Tough Wilkins leads Sun Devils

Manny Wilkins was scrambling right last Friday against Texas-San Antonio when a defensive back lowered his shoulder and leveled the Arizona State quarterback with a shot that sent his head jerking toward the turf.

The hit would have sidelined many and dazed most.

Wilkins did not miss a snap.

“I’m going to keep getting up,” Wilkins said. “I have a fighter mentality.”

Wilkins was talking to reporters specifically about the helmet-jolting hit, but he could have been talking about his life.

The 6-foot-3, 197-pound sophomore was only 10 when his dad died of a drug overdose, and he was just a freshman when he was expelled from Fort Bend Elkins High (Missouri City, Texas).

After a short stop in Wallenburg, Colo., Wilkins landed with his aunt and uncle in the North Bay, got his life back on track and started to fight his way onto collegefootball recruiting radars at San Marin High-Novato.

“He really has to protect himself,” Arizona State head coach Todd Graham said about the hit last Friday. “It was a really, really hard hit. It was right in front of me, and he really took a difficult hit there. He showed great courage and leadership after facing that kind of adversity. …

“Manny is tough as nails, and I don’t want him to play cautious, but he is playing smart. Learning to play that way takes practice and experience.”

Wilkins orchestrated a 16-point comeback against UTSA, and the Sun Devils head into Saturday night’s matchup against Cal with a 3-0 record.

The Bears have certainly taken notice.

“For a young guy, I think he’s really managing the offense well and taking care of the ball. He’s really playing well, and he’s mobile enough to give you problems with his feet,” Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said about Wilkins. “… He’s doing a nice job. I’ve been impressed with him. He’s a good athlete. He’s got a good ability to throw the ball. He’s just an impressive guy.

“I thought he would develop into a good quarterback at some point, and I think he has. I think he’s probably ahead of schedule in some ways.”

Wilkins quarterbacks an offense that scores 48 points per game, runs for 206.7 yards per game and passes for 265 yards per game.

He has completed 63 of 95 passes (66.3 percent) for 795 yards and two touchdowns, and he has added 191 rushing yards and a score.

“He’s a tough guy,” Cal defensive coordinator Art Kaufman said. “He runs the ball quite a bit. He doesn’t take many direct hits, and when he does, he’s a tough guy. “He gets up and goes.” As much as last Friday’s hit on Wilkins was discussed in Berkeley this week, two different running plays drew almost as much conversation.

Twice this season, Wilkins has hurdled defenders on first-down runs.

Early in the week, before he had studied much coachassigned video, Cal junior defensive back Darius Allensworth had already seen the highlights.

“Oh, he’s athletic,” Allensworth said. “I’ve seen him jump over two or three people.”

For Wilkins, it’s seemingly fight or flight.