Arizona State Standouts Garner Major Conference Recognition
TEMPE -- The Big 12 title game aspirations that Kenny Dillingham's Arizona State football program had their eyes set on prior to the 2025 season still exist after a nail-biting 25-23 win over West Virginia in week 12 of the campaign.
The victory was secured behind another team-wide effort, but individual stars once again shone through and have played crucial roles in pushing the Sun Devils beyond tumultuous happenings from within the program in recent weeks - the Big 12 conference recognized three key players in their weekly awards on Monday.
Offensive Player of the Week: Jeff Sims
Sims earned co-offensive player of the week alongside Brigham Young QB Bear Bachmeier in what was the first home start for the former.
Sims followed-up a 228 rushing yard performance against Iowa State with 288 total yards of offense (207 passing) and touchdowns to three different receivers in a game where the senior truly displayed his arm talent.
In a turn of fate, Sims has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league in recent weeks.
Defensive Player of the Week: Jordan Crook
Crook secured 14 total tackles in the battle - 10 of them in which were solo.
Crook also secured 0.5 tackles for loss and was instrumental in the Arizona State front lines shutting down a West Virginia rushing attack that had enjoyed several weeks of extensive success this season.
The senior linebacker is sharing this honor with Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez, who has arguably been the single best defensive player in the conference in 2025.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Jesus Gomez
Gomez earned his fourth weekly award of the season after securing what ended up being a game-winning 48-yard kick late in the fourth quarter of the game.
Gomez also won the award in week four (Baylor), week five (TCU), and week eight (Texas Tech) - these victories were quite arguably on the foot of the star kicker, who remains amongst the top of the leaderboard for field goals made this season.
The senior's overall impact this season has superseded his 73% field goal success rate, as Dillingham has seldom been apprehensive to kick field goals in key game situations in which he would opt to convert a fourth down during the 2024 season.
Arizona State's 2025 regular season continues to wind down, as the Sun Devils are set to face the Colorado Buffaloes on the road this Saturday.
Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on how the culture that has been cultivated by coach Dillingham showed up against West Virginia here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.