Here's my interview. An offer from the Sun Devils could kick matters into high gear, although teh school he committed to will have the last visit before NLI day.

it was my understanding he was going back to the Northwest for personal reasons...
I am seeing that he is looking at Kansas...what gives?

what are your thoughts on him becoming a college coach for Oregon State?

Story linked

http://rvls.co/2h7VAXO

Wooten just began his visit to ASU today and is already in the fold

TEMPE, Ariz. — Rob Likens, a 25-year veteran of the college football coaching ranks and a former assistant coach in the Pac-12 Conference, has been named wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Arizona State University, Head Coach Todd Graham announced Tuesday. Likens replaces Jay Norvell, who became the Head Coach at the University of Nevada on December 9.

"Rob brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our staff," says Graham. "He will work with Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Chip Lindsey with the coordination of our passing game. Rob has developed a long list of wide receivers in his career, seven of which are currently in the NFL and I look forward to him working with our special group. I'm excited about his Pac-12 Conference experience at Cal and his familiarity with the league."

"Rob has an unmatched passion and enthusiasm for coaching and mentoring young men that is unparalleled," says Lindsey. "He brings an energy to our coaching staff, both on the field and in recruiting. His track record in developing receivers is very impressive. We have collaborated over the years on many occasions."

Likens was Lindsey's position coach at North Alabama in 1993.

"When I was at Cal, ASU was a school that I viewed as a place I would like to work someday," says Likens. "It's an elite program with great people, brand new facilities and its all part of a world-class university. I will have the opportunity to work with Chip, whom I believe is one of the brightest young offensive coaches in the nation. And when I met with Coach Graham and heard his vision for the program and especially for the development of young men I was completely on board. I can't wait to get there to begin recruiting and work with the players."

Likens currently has seven former players in the NFL at the wide receiver position, including Bryce Treggs (Philadelphia Eagles/California), Kenny Lawler (Seattle Seahawks/California), Chris Harper (San Francisco 49ers/California), Maurice Harris (Washington Redskins/California), Trevor Davis (Green Bay Packers/California), Quinton Patton (San Francisco 49ers/Louisiana Tech) and Myles White (Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Louisiana Tech).

A veteran orchestrator on the offensive side of the ball, Rob Likens joined Kansas football head coach David Beaty's staff in the role of offensive coordinator in January 2015. Likens, who has 25 years of experience of collegiate coaching to his credit, has served as the offensive coordinator at five different schools prior to arriving in Tempe.

Likens went to KU in 2015 after completing his second season as the assistant head coach and outside receivers coach at the University of California with Sonny Dykes in 2014, and his first with the additional responsibilities of passing game coordinator.

In 2014, Likens' Cal passing game, led by the 2016 NFL Draft No. 1 pick Jared Goff, ranked sixth in the NCAA in passing yards with 346.0 yards through the air per outing on its way to rewriting the Golden Bear single-season passing yardage record in 2014 with 4,152 yards. Additionally, three of his top four receivers were Biletnikoff Award candidates in Chris Harper, Kenny Lawler and Bryce Treggs.

Cal's passing game during Likens' first season with the Golden Bears in 2013 set single-season school records for passing yardage (3,977), pass completions (368) and pass attempts (622), while also establishing new single-game marks during the campaign for passing yardage (521 vs. Washington State) and pass attempts (65 vs. Northwestern).

Treggs' 77 receptions in 2013 ranked fourth on the school's all-time list while Harper's 70 were seventh to give the duo 147 combined catches and make the duo the second-most productive single-season pass catchers in school history behind only the 160 recorded by current NFL players Keenan Allen (98) and Marvin Jones (62) in 2011.

Prior to his arrival in Berkeley, Likens served as an assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at Louisiana Tech from 2010-12, including a final campaign in Ruston in which Louisiana Tech posted a 9-3 record and led the nation in scoring offense and total offense by averaging 51.50 points and 577.92 yards of total offense per game.

My interview with the ASU running back commit who enjoyed a stellar senior season.

In Street clothes

Will Lawrence has been to Tempe a handful of times, will decide by the end of February

Some programs who missed out on a bowl may say



CBS story

2 tickets in section F, row 7, aisle seats (behind scores table and close to the ASU bench side) plus parking pass in the structure east of arena for Tues 12/20 against Creighton.

They are not quite free, but very reasonably priced for huddle members.

If interested, respond to this post and let me know how to reach you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tickets are no longer available.

As you would expect a certain ASU wide receiver has made this list

Suffice to say that it takes Texas out of the running for Eno Benjamin. Not that I thought they had a great chance at him anyway after he cut his Austin visit short so he could drive to Tempe.

Looking at my depth chart, there are some obvious recruiting needs to fill before we can close the books on this class. I know some guys will get moved around this spring and other guys will leave the program--and that will change my thoughts a little. But my most obvious recruiting needs are as follows:

Defense--based on the numbers we have right now, we could probably devote most of our remaining scholarships to defensive players.

DL--particularly DT types. Most of the interior DL in our program will be juniors or seniors next year and one or two of them haven't accomplished much to date. Not many DL underclassmen are currently in our program. We need some big guys. Not many HS prospects still available to us but there are several JCs. We need one JC for sure and I'd be OK with two. One of these days we will need to address our recruiting needs with HS players but it doesn't look too promising this year unless there are some under-the-radar types available (which probably means they're developmental projects). I think we are OK at DE/Devil with our signing of Subtyl and commitment of Johnson but one more wouldn't hurt.

LBs (excluding Devil)--I'm sure we'll try some guys at different LB slots this spring and next fall but, at the moment, I'd be OK with adding two or three LB types. One JC and a HS LB or two. I suppose Mondy is one of the HS types...and I don't exactly know what to say about him at the moment. Soelle might be the other but he could play Devil or somewhere else.

CBs--If 7 to 8 scholarship CBs is the right number, we probably can use two or three in total. We have Perry committed. Maybe one JC and one more HS CB.

Safety--The overall numbers don't look bad but I think we have two-three guys in the program who will either be tried at LB or possibly leave the program. We're probably a little short on "real" safety numbers. Thomas is signed but hoping for a couple more HS signings.

Offense--the number of scholarships already committed to the offensive side looks about right but the distribution is out of whack. Six QBs and six TE/HBs is a lot. I do look for some position changes/attrition this spring or afterwards to reduce those numbers.

OL--I'd like to add a JC OT. Was surprised we didn't get the guy who signed with Louisville but there are a couple more JCs available. The problem is that the JC won't arrive until this summer. I'd also like to add HS OT Austin Jackson. He'd be a very welcome addition to the program if we can convince him not to sign with SC. Otherwise, adding a very good HS OT might be difficult. We're OK with interior OL.

RB--we have one HS commitment and are trying for another. If a JC like Grice or Torain were available, I'd certainly consider him. I don't expect that to happen but, if Ballage gets a positive report from the NFL and leaves the program, I think we could use some help at RB.

WR--I'm generally OK with the numbers we have and we should be OK from a talent perspective. I might add somebody if attrition is expected. Maybe our top need is adding a WR coach.

Special teams--if we can get Ruiz, we will sign him. Otherwise, I look for a walk-on PK to be awarded a scholarship and that would end ST recruiting.

Looking at the guys who are still strongly considering ASU and assuming that several of them will turn into commitments, I'd say that this staff has done a good job. Given all the coaching turnover that occurred last year, factoring in the way this season played out, and losing Jay Norvell to Nevada, we might be exceeding expectations. Whether that can translate into getting back to the upper half of the conference remains to be seen.

Well, sad to hear the thunderous applause accompanying Brock's benching today in Houston. Haven't watched the game since Savage and crew fell short of a TD at the Jags 1 yards line.

What I'd like to see is Savage knocked out of the game and the coach forced to put Brock back in or go to third string. Brock looked pretty fired up. Either way, happy for Brock and the $20M already in his pocket, additional $12M guaranteed.

A Plan B at running back for ASU is Tyree Range. He's a former Texas Tech commit who is now hearing from ASU, UCLA, and Utah. His dad lives in Phoenix, so if ASU decided to pursue him harder I could see how that aspect may come into play.

If Trelon Smith sticks to his commitment and Eno Benjamin comes on board ASU should be done recruiting at this position even if Kalen Ballage was lost to the draft. In the event that Ballage left for the draft AND Demario Richard decided to transfer (not saying this is high probability, just throwing it out there), then it may be prudent for ASU to take a third running back and taking a junior college prospect such as Range would make sense as far s balancing out the position class wise.

All in all, ASU making initial contact here is nothing more than covering your own bases.

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Early Recruiting Rankings

#18 Arizona - 23 commitments - 3 four star - 17 three star - average player rating = 2.91

#20 Colorado - 25 commitments - 2 four star - 20 three star - APR = 2.88

#24 USC - 14 commits - 8 four star - 5 three star - APR 3.5

# 25 Washington - 14 commits - 8 four star - 5 three star - APR = 3.5

#35 Oregon State - 18 commits - 2 four star - 14 three star - APR = 3.00

#43 Wazzu - 18 commits - 1 four star - 14 three star - APR = 2.89

#44 Oregon - 13 commits - 4 four star - 8 three star - APR = 3.23

#45 Stanford - 8 commits - 2 five star - 3 four star - 3 three star - APR = 3.88

#51 Cal - 14 commits - 1 four star - 12 three star - APR = 3.00

#57 UCLA - 9 commits - 1 five star - 3 four star - 5 three star - APR = 3.56

#69 ASU - 10 commits - 3 four star - 7 three star - APR = 3.30

#73 Utah - 10 commits - 2 four star - 8 three star - APR = 3.20

We all know that AU is not going to finish with a Top 20 class and will probably only be ranked in the middle of the PAC somewhere when it is all said and done...

We also know that ASU could end up with a Top 25 class if it finishes strong but probably will also be ranked in the middle of the PAC somewhere...

We also know that USC, UCLA and Stanford will have highly ranked classes as will Washington...

The strength right now of the Sun Devils class is their in-state commitments and that is where they need to make the biggest inroads, if they want to always be a contender rather than a pretender in the conference...

I would suspect, as others have pointed out, that most of our remaining rides would be on the defensive side of things...

Throw in our transfers and we have improved a lot of positions and depth across the board...

What say you..??

Are we acquiring enough to help us get back to 8-9-10 wins next season..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

The boys knocked off UMass tonight 4-1 to cap off a three-game sweep of their road trip. The Devils have now won 5 of their last 7. While this stretch has not been against the elites of D-I, this is a solid development in year two (really year one from a true roster standpoint) of our program to get these results, specially on the road.

Our Classic will be in Prescott Valley at the beautiful arena there on Dec. 30 and 31. So if you don't have plans, get there! It will be a treat! Go Devils!

Evans discusses the loss.

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Hurley's reaction to tonight's loss.

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I've seen Tyler Johnson in person a few times, and assigned both Chilly and Brett to cover him multiple times over the course of his high school career. Hopefully I can bring you a perspective on him and his ability that you wont be able to get anywhere else.

Strengths

He's comfortable with his size

Tyler Johnson is 6-4, 245, and has been 6-4, 245 since the end of his freshman year in high school. When you see him play, he's not confused about how to use his size to his advantage, because it's always been his advantage. Moreso because he played positions like returner and outside receiver, he often used his size to his advantage, bullying defensive backs and running through arm tackles instead of avoiding contact.

His hands

I've heard comparisons to JayJay Wilson, and while I think there are some very key differences in the ways they make use of their skillsets, one stark similarity is an excellent ability to bring the ball down in traffic. I think this is why Tyler Johnson fancied himself a receiver for such a long time, because if you took away the size and made him an average 6-0, 180 high school receiver, he'd still be top 10 in this class as far as receiving ability.

Speed

We talked a lot about this when we were debating whether Arizona State should have taken a commitment from Jack Smith last season- 4.6 speed is hard to ignore. There haven't been a lot of Arizona athletes that are pure burners. Paul Lucas might have been the fastest top speed player in the country when he came out, and Christian Kirk has that ability, but 4.6 is pretty much as good as you're going to get outside of that. I'd put Johnson's burst ability up there with guys like Chase Lucas and Jack Smith. Johnson's acceleration is great, but sustaining top speed can be difficult. I've seen him slow up dramatically after about 45-50 yards on big plays on multiple occasions.

Pursuit

I didn't get to see him in action as a linebacker/rush end until this season, but what jumped out to me is how easily he was able to convert the same things that made him a dangerous receiver and returner into his game as a passrusher. There's not much you can do to get away from him as a QB or RB due to his size and the length of his arms, so you have to have to try and shake him- but when he locks in, he locks in. On slow developing running plays Johnson could absolutely wreak havok in Arizona State's defense.

Opportunities

Durability

This year, wrist, neck and hamstring injuries kept him from finishing off his senior campaign. That I know of, their have been two times where Johnson has been removed from the field by ambulance, only to come back and play within days of that injury scare. Outside of injuries, however, is that Johnson has a history of getting fatigued in games. He told Chilly this year after breaking off a long TD was that all he could think about as he was entering the end zone was taking a nap. I'm sure he meant it as a joke, but it fits a long narrative I've heard, whether fair or unfair, for the better part of 3 years.

Structure

It's never any fun talking about the merits of staying true to your boundary or transferring in high school. The fact of the matter is that Austin Jackson, Tyler Johnson and many others dating back to Chans Cox, would have been better off as far as preparedness had they been in a more structured program with more coaches, more accountability, and more D1 talents to go against i practice day in and day out. Highland played good, not great, competition while Johnson was in high school, and only two of his teammates over the last three years displayed what I believed to be at least FBS level talent.

Maturity

I'm not going to dive too far into this, because it's an opportunity for nearly every high school player, but it's going to take some buy in and personal evolution for Johnson to achieve what he's capable of at the next level.

Overview

Tyler Johnson is an NFL level talent, as his father was. As someone who played alongside Terrell Suggs and Nick Johnson, Tyler Johnson is as close to that level of athlete that Arizona State has landed locally in a decade and a half. Tyler Johnson's ceiling is similar to Everson Griffin's, but as we've seen countless times with extremely talented Arizona high school prospects, not having the tools to succeed socially and academically can cripple those dreams. Kisima Jagne, Ismael Murphy-Richardson, Todd Peat, Jaxon Hood, Nick Johnson, the list goes on and on.

He wants to play as a true freshman, and I think that he'll have an opportunity to do so, despite being behind Crump and Subtyl as far as expected reps. At the very least, special teams is somewhere I can see him making an early impact.

I view Tyler Johnson much in the same way that I did N'Keal Harry as far as an athlete whose talents were never really appropriately used or catered to at the high school level, so it will be interesting to see how ASU's coaches make use of his combination of size and speed.