now he says that the vision is crystal clear with a guy like Dillingham running the show.

“Coach Dillingham’s vision of where he wants the program to go sticks out to me the most,” Tapley said. “He has a plan and he knows how he’s going to operate the program to get it there. He’s had a lot of success at other schools and I think that’s going to carry over.

“He’s a great coach with a great offensive mind and I think he knows what it takes to make this program compete at the highest level and win Pac-12 titles.”

On top of the vision Dillingham has for the program, Arizona State as a whole offers Tapley with benefits. The campus is less than half an hour away from home, he sees himself receiving a good education and he’ll have the luxury of potentially playing on either side of the ball once he steps on campus.

“It wasn’t any easy decision but over the past few months they’ve pulled away in my recruitment,” Tapley said. “I feel safe making this decision but it’s not something I would have done four or five months ago.”