To begin the week, Arizona State was hoping to find a new signal caller. To end, it looks like they might have. It just might not be the same guy.

After struggling over multiple weeks, Cutter Boley was benched at halftime in Lubbock, and despite the final score of a 53-25 loss, Kenny Dillingham had seen enough to hand the reins over to Mikey Keene. A veteran, Keene's best known around the Valley as the orchestrator of the 29-0 beatdown that Fresno State put on the Sun Devils at home in Dillingham's first season.

Before he could make a new mark, though, he was rolled up as he stepped into a throw and had to leave the game, seen with a brace on his knee later on. Back to Boley they went, but through three drives, the season starter had mustered just 19 yards of offense. Then, the head tap came for the Freshman.

Who is Jake Fette?

A true freshman out of El Paso, TX, the QB has been someone to be excited about long before he stepped on the field at Mountain America Stadium. A 4-star recruit and "ELITE11" participant, Fette committed to Dillingham in September of 2024 and held true, eventually enrolling early to be a part of spring practices with the Sun Devils this season. His first meet-up with the team? In his hometown of El Paso, for the Sun Bowl.

Joining a crowded QB room over the offseason that included Boley, Keene, and Cameron Dyer, another 4-star QB awaiting his chance, Fette was undeterred still.

The son of former UTEP defensive lineman Rick, Jake was a tri-sport athlete in high school, playing basketball, running multiple track events, and of course tearing up the football gridiron. At Del Valle High School, he had a 28-2 TD/Int ratio his Senior season, while tossing over 2,700 yards and another 1,000+ rushing yards and 18 TDs. Fette averaged 10 yards per attempt both rushing and passing in his final year. He put up similar numbers his Junior season (his TD/Int ratio was actually better, 32-1, the prior year), and overall, was 28-5 as the starting QB for Del Valle, with an 87-8 TD/Int ratio.

The "Juice"

There are plenty of players who can fill up the box score, even in the lauded Texas football scene. But few can have such an impact that, before even taking real snaps, they can make others believe in them.

Despite taking "under 10" snaps in practice this week, according to Dillingham himself, he had the confidence to give Fette a chance with the box score tallies counting.

"We just wanted some energy. We felt like there was a lull, and you could see what the guys on the sideline (were) like. We're a team that we can't get into those lulls, right? We can be suffocated by them at times. So I thought Jake...Jake's got that look in his eye. Jake's got the swagger, the confidence when he moves around."

Kenny Dillingham postgame

The ever unquantifiable stat. It goes by many different names. "Feel" or "juice" or "look," even just "it" many times. Whatever "it" is, Dillingham thinks the 19-year-old Fette has it. And the Sun Devils will be better off for it if he does.

The Results

Once Fette began taking snaps from Makua Pule on the sidelines, the crowd got the energy Dillingham wanted. When he took his first snap on the field, the team got it.

Fellow True Freshman, RB Cardae Mack, had already had a big day up to that point. Through nearly three quarters, he had tallied two TDs on 64 rushing yards. Mack got the energy from Fette, too.

On his first two plays with the Freshman QB, the Sun Devils dialed up back-to-back read options, a play designed to keep the defense on their toes with the QB run possibility. While Fette didn't keep either, it didn't matter. Mack gained seven yards on the first rush, and then rumbled for 30 the next. After Fette completed his first college football pass and then ran it for the first time as well, the Sun Devils were set up to retake the lead on the first play of the 4th quarter, when Mack broke his third TD run of the game, taking the Fette handoff for 12 yards to the special blackout end zone for the Sun Devils.

Mack continued to find those end zones, as he punched in his fourth TD of the day, the second via the wildcat formation. It gave the Sun Devils the 28-17 lead they would never relinquish, as they outscored Kansas State 14-0 after the entrance of Fette. In the black alternate uniforms, Arizona State looked like a brand new team under the Freshman QB.

In Good Hands

Between Fette, Mack, and Julian Hugo, an EDGE with four sacks in the last three games, the Sun Devil freshmen are showing out in a big way in 2026.

Dillingham said that, barring Keene's health, to anticipate Fette starting at BYU on Saturday. Not exactly your tailor-made location for a true Freshman to make his first start, on the road, in Provo, UT, on Halloween, against an angry Cougars team coming off a 2OT loss to UCF, after being ranked #2 in the country. But this is no ordinary Freshman.

A full week of practice as the lead man, after being QB3 for most of the year, will represent a big change for Fette. Instead of being the future of the program, he represents the now as well. "Fette Wap", as he's known, a play on the "Trap Queen" rapper Fetty Wap, will have the tall task of living up to the expectations the Valley will place on him. It's on him to deliver, not just on Saturday, but for years to come.