Sun Devils’ Newsome aching to be on the field
Receiver sidelined with quad injury
What’s one more week? A lot when you’re Ryan Newsome and haven’t played college football since Dec. 5, 2015. Even more significant now that the eligibility clock is ticking on his final three seasons at his new school, Arizona State.
So for Newsome, sitting out Thursday against New Mexico State was more painful than the quad injury keeping him on the sideline. “They had me out there with the ones (first team), it was just irritating,” he said three days before the season opener when his status to play was questionable. “You just get so close. It’s just irritating.”
Newsome knew the Sun Devils likely would win without him and they did, by a closer than expected 37-31. John Humphrey, who like Newsome transferred to ASU after 2015 and sat out last season, had a big debut with 123 yards receiving and a 60-yard touchdown. That will only further inspire Newsome – listed ahead of Humphrey on the initial depth chart – to get on the field for his first ASU chance Saturday against San Diego State.
In perspective, the quad injury is a small setback for Newsome compared to the death of his grandmother, Marva Newsome, on Aug. 15.
“I don’t think our family will ever be the same,” Newsome said. “She was like my second mother. With grandmothers, you think they’re going to be around forever.”
When coach Rob Likens delivered the news, Newsome didn’t expect to hear it even though his grandmother was 75 and having health issues. Newsome was devastated. “She was like the heartbeat of our family,” he said. “You would never know if anything was wrong with her because she never said anything. And I’m 15 hours away. I can’t go see her like I used to when I was at Texas. She would try to call me sometimes and I wouldn’t answer just because I was so busy. I wish I would have took the time to pause and talk to her.”
Newsome is from Aledo, Texas, outside Fort Worth, where his grandmother lived. He was all-state first team in 2013 and 2014, when Aledo won consecutive championships, and as a senior was ranked as the No. 1 athlete by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football for his receiving/return skills.
He played at the University of Texas as a true freshman in 2015 when Jay Norvell was the wide receivers coach. Norvell left for ASU after a 5-7 Longhorn season and so did Newsome, joining Texas native Humphrey, who transferred from Oklahoma, where Norvell coached from 2008-14.
Now Norvell is in his first season as Nevada head coach with Newsome and Humphrey still here as parting gifts in a way.
Although just 5-8, five inches shorter than Amari Cooper, his favorite receiver growing up, Newsome is happy to be working with new ASU offensive coordinator Billy Napier because of his connection to Cooper. Napier was Alabama wide receivers coach in Cooper’s sophomore and junior seasons with the Tide.
“He reminds me of old-school guys,” Newsome said of Cooper, now with the Oakland Raiders. “They don’t do all the fancy stuff, they just break you down. Amari is a technician. He (Napier) envisions doing some of what he did with Amari with our (receiver) group.”
Deion Sanders, who did all the fancy stuff in his college and NFL career, trained Newsome for three years starting when he was an eighth-grader. They still keep in touch, and one of Newsome’s goals is to play well enough at ASU to draw Sanders back to Sun Devil Stadium, where Deion won a Super Bowl with Dallas in 1996.
“Being under his tutelage since I was young, he taught me how to love kick returns,” Newsome said. “It went from I liked it to when I got in high school, I couldn’t wait for them to kick it to me. I blew up on the recruiting trail when they heard about the (return) records I was setting.”
Newsome tied a national mark with 7 punt-return TDs for Aledo in 2013.
First, though, Newsome has to get on the field so he can start representing his late grandmother. His quad injury occurred the day before her Aug. 23 memorial service.
“She didn’t like flying, but she was going to make the effort to come see me play vs. USC,” Newsome said. “That can’t happen anymore, but I know she’s got the best seat in the house so I’ve just got to figure out a way to get through this thing. Pretty much my whole season and the rest of my career will be dedicated to her.”