TEMPE, Ariz. — Practice is over. The Arizona State Sun Devils separate into position groups for a final breakdown. A few minutes later, everyone files out of the Verde Dickey Dome and catches a ride back to the football facility, where lunch awaits.

Two stay behind.

Hines Ward and Jordyn Tyson are often among the last to leave the practice field. One is in his second season as receivers coach for the Sun Devils, a former NFL star who recently added associate head coach to his job title. The other is a preseason All-American, among the best receivers in college football.

Ward’s job is to bring out the best in Tyson, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound redshirt junior who has overcome a major knee injury and broken collarbone, the latter sidelining him for last season’s Big 12 championship game and Arizona State’s loss to Texas in the College Football Playoff.

In the position room, Ward has pointed out to Tyson the former Arizona State receivers memorialized on the walls — John Jefferson, J.D. Hill, Brandon Aiyuk, Derek Hagan, Jaelen Strong. “Man, you got a great opportunity to go down as one of the all-time greats here,” Ward tells Tyson. “Your picture plastered on the wall. The opportunity is there.”

On this preseason day, Ward could tell Tyson was tired. The receiver had missed the bulk of spring practice with an ankle issue. He had been limited during preseason work for maintenance reasons. Ward reminded Tyson: “Some days you ain’t going to feel it. That’s where you got to lean on me to help push you through these days, push you through these times.”

Hines Ward

Longtime NFL star Hines Ward, now Arizona State’s wide receivers coach, says “the opportunity is there” for Jordyn Tyson to be one of the school’s all-time greats. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

Tyson knows how fortunate he is, learning from Ward, a four-time Pro Bowler with the Pittsburgh Steelers and former Super Bowl MVP. “Yeah,” he said, “the proof is in the pudding with him.”

Not long after joining coach Kenny Dillingham’s staff in the spring of 2024, Ward watched Tyson make an incredible catch during practice. He smiled to himself: “Yeah, I can work with that.” He learned about Tyson’s past, how he had started his career at Colorado and suffered an ACL injury as a freshman. He invited him to the house he rented with his wife in Scottsdale for dinner, assuring Tyson that he would not use Arizona State as a stepping stone.

Tyson was familiar with Ward and all he had accomplished, but his dad may have had a greater appreciation. John Tyson had grown up in Georgia, attending North Clayton High, which was a short drive from where Ward had starred at Forest Park High.

“When you grow up in that area, you’re raised by the same people; you’re taught by the same people,” John Tyson said of their shared roots. He knew Ward believed in work. He knew he would help his son master every detail.

In the Dickey Dome, Ward tells Tyson he’s proud of how he fought through fatigue. Near the end of practice, Tyson had made a one-handed catch near the sideline that ignited the entire team.

Ward has made it clear: Entering last season, no one knew much about Tyson because he had missed nearly all of 2023. That’s no longer the case. Last season, Tyson had 75 catches for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning first-team All-Big 12 and third-team All-America honors. This season, Ward told Tyson, everybody in the country knows who you are. Coordinators will scheme against you, put their best corners on you. Every defensive player will try to improve their NFL Draft stock at your expense.

The challenge: “How are you going to combat that?”

Jordyn Tyson

A third-team All-American last season, Jordyn Tyson started his 2025 campaign with 12 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns Saturday against Northern Arizona. (Arianna Grainey / Imagn Images)

How Tyson ended up at Arizona State is actually a funny story. The receiver wasn’t the first family member to visit campus. His mother was.

In April of 2023, not long after Tyson had decided to leave Colorado, Sandra Brown flew to Arizona for a work assignment at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Tucson. While on the trip, she kept getting calls from a number she did not recognize. Once, twice, three times.

Finally, Brown answered. It was Ra’Shaad Samples, then the receivers coach at Arizona State. He had been communicating with Tyson since the receiver had entered the transfer portal. Brown, who lives in Texas, told Samples she just happened to be in Arizona.

Samples’ response: “Stop by!”

Samples connected her with Dillingham, and not much later, Brown pulled into an Arizona State parking lot. The only thing Brown knew about Dillingham was that he had come to Arizona State from Oregon, where he had been offensive coordinator. This didn’t sit well with her. In the midst of a strong freshman season, Tyson suffered his season-ending knee injury Nov. 5 against Oregon. For mom, anything stemming from the Ducks left a bad taste.

The 32-year-old Dillingham, in his fifth month on the Arizona State job, wore khaki shorts and a gold hoodie. Driving a golf cart, he showed Brown around campus. After learning Tyson’s older brother was also in the transfer portal — Jaylon Tyson had just finished his sophomore basketball season at Texas Tech — Dillingham insisted on visiting the Arizona State basketball facility. There, Brown met basketball coach Bobby Hurley. She posed for a photo, Hurley on her right, Dillingham on her left. (Jaylon Tyson would ultimately transfer to California. A 2024 first-round NBA Draft pick, he’s about to begin his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.)

Bob Hurley, Sandra Brown, Kenny Dillingham

Bobby Hurley, Sandra Brown and Kenny Dillingham, during Brown’s first visit to Arizona State in search of a new school for her son, the now-All-American Jordyn Tyson. (Courtesy of Sandra Brown)

Dillingham shared his program vision. He also discussed the importance of staying patient with Tyson’s recovery from knee surgery.

“We’re not going to pressure him back,” Dillingham said he told Brown. “The advantage of Year 1 is we’re not going to be in a hurry to play your son. Whereas other people may be in Year 3, maybe they’re on the hot seat, and they may need to play him before he’s healthy.”

A few weeks later, Tyson and his family returned to the desert for an official visit. The first thing they did was meet the Arizona State coaching staff at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain resort. John Tyson, the receiver’s father, played college football at Florida A&M, but he was not in the weeds of his son’s recruitment. He didn’t Google names or study bios.

At dinner, the father sat beside a young coach. He was surprised that the coach talked so much, given his age. When the man left the table, John Tyson leaned over to Sandra, his ex-wife.

“Sandra, who is this young guy?” he said. “He can really talk.”

“Tyson,” replied Brown, who calls her ex-husband by his last name, “that’s Coach Dillingham.”

Looking back, John Tyson laughs.

“I was like, ‘NO WAY,’” he said. “Because he looked like he was 19. But I will tell you, that energy … he’s a good, solid brother, man. And he’s good for college football.”

Tyson has a way of making things look easy. Tristan Weber, the receiver’s offensive coordinator at Allen High in Texas, noticed this immediately. At first, he wondered whether Tyson was working hard. Then he realized that it’s just Tyson’s biomechanics. He’s a smooth runner. He accelerates. He catches everything.

In last week’s opener against Northern Arizona, Tyson showed as much. On first down late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Sam Leavitt lofted a pass to the end zone. Tyson had to arch his back and look over his right shoulder to locate the ball. He appeared to have no chance. Yet, he made a sliding catch, keeping his feet in bounds for his second touchdown.

The Athletic sent video of the play to Hagan, the school’s career receptions leader. His response, via text: “Tracking and hand-eye coordination to make an opposite shoulder catch is elite! Let alone to get your feet in bounds. Awesome grab.”

Tyson finished with 12 catches for 141 yards. While Ward respected the production, he focused on a false start Tyson had committed and a fumble he had nearly lost. “Rookie mistakes,” Ward said, adding Tyson needed to be better Saturday when the No. 12 Sun Devils visit Mississippi State. He knows he will.

Tyson has come too far, been through too much. After watching her son score two touchdowns in a win last season against Kansas, Brown walked up the stairs at Mountain America Stadium. Suddenly, she stopped. Emotion overwhelmed her. Tyson had worked so hard to return.

“I put my head in my hands and just kind of leaned over and really it was just like — wow,” Brown said. “And I don’t even know what it was about that game. He’s had great moments. But for whatever reason, I was just in awe of my son.”

Said John Tyson: “He just didn’t come back — he came back better and he came back mentally stronger.”

And focused.

Inside the Dickey Dome after a preseason practice, Ward said to watch Tyson when Arizona State pauses for special-teams work. While those not involved meet with their position groups, Tyson runs gassers. Across the field and back. Two days later, he was the only player to do this.

Four extra gassers a week turn into 16 a month. By Ward’s math, that translates into 30 snaps on game nights, giving Tyson a conditioning advantage. To him, this is what matters most. More than the highlight catches. More than the ability to get open.

“If you want to be the best, you got to ante up,” Ward said. “There’s a lot that comes with being the best. You got to do more. I’ll always just kind of be that voice on his shoulder, constantly pushing him and maximizing every talent that I can get out of him.”

(Top photo of Jordyn Tyson scoring a touchdown Saturday against Northern Arizona: Bruce Yeung / Getty Images)