C.J. Fite, a key player for ASU football in 2026, learned early on that he couldn't get away with being lazy in school. Both his parents are educators, and his mother, Tamara, held an important position at his school.
When it came to academics, everything had to be done at home, whether it was homework or getting permission slips signed.
"When I was in elementary school, my mom was my counselor," he said. "My mom told me when we're at school, I'm not your mom; I'm your counselor. If I had to get anything signed, I had to do it at home. She told me, 'Nobody else gets that privilege of getting it done at school.'"
Such lessons have served him well.
Fite was, and still is, the model student, getting his undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship from
Arizona State in three years. Now he is working on a master's in business and serving as a leader and foundational player for a football team that opens the season Saturday, Sept. 5, against Morgan State at Mountain America Stadium.
It should be no surprise that the 6-foot-2, 310-pounder is the ultimate team leader because of the surroundings in which he grew up. Tamara is now the principal at Tatum Primary School, while C.J.'s father, Drenon, is assistant superintendent of the Tatum Independent School District.
C.J. has a grandfather who was on the school board for 30 years and a grandmother who served on a state board of education.
Yes, education is deeply rooted in this family.
Not only is C.J. a good student, but so were his older siblings, Madison and Trey. The other two balanced academics and athletics, too. Madison played volleyball at Texas State and Texas Southern, while Trey is a senior on the football team at UT-San Antonio.
Tatum, Texas, is a town of about 1,400 in East Texas, 40 or so miles west of the Texas-Louisiana border. Everybody knows everybody. With parents in such huge positions of responsibility, C.J. didn't dare get in trouble.
"If anything happened, my mom or dad was going to get a call, so I made sure nothing happened," he laughed. "They were so close. My dad could walk to my school if something happened."
C.J., now 21, didn't get his first B in a class until he got to ASU, and it was a calculus class he took the summer of his freshman year. He admits it was tough breaking the news to his parents, since the number of Bs the siblings have received can be counted on one hand, but they took it well. It was, after all, an advanced class at the college level.
ASU football leans on C.J. Fite
Meanwhile, Fite's playing career has come full circle, something he laughs about now.
He was a three-star prospect out of high school, originally recruited by the Herm Edwards regime at Arizona State. When the coaching change to Kenny Dillingham took place, he decommitted.
For a minute.
Vince Amey, brought in by Dillingham as the defensive line coach, made a quick trip to Texas to visit Fite, then drove 20 miles to visit another recruit, defensive back Montana Warren.
Fite just wanted to make sure he was still wanted. Amey got that point across.
"I learned I was supposed to be here from the start," Fite said. "Everything I went through, trying to figure out where I was going to go, to be right back in the same spot I started in. I was never supposed to decommit.
"I put more trouble into my life by trying to do my own thing, and I think I was trying to handle things on my own rather than sticking with God's plan. God's plan was for me to be here. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had just stayed true."
That lesson proved pivotal.
Fite saw playing time as a true freshman in 2023, a year in which ASU went an abysmal 3-9, decimated by injuries.
Then came the Cinderella run in 2024, in which ASU went from the team picked last to Big 12 champion — one play from upsetting two-touchdown favorite Texas in the Peach Bowl, a College Football Playoff quarterfinal. That can do wonders for a player's stock in the NIL era.
ASU football, more than big cash, felt right
Other schools pursued Fite. Hard. Most offered significantly more money. This time, Fite never wavered.
"That's not why I'm doing this," he said. "Real money is in the NFL. What good is it if you're making money and you're miserable? I have different values. I want to be around good guys, where you're family, to be able to stick with what I felt was right. It's just money. Whether you're making this or that, that's not going to determine whether I can live.
"I'm blessed to be in the situation I am in. I don't need to break the bank. I'm good. I don't need other things to make me happy."
Defensive line coach Diron Reynolds isn't surprised.
"His family is made of the right stuff. Very loyal," he said. "I think we give them some good tools here, allowed him to grow. We appreciate that they respect that and feel that this is home. He is at a school where he can actually make a name for himself and leave a legacy, and I think that's what he is trying to do."
Fite was at another crossroads after the 2025 season. He was projected as a second-day draft selection. Does he declare for the draft? Or does he return for one more season in hopes of improving his draft stock? The decision might have been to go to the NFL if he didn't love ASU and Tempe. His family has made frequent visits, and C.J. is a regular at other sporting events on campus.
Not surprisingly, Fite is a member of the Pat Tillman Leadership Council, voted on by his peers. He's been part of that team for three years.
Fite says he has always had quality people around him. He knew what being a leader looked like.
"We have a lot of family members in education, and he saw that in the forefront all through childhood and as an adult; we've always pushed to go forward," Drenon Fite said. "Be out front to just be that person. Just be seen. Not only be seen, but show people that model that behavior.
"He's always been that one to lead by example."
Fite's style is not one of talk or flamboyance. It's more about the example he sets.
"The thing about C.J. is when he does speak, everybody is locked in, and that's what matters," Reynolds said. "You don't have to be a rah-rah guy for people to hear you. When he does speak, he has words of wisdom. That's where his leadership shines."
Dillingham says Fite is a player who embodies what he wants in a program and fits his favorite saying to a T.
"How he works, how he goes about his business, how he treats people," Dillingham said. "When you talk about 'Be a good person, make good decisions and have more fun working harder than anyone in the country.' That's C.J."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU football's foundational star, C.J. Fite, sets a high bar in 2026
