Full disclosure here, I knew about this situation with Mesa Red Mountain HS WR Ja'Kobi Lane for over a month now, but was told to keep it on the down low since he is committed to USC and no one wanted to give them a heads up on ASU trying to flip him. But now that social media is all over this, here's the background for this potentially good chance of flipping him to ASU.
Lane's girlfriend is Rylen Bourguet, yes, the sister of ASU QB Trenton Bourguet. Trenton Bourguet and Lane both played on the 7-on-7 Tucson Turf team, which is run by Trenton's dad Toby. So that's how the relationship between Lane and the Bourguets formed.
Rylen Bourguet plays both volleyball and soccer for Tucson Salpointe Catholic. I'm told she's a solid college recruit in both sports but, for some reason, wasn't recruited to either sport by ASU. Needless to say, if Rylen Bourguet attends ASU, that's only that much more incentive for Lane to attend ASU as well.
In light of the football staff's desire to land Lane, there has been contact with ASU's beach volleyball staff to consider Rylen Bourguet as a walk-on (the Bourget family is OK with that), and it appears that things have been moving in the right direction with ASU beach volleyball but not a done deal. No one is dragging their feet here because they know signing day is just under two weeks away. I'm not aware of ASU soccer now showing interest in Rylen Bourguet, but that could be happening too, since she is a solid recruit in both sports.
Now another aspect here is Lane's academics. There is some work to be done, but from what I told not impossible for him to take the Elijhah Badger route, if you will, get him admitted to ASU with him needing to take an academic redshirt and get good grades to be eligible in 2024. Not saying it’s out of the question that he's eligible for 2023, but the path could be challenging. If you remember the selling line that ASU had on Vontaze Burfict back in the day was something like this,"USC will have you sign and they don't care if you qualify because they will have another four, five star player in your place. ASU is going to help you qualify because we don't have a star layer as a backup." No doubt in my mind that ASU will use that approach.
Lane's girlfriend is Rylen Bourguet, yes, the sister of ASU QB Trenton Bourguet. Trenton Bourguet and Lane both played on the 7-on-7 Tucson Turf team, which is run by Trenton's dad Toby. So that's how the relationship between Lane and the Bourguets formed.
Rylen Bourguet plays both volleyball and soccer for Tucson Salpointe Catholic. I'm told she's a solid college recruit in both sports but, for some reason, wasn't recruited to either sport by ASU. Needless to say, if Rylen Bourguet attends ASU, that's only that much more incentive for Lane to attend ASU as well.
In light of the football staff's desire to land Lane, there has been contact with ASU's beach volleyball staff to consider Rylen Bourguet as a walk-on (the Bourget family is OK with that), and it appears that things have been moving in the right direction with ASU beach volleyball but not a done deal. No one is dragging their feet here because they know signing day is just under two weeks away. I'm not aware of ASU soccer now showing interest in Rylen Bourguet, but that could be happening too, since she is a solid recruit in both sports.
Now another aspect here is Lane's academics. There is some work to be done, but from what I told not impossible for him to take the Elijhah Badger route, if you will, get him admitted to ASU with him needing to take an academic redshirt and get good grades to be eligible in 2024. Not saying it’s out of the question that he's eligible for 2023, but the path could be challenging. If you remember the selling line that ASU had on Vontaze Burfict back in the day was something like this,"USC will have you sign and they don't care if you qualify because they will have another four, five star player in your place. ASU is going to help you qualify because we don't have a star layer as a backup." No doubt in my mind that ASU will use that approach.
