TEMPE-- Head Coach Herm Edwards and his 2018 Sun Devil Football team gathered at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley on Sunday evening to celebrate the team's successful season with the program's annual Awards Banquet.
Eno Benjamin was named Frank Kush Most Valuable Player among other honors on the evening, while Manny Wilkins and N'Keal Harry were named the team's Danny White Co-Offensive Most Valuable Players and freshman Merlin Robertson was honored as the Mike Haynes Defensive Most Valuable Player.
A full listing of the team's honors for the evening can be found below.
Pat Tillman Outstanding Academic Achievement Award –Nick Ralston
Eno Benjamin was named Frank Kush Most Valuable Player among other honors on the evening, while Manny Wilkins and N'Keal Harry were named the team's Danny White Co-Offensive Most Valuable Players and freshman Merlin Robertson was honored as the Mike Haynes Defensive Most Valuable Player.
A full listing of the team's honors for the evening can be found below.
Pat Tillman Outstanding Academic Achievement Award –Nick Ralston
- Graduated a year early with a 4.00 GPA during his undergrad career (Finance and Business Communications) and is pursuing his postgraduate degree.
- Has a 4.00 GPA in his graduate studies, as well, as he works toward his MBA in finance.
- Multiple-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection
- Transferred over to a lead blocker midway through the season and was solid as a pass blocker, receiving an 80.4 score from PFF.
- Posted a positive run impact score on 19.2 percent of rushing plays this season, the 6th-best total among all Pac-12 Front Seven players.
- It was the 23rd-best percentage among all defensive interior players in the FBS
- Was the 8th-highest graded defensive interior player in the Pac-12 on running plays this season with an 81.1 score.
- Also the 15th-highest graded defensive lineman in the FBS when dropping back in coverage.
- His 23 defensive "stops" this season were tied for fourth among all Pac-12 interior defenders.
- Finished regular season with career-high 23 tackles – 4.0 of which coming for a loss. He had 20 over his first two seasons combined.
- Established himself as a starter in the final 4 games of the season
- Record 7 of his season total of 10 defensive "stops" in the final four games and 12 of his season total tackles in that span.
- Was ASU's second-rated player in run defense, logging a 14.5 percent positive run impact from Pro Football Focus and within the Top 25 front even players in the Pac-12 in the category.
- Third on the team in tackles this season (60) and second on the team in tackles for loss (8.0). Led defense with two fumble recoveries.
- Tied for 21stin the Pac-12 with 31 defensive "stops" this season, second among the league's freshmen
- One of just three true freshmen to play at least 650 snaps on defense this season in the Pac-12 (690 total) and one of just 12 true freshmen in Power Five conferences nationally to reach the milestone
- Tied for 7thamong all linebackers in the Pac-12 with just 8 missed tackles this season
- Second on team in tackles (70), despite not playing the entirety of games in the season and having not played a snap of defense prior to this season.
- His 40 tackles on rushing plays within 8 yards of the line of scrimmage is the third-most among all safeties in the Pac-12 and within the Top 25 of safeties in the FBS despite the games missed.
- His 70 tackles on the season are the third most among safeties in the Pac-12.
- His 20 defensive "stops" are tied for fourth among Pac-12 safeties.
- His 5.3 positive run impact percentage led all safeties in the Pac-12 and 30thamong all safeties in the FBS.
- Started every game at right tackle for ASU this season and has made 34 starts over his career at ASU.
- Helped anchor an offensive line that allowed just 15 sacks all season – good for the third-fewest allowed by a Sun Devil offensive line in program history.
- ASU had 6 games this season where it didn't allow a sack. Since at least 2000, no ASU team had had more two such games in an entire season.
- ASU hasn't finished in Top-100 in fewest sacks allowed per game since 2011 (74th). In fact, since 2003 (as far back as easily accessible team rankings go), ASU has finished in the top-100 just 3 times, and never better than 70th. ASU is currently tied for 19th in the FBS with 1.25 allowed per game.
- Bailey is for 20thamong all offensive tackles in the FBS with just one sack allowed this season.
- His 12 total pressures allowed are 7thamong all Pac-12 offensive tackles and tied for 36thamong all FBS tackles nationally.
- Bailey is the 34th-highest graded offensive tackle as a pass blocker this season, according to Pro Football Focus (84.2)
- At 1,524 yards this season, he is 42 yards away from the ASU all-time single season school rushing record (1,565 yards by Woody Green in 1972)
- Set the ASU school record with 277 carries this season.
- Is tied for third nationally with 1,524 rushing yards and his 15 rushing touchdowns are seventh in the country. Both totals lead the Pac-12 Conference.
- His 147.6 all-purpose yards per game are ninth nationally.
- He is the highest-graded running back in the Pac-12 and 10th-highest graded offensive player in the Pac-12, regardless of position (81.3).
- Has forced 83 missed tackles this season – second-most in the FBS.
- Averaged a first down or touchdown on 30.5 percent of his carries this season – 8th-most among FBS running backs with at least 200 carries this year.
- His 29 explosive runs this season are second among FBS running backs
- Harry is third in program history in both career receptions (213) and career receiving yards (2,889). That latter tally is within 50 yards of second in program history, despite the fact that seven of ASU's 10 all-time leading receivers did so in four seasons.
- Harry posts an 83.9 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, among the Top-15 highest graded wide receivers nationally and the 7th-highest graded offensive player in the Pac-12 – regardless of position. The junior ranks in the Top-30 nationally in receiving touchdowns (9/21st), receiving yards (1,088/15th), receiving yards per game (90.7/18th) and receptions per game (6.1/24th).
- Harry has a 119.0 Pro Football Focus QB rating when targeted this season, good for 13th nationally among receivers that have logged at least 50 percent of their team's targets. He has forced 17 missed tackles this season, which is good for 9th-most among Power Five receivers.
- N'Keal Harry has a reception in all 37 games of his career at Arizona State - tied for the 10th-longest active streak among all current FBS players
- At 5.76 receptions per game in his career, Harry is third among the NCAA's active career leaders in the category. His 78.7 career receiving yards per game are fifth among all active players.
- His 213 career receptions are 7th among all active players but first among players that are not seniors. All six players ahead of him in the category are seniors.
