Hod,

He is committing to a school today. I know it is between us and Baylor. Any indication of what he will choose tonight? I know he was ours to lose but the way things have been going lately, I feel we just may lose him.

These practices will begin on Monday, March 13. A complete schedule of Spring football practice dates and times will be announced sometime in February, but just wanted to share this information with you in the meantime.

Per a Pac-12 release ASU's spring game will take place on Saturday April 15th at 2 pm and will be held at Sun Devil Stadium.

I'm trying to work out a sit down for a commitment article with Jarrell tonight.

We communicated last night, and again this morning. There's a possibility that he commits this week, and a possibility he holds off until Signing Day.

Saguaro typically likes to do these things in front of the Adidas banner, so I'll let you know if I find anything out before there's a general announcement.

His visit to USC is this weekend, and if he doesn't announce first, he'll probably take it.

?

Patriots have to be heavy favorites in this one. What do you all think?

Nick Robinson, a 4-star TE that ASU offered back in May, announced his top 4 and had Arizona State among the final choices. He announces Wednesday, and I do not anticipate the Sun Devils to land this one.

Profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/52069

Login to view embedded media

Oregon coach David Reaves was pulled over at 2am, intoxicated. He's being fired.

Link: http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2017/01/oregon_to_fire_david_reaves_co.html

We did report last week that Chip Lindsey was lower on the list of candidates for this role .FWIW, my Auburn contact told me the school is for one reason or another striking out on a lot of candidates and may call on Lindsey.

From everything I know I don't expect him to pursue this opportunity. One thing to keep in is that CTG gave Lindsey full autonomy to Lindsey to hire both Likens and Henson, so that is significant.

By the way, the newest candidate to surface for the Auburn job...Noel Mazzone.

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Never A Dull Moment

Just when you think there can't be any more change and related uncertainty around here, Chip Lindsey goes home to Alabama...it was never a question of Chip leaving ASU someday soon, for a head coaching job somewhere, but only a question of when...

Of course, the joker in the deck was always related to where the man comes from and where his roots are located and, in this case, he is from Alabama where he has coached at the HS and college levels, and had even been an analyst at Auburn, so the draw was there to begin with and, when you add in a three year guaranteed contract totaling $2.1M plus incentives, he'd be crazy to pass up the opportunity there...

So, this didn't have anything to do with ASU and Arizona per se but everything to do with returning home where his roots are located and the opportunity of coaching where he grew up...

Now coach Graham has to go out and find a gifted replacement for Chip and you have to wonder how difficult or easy that will be in the coming days...my preference is for youth and not another old-timer like what we just got with Phil Bannett because college football is a young man's game, for the most part, when it comes to recruiting and willingness to try new things...

This is certainly not a knock on Phil because the defensive coordinator that Graham hired had to have the experience and gravitas that Todd could respect as his replacement, which made it more personal than most coaching moves would prove to be in most situations...

Luckily for the Sun Devils, the departure of Chip should not impact our recruiting all that much since most of the offensive recruiting, thus far, has been completed but it will not help with the perception, that maybe there is something wrong with the ASU program, given all of the turnover that has happened the past two years...

You know that negative recruiting goes on in the PAC and elsewhere and other coaching staffs use just about anything to sway recruits and their parents, so it will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the final days of this recruiting cycle...

On a related note, I'm already getting ready for the letdown associated with some recruits, that we have been counting on, choosing to go elsewhere, like it always happens to ASU and most other schools in the PAC and around the country...

I just hope and trust that there may be a few pleasant surprises that off-set the disappointments, when the ink dries on those letters-of-intent on Feb 1st...

I'm also looking forward to finding a new OC and DL coach...

I don't think the sky is falling in Sun Devil land but it is hard to get momentum going, much less sustain it, when all you are doing is undergoing change all of the time and, Lord knows, Graham is going to need all the good luck and momentum he can get this coming year...

At least, none of us are bored with what is going on in Sun Devil land again this year as there is never a dull moment at the Forks-Up Bar and Grill...

You know they need a Forks-Up Bar and Grill in Tempe near the campus...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

My interview with the Texas wide receiver. ASU is the lead here, but a strong visit to Baylor this week could affect the process, let alone a future visit to another suitor.

Been radio silence on this the last 24 hours on both sites. Who ended up coming? There were 3-4 people including the JC tackle that were maybes.

While this isn't great timing, the recruiting impact is minimal. Thomsen's loss hurt with Austin Jackson more than this did. Unless Gavin Holmes delays his Monday decision, he has a strong chance to commit to ASU regardless.

Barnett: enrolled, solid

Ryan Kelley: At risk

Chip Lindsey just spent an entire weekend with the Kelleys. They've got plenty of reason to be exhausted by this. Frost and Norvell both left while recruiting him as a junior, and now Lindsey. Ryan is in Hawaii and likely found out via text hours before waking up. His mom found out via Twitter. He has one opportunity to explore other options before signing day. One option would be to not sign at all. UCLA, North Carolina and others still have some level of interest.

Eno Benjamin: in class, solid

Trelon Smith: solid, having his brother transfer to ASU solidified his destination.

Curtis Hodges: upset, but solid. Some would say for lack of options, but it's not the case. He had multiple basketball offers and was getting attention from several schools for football. He shut his recruiting down after committing to ASU. Iowa State had also offered.

Poplawksi and Stephens: Solid

2018: was focused on QBs, and ASU is in on about 9 right now with some regularity. They'll have options.

We'll have more soon.

Great research piece by Joe Healey

i saw a tweet from the other site that said a commit of ours visited Oregon last week? Any idea who?

Currently, we don't have a sign commit from a California HS player? What the heck is going on here?

2017 Sun Devil Football Schedule (Final AP Ranking)*

Aug. 31 - New Mexico State
Sept. 9 - San Diego State (25)
Sept. 16 - at Texas Tech
Sept. 23 - Oregon
Sept. 30 - at Stanford (12)
Oct. 7 – Bye Week
Oct. 14 – Washington (4)
Oct. 21 – at Utah (23)
Oct. 28 – USC (3)
Nov. 4 – Colorado (17)
Nov. 11 – at UCLA
Nov. 18 – at Oregon State
Nov. 25 – Arizona

*Times to be announced at later dates

I have been watching college bball for a long time - long enough to see the 3pt line added to the game (1986 in case anyone was curious) and I have been hot/cold/warm about its inception ever since. I am not sure where I stand on it today. Every time I see a game or watch highlights it seems that the 3pt shot has become the go-to weapon for most teams and for most teams big men as well. It used to be that you are not a complete post player unless you can hit the 10-12 foot jump shot. Now you have to hit the 20-25ft shot to be a complete post player.

So I am curious about what the board thinks. By the way, you can vote for multiple choices. I think that there is good and bad.

As I said, feel very good about ASU's chances and they will have to survive his Baylor visit this weekend to secure his services

Gavin Holmes®‏@Gavin_Holmes23
Save the date: I will officially be announcing my commitment on Monday, January 23rd. #TrustingGodsPlan

A source told me that he's considering a transfer, as in grad transfer, to either SMU or Houston. Here's his tweet that implies SMU:

Raymond Epps ‏@Hard2Guard13 1h1 hour ago

In this episode, Justin, Noah and I discuss:

• The addition of top kicker prospect Brandon Ruiz
• The departure of OL coach Chris Thomsen along with the addition of Josh Henson
• ASU's 2017 schedule release
• Do you believe in silent commits?
• A quick wrap-up on the possibility of an early signing day

Login to view embedded media

The point guard mentioned in this article (no. 7) as just missing out on a triple-double