Why ASU ranks as best story in the Pac-12
Expanded recruiting footprint is tied to national perception
Expectations are soaring for Arizona State football in 2020 with some initial projections putting the Sun Devils toward the top of the Pac-12 South and others in the preseason top 25.
The biggest reason analysts and observers expect ASU to take the next step toward big-dog status is recruiting.
Coach Herm Edwards has ASU coaches roaming across the West, planting pitchforks in new territory from Phoenix to Hawaii – with a heavy focus on California, in between.
University president “Dr. Michael Crow and I are extremely encouraged with the overall direction of the football program under Coach Edwards and his staff,” ASU athletic director Ray Anderson said recently, announcing a twoyear extension for Edwards. “They have built a foundation that is recruiting at unprecedented levels, and we must ensure the continuation of that effort.”
Where things were
Consider where ASU was when Edwards arrived.
The Sun Devils weren’t getting players drafted in numbers that would indicate they were drawing or developing the type of talent required to compete for championships.
The low point came in 2017, when the only player drafted or invited to the NFL combine was kicker Zane Gonzalez (who was taken in the seventh and final round).
The previous year, only two ASU players were drafted – one in Round 5, the other in Round 7.
Edwards immediately set out to improve that, hiring a diverse staff with a mix of youth and experience that’s persuading top players to pick ASU over recent national powerhouses.
Edwards’ most recent hires -- wide receivers coach Prentice Gill, running backs coach Shaun Aguano – already are paying off.
Gill was hired away from Oregon, lured by a promotion and the opportunity to work in a program that could help him develop into an offensive coordinator or even a head coach in the future.
A 6-foot-6, 220-pound playmaker, Johnny Wilson, apparently believed in Gill so much that he rescinded his oral commitment to Oregon and announced that he’s coming to Tempe. Wilson picked ASU over Notre Dame, LSU and Michigan.
Aguano, meanwhile, had long been one of the best high school coaches in Arizona, but he’s also a Hawaii native who immediately announced a recruiting trip to his home state on Twitter.
To get a sense of the potential impact, there were nine NFL players born in the state of Hawaii on NFL rosters last season, according to a data set compiled by pro-football-reference.com. And each year there are dozens upon dozens of Hawaii-born players in the college ranks.
What started the change
They’re only the latest of Edwards’ moves to bolster recruiting, starting with the addition of Al Luginbill.
Luginbill, a football lifer, stepped into a newly created role of director of player personnel and helped organize efforts to bring in talent. He also ensures that players have “Sun Devil DNA,” a proprietary combination of talent, size, potential and desire. This means coaches don’t overly rely on gut instinct when identifying prospects. Edwards also hired Antonio Pierce. Pierce had been a pro standout, but he also was an emerging high school coach in Southern California.
Since arriving at ASU, Pierce has helped bring in one highly regarded Los Angeles-area player after another. None are as high-profile as Jayden Daniels, but Pierce also helped land contributing linebackers Merlin Robertson and Darien Butler.
And now he’s adding Jordan Banks and Caleb McCullough to push them for playing time next season.
Banks could have gone to Alabama, Oklahoma or Auburn. McCullough had offers from USC and Utah.
ASU is also getting bigger and better in the interior, thanks in part to the emergence of another Southern California guy, Dohnovan West.
A pair of Texans should start alongside him on the offensive line next season. Ladarius Henderson played as a freshman in 2019. Texas A&M transfer Kellen Diesch will be eligible for 2020.
And there’s huge potential for Arizona guys including Ralph Frias, Roman DeWys and Ben Bray to step into starting roles.
ASU offensive line coach Dave Christensen has had a part in recruiting and developing them all.
If this unit comes together, it’ll pay off for analysts and observers who think ASU is going to have equal measures of loud bark and big bite next season.
Plenty of these guys already are on NFL radars – especially Daniels and Robertson.
It feels early for ASU to be getting this level of attention and positive feedback from the college football world.
But it’s all about recruiting, and ASU under Edwards has made huge strides, roaming across the West planting pitchforks in new territory.
Don’t be surprised if they’re the biggest story in the Pac-12 by the time we hit spring ball.