ASU Football: The story of Sun Devil Football’s most prolific friendship: Chase Lucas and N’Keal Harry

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

If you follow ASU football, it’s no secret that redshirt sophomore cornerback Chase Lucas and junior receiver N’Keal Harry are two of the most important players on their respective sides of the ball.

What many Sun Devil fans don’t realize though is how interconnected their journeys have been.

“(Chase) and I have been competing our whole lives,” Harry said. “He’s been a very critical part of my success.”

Harry, known for being more reserved, and the outgoing Lucas first met at the Chandler Boys & Girls Club nearly 15 years ago and have been close friends ever since.

“We were athletes, we played on the same team and we just blew it off from there,” Lucas said. “He lived right down the street from where I was. My mom and his grandmother were best friends after that.”

Ever since they met, the duo shared dreams of playing Division I college football and eventually in the pros. However, they did not see eye-to-eye with a lot of their peers growing up.

“We were just too competitive and too aggressive for a lot of kids and you know some of them probably didn’t take that too well,” Harry said. “But Chase and I were always at the same viewing point with that type of stuff, and I feel like that was part of the reason we were molded into the type of players we are today.”

That competitiveness eventually helped them lead the Chandler Wolves to the 2014 high school division I state title. Both juniors at the time, Lucas was the star running back accruing 1,494 total yards (1,126 rushing, 368 receiving) and 17 total touchdowns (13 rushing, 3 receiving, 1 kickoff return). Harry was a key contributor at receiver, catching 30 passes for 657 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Lucas and Harry each had several offers from FBS schools, and as their senior season rolled around, they knew it would be time to make the big decision. Byron Murphy, a standout CB prospect at division II Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Ariz,, had befriended the two and they all had a group chat discussing the various offers.

In fact, Lucas and Murphy had serious discussions about attending the University of Washington, but one text changed the direction of Lucas’s future.

“I will never forget one day N’Keal texted right before he committed…’I’m going to go to ASU,’” Lucas said. “I talked to him a little bit, my mom and his grandma talked, and I was just like ‘Man yeah, I can’t go anywhere, this is the place I need to be.’”

Even though Lucas had come around on ASU, the same could not be said for Murphy, despite the three having discussed how cool it would be to all play for the Sun Devils. Lucas does not hide his feeling of betrayal when talking about Murphy’s commitment to UW.

“Hell yeah (Byron) was a traitor,” Lucas said. “His commitment day came, I’m getting out of lunch- I’m smashing to Saguaro. I finally get there, I walk in the door everybody’s waiting, he’s sitting there. I’m like ‘yeah B.J. I’m here,’ he didn’t tell me anything. I see that purple come out- I walked out.”

“But I’m happy for Byron, he’s doing real big things.”

Although Harry and Lucas were headed to the same school, 2016 would mark the first season they were not on the field together in recent memory. While Harry quickly became a favorite target of then-sophomore QB Manny Wilkins, Lucas was redshirted after deciding he was giving up offense to play CB.

“I was a little bit confused just because I know how good Chase is with the ball in his hands. I didn’t know how he was going to adjust,” Harry said. “I saw him play defense a little bit when he was in Pop Warner, I went to a couple of his games, so I knew he was capable.”

Harry believes Lucas would have played that first year if he stuck to offense, and he made it clear not being able to play was something new for Lucas. He also believes sitting out lit a fire under him to master his new position.

“When I saw (Harry) playing and I wasn’t it made me mad, but it was making me so proud of him,” Lucas said. “You know it hurt, but at the same time it was the best decision for me, and at this time looking back at it I’m very happy I (redshirted).”

The move has payed dividends as Lucas’ return to the field for the 2017 campaign got him recognition on the USA Today All-American freshman team. He has continued to build on that after being named to the preseason watch list for most outstanding defensive player. Lucas currently has four tackles-for-loss in addition to an interception, a sack and two passes defended.

Harry has made noticeable strides as well, surpassing 1,100 yards receiving in addition to eight touchdowns in 2017. Currently, he has 481 yards receiving through six games with five receiving touchdowns.

Offensive coordinator Rob Likens noted how much he has seen Harry and Lucas benefit from competing against each other in practice.

“One of the cool things I saw all through camp was if Chase got beat on a route, he would come back and he would say ‘hey what were you doing right there’ and (N’Keal) would go ‘well the reason I got you was because you did this,’” Likens said. “And they talk back and forth to each other and Chase will do the same thing (and say) ‘hey you’re tipping your route on doing this right here, I knew you were going to do this because of how you lined up.’”

As much as both players have improved on game day, defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has also seen Lucas make strides in the way he carries himself.

“I think Chase, over the time we’ve been here, (there’s) been a big maturation in him. I don’t think he did things the way we wanted to early,” Gonzales said. “You take what’s important away, and what’s important to that young man is football. So if he doesn’t do things right in school or workouts or practice then we don’t let him play, and we had to do that a couple times this year.”

“I think over the last two weeks, Chase Lucas has practiced as hard as anyone on our football team and I’m proud of him for it. If he can continue to do that, he’ll be a really good football player.”

With Harry being the top receiving prospect for the 2019 NFL draft, this is likely the last season Harry and Lucas will play together, unless they get lucky enough to land on the same NFL team. Regardless of what the future holds, these two have forged an unbreakable bond through football.

“He’s one of those guys that will really be there, I believe, for the rest of my life- somebody that will have my back for the rest of my life,” Harry said.