Here’s the latest news on the recruiting front and other topics:
Starting with our “recruiting class math” of the 2020 class let’s see where we are at:
25 slots are the maximum available
Minus 18 known commits
Plus, two players who won’t be part of this class (OL Frank Thompson, WR Kobe Stewart)
Plus, three blueshirts in LB Will Shaffer, TE Ryan Morgan and OL Paul Rubelt that will count towards 2021 class
Minus five blueshirts that account for players that are currently on the roster and their scholarship counts towards the 2020 class
So that brings us to 25-18+2+3-5=7 slots free to fill in the 2020 class
Two prospects you can count on more than the others to be part of this class are ATH Elijhah Badger and OL transfer Kellen Diesch from Texas A&M
That brings down the number to 5 slots free to fill in the 2020 class
WR Lavon (LV) Bunkley-Shelton and Oregon WR commit Johnny Wilson are the next two likely prospects I see filling two of those slots.
Assuming that happens That brings down the number to 3 slots free to fill in the 2020 class.
(Crazy how tighter and tighter the numbers can become in a hurry)
So, where do I currently see the remaining prospects at:
RB Corey Wren – as we reported on the latest developments here what once was believed to be the shoo-in second running back to commit in this class, is now up in the air as an official visit to Tennessee this weekend delayed what should have been a public commitment announcement to the Sun Devils by the one-time Georgia pledge.
Herm Edwards along with RB’s coach Shaun Aguano is visiting Wren today but I don’t feel that this would cause him to do a turn heel and cancel his Tennessee visit. FWIW the Tennessee Publisher told me that the Vols’ class numbers are very tight and implied that Wren may not be a priority like other prospects so we’ll see how much merit this may or not ultimately have. We did report that ASU DB Doneiko Slaughter is visiting Tennessee the same weekend too. Anyone’s guess if this will or won’t have an adverse effect on Wren and Slaughter but just an interesting dynamic here. I do know for a fact that Slaughter indicated to ASU after his Miami visit that he’s still locked in with ASU.
RB Daniyel Ngata – with the Wren situation taking a drastic turn, and ironically Ngata who was believed to be a lock with Oklahoma State making contact with ASU, it will be interesting to see if this prospect who weeks ago was believed to be out of reach is now back in the fold for ASU. I still have my doubts as far as his viability, and the whole apprehension concerning ASU from a religious standpoint by his family could be the obstacle that simply cannot be overcome.
Since ASU is scheduled tomorrow to be in Folsom to visit his teammate Badger, it’s more than likely that they will swing by to talk to Ngata as well. ASU won’t really know until after Wren’s visit to Tennessee where they stand with him, but it would be prudent for the Sun Devils to try as hard as they can, a last ditch effort if you will, to secure Ngata and simply not worry about what Wren might do. Needless to say, that as talented as Wren is, Nagata is anything but a downgrade.
Bottom line, ASU getting Wren and not Ngata would be much less surprising than the reverse outcome. Local Chandler HS RB Dae Dae Hunter is currently the only player at this position I could see ASU pursuing in the event that they lost on both Wren and Ngata, and the obvious relationship Hunter has with Aguano will only help. Nonetheless, tight numbers in the class would probably have Hunter come as a blueshirt.
WR Gary Bryant – I’m really kind of going back and forth as far as to what his viability truly is as an ASU prospect and in a weird way I think that Clay Helton staying at USC may have hurt ASU’s chances with him. I never felt his viability was as high as LVBS and Wilson and right now that sentiment remains the same.
Alabama WR commit Traeshon Holden – my interview with him had a lot of positives regarding ASU. At the end of the day though, you’re still going up against Alabama and by the way, they will host him for a visit this weekend, the last weekend before signing day. All in all, if Holden committed to ASU, I would call it a pleasant surprise, rather than an out-all shocker.
LSU WR commit Jermaine Burton – can’t say I’ve heard many positives about his visit, certainly not compared to Holden. We’ll see if anything changes in that regard and the fact that he and Johnny Wilson are close could help here. But again, my gut feeling tells me to put this prospect in a lower probability category.
Looking at other prospects I mentioned in my last recruiting snapshot: DB Dontae Manning hasn’t technically said “no” to ASU but there’s nothing at all as of late that would indicate to me that he’s a viable prospect. He would have to be completely shut out of the plans of Oklahoma (visiting this week) and Oregon, maybe even Texas A&M too, for ASU to have any chance. Personally, though not holding my breath.
TE D'Andre (DJ) Rogers. And OL Jalen St. John aren't in the picture anymore. Rogers probably Cal bound because that was the school most in competition with ASU.
Circling back to the fact that we operating under the assumption that Badger, Diesch, LVBS, Wilson are in the fold if ASU finished the cycle landing Wren/Ngata and Holden (or any other four-star WR) that would be a tremendous way close out the class in terms of the December numbers. Under that scenario, ASU would be more than OK having one slot open for the spring for the proverbial late bloomer or offensive lineman grad transfer. even having two slots open that time of year would be fine As always, the blueshirt route can also be exercised in any spring additions.
Moving onto the offensive coordinator opening.
Not much to report here other than the candidate I wasn’t able to mention earlier as being interviewed by ASU, and please keep it in the Huddle, was actually Kenny Dillingham, who hired by Mike Norvell at Florida State. Dillingham who left Auburn was Norvell’s offensive coordinator at Memphis for three years and obviously is very comfortable working him let alone staying in the South. Most of you know that he was at Arizona State as an offensive assistant in 2014-15 and on the Scottsdale Chaparral High School staff from 2007-12. Those local ties got ASU in the door and caused Dillingham to give ASU some consideration, but his familiarity with Norvell (who could end up hiring other former ASU assistants) was too much to pass over, so him going elsewhere shouldn't be perceived as a knock on ASU.
So, Oregon State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, Boise State offensive coordinator Zak Hill and former NFL head coach Hue Jackson, the other three who received interviews, are the only candidates I’m aware that are under consideration and not expecting a different name to be the next ASU offensive coordinator. I really can't speak as to who has the better chance to be named, but Lindgren and his vast Pac-12 experience would perhaps the be the favorite here. Last I heard we should hear an announcement by the end of the weekend.
Because the head coach search at New Mexico is dragging along, It’s been very quiet on whether Danny Gonzales is a candidate or not. As we reported, he wasn’t interviewed by the school last week while he was in Albuquerque for his mother’s funeral. It’s prudent to think that the school would contact him at some point during the search and perhaps interview him as well.
That is really the only job I could see ASU losing Gonzales to and I would think he would have a hard time saying “no” if offered a head coaching job at his alma mater in his hometown. For obvious reasons, it wouldn’t shock me if everything was quiet on this front until after signing day on the 18th. So in some respects, this still could be a waiting game.
Last I heard Eno Benjamin was supposed to announce his NFL drat plans today, but I wouldn’t etch that in stone. Still not expecting him to return for his senior year, or play in the bowl game as the case with Brandon Aiyuk as well.
Starting with our “recruiting class math” of the 2020 class let’s see where we are at:
25 slots are the maximum available
Minus 18 known commits
Plus, two players who won’t be part of this class (OL Frank Thompson, WR Kobe Stewart)
Plus, three blueshirts in LB Will Shaffer, TE Ryan Morgan and OL Paul Rubelt that will count towards 2021 class
Minus five blueshirts that account for players that are currently on the roster and their scholarship counts towards the 2020 class
So that brings us to 25-18+2+3-5=7 slots free to fill in the 2020 class
Two prospects you can count on more than the others to be part of this class are ATH Elijhah Badger and OL transfer Kellen Diesch from Texas A&M
That brings down the number to 5 slots free to fill in the 2020 class
WR Lavon (LV) Bunkley-Shelton and Oregon WR commit Johnny Wilson are the next two likely prospects I see filling two of those slots.
Assuming that happens That brings down the number to 3 slots free to fill in the 2020 class.
(Crazy how tighter and tighter the numbers can become in a hurry)
So, where do I currently see the remaining prospects at:
RB Corey Wren – as we reported on the latest developments here what once was believed to be the shoo-in second running back to commit in this class, is now up in the air as an official visit to Tennessee this weekend delayed what should have been a public commitment announcement to the Sun Devils by the one-time Georgia pledge.
Herm Edwards along with RB’s coach Shaun Aguano is visiting Wren today but I don’t feel that this would cause him to do a turn heel and cancel his Tennessee visit. FWIW the Tennessee Publisher told me that the Vols’ class numbers are very tight and implied that Wren may not be a priority like other prospects so we’ll see how much merit this may or not ultimately have. We did report that ASU DB Doneiko Slaughter is visiting Tennessee the same weekend too. Anyone’s guess if this will or won’t have an adverse effect on Wren and Slaughter but just an interesting dynamic here. I do know for a fact that Slaughter indicated to ASU after his Miami visit that he’s still locked in with ASU.
RB Daniyel Ngata – with the Wren situation taking a drastic turn, and ironically Ngata who was believed to be a lock with Oklahoma State making contact with ASU, it will be interesting to see if this prospect who weeks ago was believed to be out of reach is now back in the fold for ASU. I still have my doubts as far as his viability, and the whole apprehension concerning ASU from a religious standpoint by his family could be the obstacle that simply cannot be overcome.
Since ASU is scheduled tomorrow to be in Folsom to visit his teammate Badger, it’s more than likely that they will swing by to talk to Ngata as well. ASU won’t really know until after Wren’s visit to Tennessee where they stand with him, but it would be prudent for the Sun Devils to try as hard as they can, a last ditch effort if you will, to secure Ngata and simply not worry about what Wren might do. Needless to say, that as talented as Wren is, Nagata is anything but a downgrade.
Bottom line, ASU getting Wren and not Ngata would be much less surprising than the reverse outcome. Local Chandler HS RB Dae Dae Hunter is currently the only player at this position I could see ASU pursuing in the event that they lost on both Wren and Ngata, and the obvious relationship Hunter has with Aguano will only help. Nonetheless, tight numbers in the class would probably have Hunter come as a blueshirt.
WR Gary Bryant – I’m really kind of going back and forth as far as to what his viability truly is as an ASU prospect and in a weird way I think that Clay Helton staying at USC may have hurt ASU’s chances with him. I never felt his viability was as high as LVBS and Wilson and right now that sentiment remains the same.
Alabama WR commit Traeshon Holden – my interview with him had a lot of positives regarding ASU. At the end of the day though, you’re still going up against Alabama and by the way, they will host him for a visit this weekend, the last weekend before signing day. All in all, if Holden committed to ASU, I would call it a pleasant surprise, rather than an out-all shocker.
LSU WR commit Jermaine Burton – can’t say I’ve heard many positives about his visit, certainly not compared to Holden. We’ll see if anything changes in that regard and the fact that he and Johnny Wilson are close could help here. But again, my gut feeling tells me to put this prospect in a lower probability category.
Looking at other prospects I mentioned in my last recruiting snapshot: DB Dontae Manning hasn’t technically said “no” to ASU but there’s nothing at all as of late that would indicate to me that he’s a viable prospect. He would have to be completely shut out of the plans of Oklahoma (visiting this week) and Oregon, maybe even Texas A&M too, for ASU to have any chance. Personally, though not holding my breath.
TE D'Andre (DJ) Rogers. And OL Jalen St. John aren't in the picture anymore. Rogers probably Cal bound because that was the school most in competition with ASU.
Circling back to the fact that we operating under the assumption that Badger, Diesch, LVBS, Wilson are in the fold if ASU finished the cycle landing Wren/Ngata and Holden (or any other four-star WR) that would be a tremendous way close out the class in terms of the December numbers. Under that scenario, ASU would be more than OK having one slot open for the spring for the proverbial late bloomer or offensive lineman grad transfer. even having two slots open that time of year would be fine As always, the blueshirt route can also be exercised in any spring additions.
Moving onto the offensive coordinator opening.
Not much to report here other than the candidate I wasn’t able to mention earlier as being interviewed by ASU, and please keep it in the Huddle, was actually Kenny Dillingham, who hired by Mike Norvell at Florida State. Dillingham who left Auburn was Norvell’s offensive coordinator at Memphis for three years and obviously is very comfortable working him let alone staying in the South. Most of you know that he was at Arizona State as an offensive assistant in 2014-15 and on the Scottsdale Chaparral High School staff from 2007-12. Those local ties got ASU in the door and caused Dillingham to give ASU some consideration, but his familiarity with Norvell (who could end up hiring other former ASU assistants) was too much to pass over, so him going elsewhere shouldn't be perceived as a knock on ASU.
So, Oregon State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, Boise State offensive coordinator Zak Hill and former NFL head coach Hue Jackson, the other three who received interviews, are the only candidates I’m aware that are under consideration and not expecting a different name to be the next ASU offensive coordinator. I really can't speak as to who has the better chance to be named, but Lindgren and his vast Pac-12 experience would perhaps the be the favorite here. Last I heard we should hear an announcement by the end of the weekend.
Because the head coach search at New Mexico is dragging along, It’s been very quiet on whether Danny Gonzales is a candidate or not. As we reported, he wasn’t interviewed by the school last week while he was in Albuquerque for his mother’s funeral. It’s prudent to think that the school would contact him at some point during the search and perhaps interview him as well.
That is really the only job I could see ASU losing Gonzales to and I would think he would have a hard time saying “no” if offered a head coaching job at his alma mater in his hometown. For obvious reasons, it wouldn’t shock me if everything was quiet on this front until after signing day on the 18th. So in some respects, this still could be a waiting game.
Last I heard Eno Benjamin was supposed to announce his NFL drat plans today, but I wouldn’t etch that in stone. Still not expecting him to return for his senior year, or play in the bowl game as the case with Brandon Aiyuk as well.
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