- Slug: Sports-ASU recruit,685
By BILL SLANE
Cronkite News
TEMPE – For the second time in as many weeks, the Sun Devils received a verbal commitment from a top-10 player in Arizona when Chandler High School’s Chase Lucas announced his decision to attend Arizona State Monday. ASU now has three of Rivals’ top-10 players in Arizona verbally committed for 2016 after getting four top-10 players the last two years combined.
“This is Arizona State University, so why wouldn’t you have the best and the brightest from right here in the state, right here in this valley,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “And that’s easier said than done.”
It’s clearly not easy to keep players in state when some of the best programs in college football, like Notre Dame, UCLA and USC, come calling and offering scholarships.
“There’s a lot of quality programs and quality players and it’s heavily recruited nationally,” Graham said. “People from all over come in here, which is a challenge.”
ASU has lost some of the state’s best talent to schools out of state, perhaps most notably this past year when Scottsdale Saguaro’s Christian Kirk chose Texas A&M over ASU. Kirk began his collegiate career against the Sun Devils, catching six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown and returning a punt for a touchdown in the season opener for both teams. Kirk also caught his touchdown pass from another top Arizona high school player who left the state, Scottsdale Desert Mountain’s Kyle Allen.
In Kirk and Allen, Texas A&M had locked up Arizona’s No. 1 recruit the past two seasons, but ASU broke that streak by getting a verbal commitment from top-ranked N’Keal Harry of Chandler last Monday. Harry, Lucas and Centennial’s Marshal Nathe, an offensive lineman ranked 10th in the state, are three members of the Rivals top-10 in Arizona that have given verbal commitments to ASU. Arizona State is also the favorite to land No. 2 recruit Byron Murphy of Scottsdale Saguaro.
While ASU has struggled keeping the state’s best talent in-state in recent years, Graham said he’s emphasized the importance of keeping high school players in Arizona since arriving in Tempe.
“I talk about a gas tank away,” Graham said. “That is so big because that’s going to impact your fanbase. People get excited.”
A tank of gas may be different in the “Boomcopter,” the helicopter Graham uses to visit various high school games in Arizona on Friday nights, but the point remains the same. It’s important to find stars for your team locally.
ASU hasn’t had an in-state recruit impact the team in a major way since D.J. Foster arrived on campus in 2012. Graham says he hears the difference in every game at Sun Devil Stadium in fan’s cheering for Foster, a Scottsdale Saguaro product, than players from out of state.
“And that doesn’t mean they don’t care about the guys from other states,” Graham said. “It’s just I think that’s really, really important.”
Potentially landing the top three Arizona recruits is a major step up from missing out on the best talent the past few years in the state. It’s been a work in progress for Graham and his staff to this point.
“Obviously we talk about southern California but most importantly here and we have worked from day one to do that,” Graham said. “So we haven’t just started. You reap what you sow.”
Despite the relatively disappointing season for the Sun Devils this year, the program is still enjoying one of the greatest four-year stretches in recent memory, including back-to-back 10-win seasons, and Graham believes that success is the biggest factor in recruiting.
“I can’t hide from exactly who were are right here locally,” Graham said. “Anything that happens with our program, they know about it. I think that’s why we’re making progress.”
The Sun Devils sit at 4-5 with three games to play in 2015, not where they wanted to be this season. But the momentum they built from the success of the first three years under Todd Graham is beginning to pay off on the recruiting trail. As Graham said, they are beginning to reap what they have sown.