(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Nearly one year ago ASU announced it had hired Herm Edwards to lead its football program, replacing sixth-year head coach Todd Graham.
The move was criticized for innumerable reasons, but at least one consensus seemed to be Herm’s potential as a recruiter- or at least to be better than Graham, whose recruiting classes were deficient in high-level local recruits from Arizona or California.
Of course, Graham deserves credit for bringing in current offensive superstars N’Keal Harry and Eno Benjamin, but in the end, athletic director Ray Anderson believed the Sun Devils could do better.
“I have no doubt his ability to lead, inspire and develop young men will translate into his staff and into recruiting,” Anderson said at Edwards’s introductory press conference. To his credit, all early signs point to him being right.
While the Sun Devils are an experienced group on offense, there are five freshmen on defense that have played in at least eight of the team’s ten games. If you have been watching ASU, you know these guys aren not just playing- they are making a huge impact.
“It’s hard for freshmen to come in and play. These guys are talented and they like ball, I mean they are all in,” Edwards said. “They’re like my sons, I talk to them everyday and I told them ‘this is going to be your football team, you’re going to set the foundation of this now.’”
Four of those five aforementioned freshmen (linebackers Merlin Robertson and Darien Butler, Safety Aashari Crosswell and defensive lineman Jermayne Lole) hail from southern California.
It wasn’t just Edwards who got these guys to Tempe though. First year linebackers coach and recently appointed recruiting coordinator Antonio Pierce built a reputation over his four years at Long Beach Poly which has proven invaluable in the recruiting process.
“We go way back- we worked in the (ESPN) studio together,” Edwards said. “We had discussions. I said ‘you know if I decide (to coach again) I’m going to call you’ and he said ‘coach you call me, I’ll be ready to go whenever you call me’….he was one of the first guys I called and he said ‘hey I’m ready, when do you want me?’”
“He’s well-connected, and he’s coached a lot of (the players he recruited). He has a lot of connections in the coaching world with high school coaches,” Edwards said. “He’s honest, he’s truthful ,and the players love him because he speaks their language.”
Crosswell and Lole both played for Pierce in high school and have already been difference-makers ten games into their college careers.
Crosswell leads the team with seven pass breakups and got his first interception early in the win vs. Utah- although Edwards believes he could already have several by now.
As for Lole, he capitalized on his first opportunity at significant playing time against Utah due to the season-ending Achilles injury to redshirt freshman D.J. Davidson. Against the Utes, Lole registered two tackles for loss (TFL), including a sack, as well as a forced fumble and two pass breakups.
“(Edwards) was just telling me before I got here that (they’re) not scared to play freshmen,” Crosswell said. “I believed the man when he told me that because he looked me right in my eye. (Pierce) told me how serious he is, so I just believed in him and that’s what made my decision.”
Additionally, three freshmen linebackers in Robertson, Butler and Gilbert-native Tyler Johnson have combined for 22 percent of the team’s total tackles. Robertson in particular has stood out, which is to be expected to some extent as the only other four-star recruit in addition to Crosswell.
Still, he leads the team with 8.5 TFL’s (T-12th in Pac-12), five sacks (T-4th) and two quarterback hits on non-sacks. Butler is right behind him with 7.5 TFL’s though, a mark that has him tied for 16th in the conference.
“(Robertson’s) going to be one of the leaders- he’s already one of the leaders, him and Butler,” Edwards said. “They kind of know this is going to be their defense moving forward.”
The dynamic duo’s production on the field only further validates the early recruiting success Edwards and Pierce have had in Southern Cal- especially relative to who they replaced.
“I felt like something new was being fit into Arizona State,” Butler said of the coaching change ASU underwent during his recruitment process. “Getting these commits, we knew coming in we could change a lot with this program.”
“(Pierce) has made the game so much easier for us,” Robertson said. “He taught us good techniques on how to take on blocks and double-teams and stuff like that.”
Not to be lost in the mix, Johnson has been making key plays all year (sack vs UTSA, blocked kick vs. Michigan State) and has broken out as of late. In his last four games, the redshirt freshman has accrued 20 tackles and five TFL’s.
“He’s a big boy that can run,” Pierce said. “That’s something special for us, and as he grows in that position we’ll be a better unit.”
There is something to be said for the progression of the entire defense as well. The unit has improved in almost every major category despite having much less experience than the 2017 group.
For example, the rushing defense allows 3.9 yards/carry, down from 5.1 in 2017, and the scoring defense allows 21.6 points/game, down from 29.5 a year ago.
Moreover, this year’s defense of largely freshman and sophomores still has not allowed more than 28 points in a game to an opposing offense.
To improve that vastly on what a group of mostly upperclassmen did a year ago is significant. More than anything, it lays a foundation for the seasons ahead.
“It’ll be fun to watch this defense in the next two years,” Edwards said. “It’ll be fun for me to watch us, we’ll bring in a lot more guys like that.”
Although the defense shows promise, the Sun Devils will have a lot to figure out on offense going forward. quarterback Manny Wilkins, Harry and senior tackle Quinn Bailey are among those playing their last season in Edwards’ first.
But if the play of this young defense is any indication, Edwards and his staff will be bringing in high-level, immediate-impact recruits for years to come.
