PHOENIX — College Football may be better than it’s ever been, but in conjunction, its future is just as uncertain.
In a sport increasingly shaped by transfer portals, NIL deals, and analytics-driven coaching decisions, it’s easy to forget the human stories that make college football so unforgettable. But every once in a while, a player comes along who reminds us of why we fell in love with the game in the first place.
For Arizona State defensive lineman Justin Wodtly, that moment is now.
Wodtly, a Cleveland, Ohio native and proud product of Cleveland Heights High School, the same school that famously developed both Jason and Travis Kelce, is much more than just a returning starter on a surging Sun Devil squad. He’s the heartbeat of a team many believe could contend for the Big 12 once again in 2025 after a cinderella 2024 campaign that ended with an 11-3 record and a conference championship under second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham.
“I’ve never been a part of something that meshes this well together,” Wodtly said in a sit-down with me during spring practices.
In addition, he’s also a survivor of injuries, adversity, and the crushing doubt that often accompanies a football career that doesn’t follow a straight line.
Before anchoring Arizona State’s defensive line, Wodtly started his college journey at the University of Cincinnati. It was a homecoming of sorts, just four hours south of where he grew up, and the start of what many thought would be a seamless ascent.
But with his original head coach Luke Fickel moving on to greener pastures in Wisconsin and his injuries on the field, Wodtly’s collegiate journey started nowhere near where he hoped it would.
“He had moments when he doubted if he’d ever play again,” says his mother, Josette. “But even when his body was hurting, his heart never stopped pushing.”
His path eventually led west, to the desert, where the Sun Devils were in the middle of a cultural rebuild. They didn’t just need talent — they needed leaders. And Wodtly, with his mature perspective and pedigree, arrived at just the right time.
Now, if his last name doesn’t sound familiar, his bloodlines might. Justin is the nephew of NFL icon and Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu; a surprising fact to many who meet Justin for the first time, but a relationship that he keeps close to himself.
Regardless, his aspiration to live up to the standard Polamalu set for his own family is something that drives him every single day.
“When you come from a football family like me, so many guys, along with Troy, are the ones I look up to,” Wodtly said. “Not only for who they were on the field, but mostly for the humility and kindness they had off the field…”
Wodtly isn’t the flashiest player on the field, but few are as fundamentally sound. His hand technique, gap discipline, and motor have helped transform ASU’s front seven from a liability in 2023 to a genuine strength entering 2025.
His father, Scott, who coached his son at the high school level, and has nearly 25 years of coaching experience, put it best:
“Justin always understood that football is a team game first,” Scott said. “He’s never chased stats, he’s chased greatness through consistency.”
Wodtly finished the 2024 season with 41 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, and four sacks — not eye-popping numbers, but ones that tell the story of a disruptor who did his job every down, every drive, a trait by those like his defensive coordinator, Brian Ward. “He has contagious energy,” Ward made clear in a recent press conference. “Our whole defense feels it, and our defense goes as our front goes, and he is a key piece to that…”
And most impressively, Wodtly has embraced being a mentor as he enters his final collegiate season in 2025. Much of the ASU Defensive Line is filled with juniors and seniors, allowing him to only serve as a leader to those outside of his position group, but also a chance to bond with his fellow young men in the trenches, that for many of them, 2025 will be their final time on the gridiron.
“Pretty much the whole two deep in the edge room is really it for all of us,” Wodtly pointed out. “Those 15 opportunities that you get in spring, really cherish them because this is going to be it for not only me, but a lot of us…”
Nevertheless, Justin Wodtly represents everything we should celebrate in the modern college football player — resilience, leadership, and a deep love for the game that goes far beyond the stat sheet.
He’s a reminder that in this era of college football — with all its noise and change — the soul of the sport still lies in young men chasing dreams, overcoming setbacks, and playing for something bigger than themselves.
So as we debate the future of college football, as we wring our hands about TV deals and playoff formats, let’s not forget the players like Justin Wodtly. He’s proof that the heart of the sport is still beating—and beating hard.
Because at its best, college football is still about young men chasing greatness. And Justin Wodtly is doing just that, one snap at a time.
