Arizona State’s tight end room has lost some depth.
Khamari Anderson, the starting tight end for ASU, will miss the rest of the season, coach Kenny Dillingham said on Sept. 22. Anderson injured his right leg on the third play of the 24-17 win over Kansas in London. It is the second leg injury for Anderson this year after he broke his right leg during spring camp.
“It just sucks for him; he’s such a great kid,” Dillingham said. “I feel for him. I know the whole team feels for him. It’s just a horrible thing to happen.”
Dillingham also provided an update on the offensive line, where Rob Lapuaho and Wade Helton are dealing with injuries. Helton was injured against Texas A&M and was seen in a boot and on crutches on the sidelines against Kansas. Dillingham initially
said that Welton would be “out a few weeks.” Lapuaho, who replaced Helton, was injured during the Kansas game.
ASU is not playing this weekend following the overseas trip. The Sun Devils will play nine consecutive weeks after.
“I think the bye week came at a good time in that perspective,” Dillingham said. “We had guys who were struggling upfront, and they were battling through it. Kudos to those guys. So this week is definitely much-needed to get those guys back feeling better when we get into this run of nine games straight.”
Dillingham mentioned the team will ease back into practice with a shortened session.
“We gotta get them to feeling as good as possible,” Dillingham said. “That’s kind of why we’re doing what we’re doing this week, along with fatigue from the trip. But we got to get as healthy as possible going into nine straight. I told our guys early in the year that’s going to be a big part of this thing, the nine straight.”
While the expectation is that Helton and Lapuaho will be healthy and play again this season, the injury to Anderson is particularly devastating.
The tight end room has already been scrutinized by Dillingham. Defensive end Clayton Smith was briefly moved to tight end in August specifically to “create competition.” Tight end is arguably the weakest position group on offense for ASU. AJ Ia, James Giggey, Anthony Miller, Landen Miree and Kristian Ingman are the other tight ends on the roster.
“Physicality,” Dillingham said when asked about what he’s looking for from the tight ends.
“At the end of the day, that position is a physical position. We need guys that are going to go in there and block somebody, win their one-on-one. I think that’s the key for us. If you want to throw the ball effectively, you have to run the football. I just believe that to my core. We didn’t do a good job of that. For the tight ends, they have to help us run the football. And if they do that, the screen game, the play-action game is going to open up off it.”
ASU is looking to be more diverse on offense after mainly relying on wide receivers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller in the first three games. Kyson Brown is the sole running back with more than 100 rushing yards on the season.
“We gotta use more guys, that’s an absolute fact,” Dillingham said. “That’s regardless of nine weeks straight or not. We gotta get more guys involved. We have enough guys who can help us. I’ve done a very bad job offensively getting guys involved.”
Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, college and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@usatodayco.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @RLSscribe.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State loses starting tight end for 2026 season
