ASU Football: While one era ends in Tempe, another one gets ready to begin

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

Certain games mean more. No matter what coaches try to preach or players try to think, there are certain games that just carry more weight.

The next time Arizona State takes the field, it will be playing for much more than just its fifth home victory, and in some ways more than its Pac-12 South hopes.

This upcoming Saturday for the Sun Devils marks the final chapter for a group of players that have seen one of the most interesting periods in team history. The highs of national prominence and the lows of relative obscurity.

For Manny Wilkins, Quinn Bailey, Renell Wren, Jalen Harvey and the other 15 Sun Devils that will be playing at Sun Devil Stadium for the final time against the UCLA Bruins on a Saturday afternoon in Tempe, the one thing that can never be questioned is their commitment to this program.

In the case of Wilkins, the face and leader of this team, has played this entire season with the mindset that the time for change in this program is now. No matter how little time he has left to wear the Maroon and Gold on Frank Kush Field, there’s no point in wasting a second of it.

As the game Saturday approaches, that time is now down to 60 minutes.

“I know it’s going to be very emotional,” Wilkins said. “I’ve put a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication… this place will forever be special to me, and I know when I walk out of that tunnel for the last time, it’s going to be hard to comprehend it.”

The Novato, CA native has seen some of the most memorable moments in program history from the sideline, carrying a clipboard and headset as a true freshman. From the highs of the “Jael-Mary” against USC or the 55-31 thrashing of then-No. 9 Notre Dame, to some of the most demoralizing lows, such as his first season as a starter in 2016, losing six straight to end the year after a 5-1 start.

Through all those ups and downs, Wilkins is forever grateful for every lesson that he’s been taught along the way these past five years.

“It’s the story of a boy turning into a man really,” Wilkins said. “I’ve been through so much, so many opportunities to just give up, so many opportunities to just accept what was being put in front of me. It’s been a hell of a ride.”

A hell of a ride indeed. One that has included four different offensive coordinators during Wilkins’ time on campus, not to mention a slew of other coaching departures, and a complete program overhaul with the hiring of Herm Edwards heading into the final chapter of these senior’s careers.

As the man in charge of this program, with a long-term goal that might not have been suited for the guys with one last year to play, the biggest key was to make sure he had the longest-tenured players best interests at heart.

“Change is always hard on seniors, just like veterans in the National Football League that might be in their last year,” Edwards said. “All of a sudden a new guy comes in, ‘How is he going to change it? How is it going to affect me?’… But I think for the most part, I think what they’ve learned is I adapt to the players we have.”

“I’m smart enough to know you’re only as good as the players you have, and if you don’t put them in position to have success, you’ve failed them.”

If you ask any player on ASU’s team, the last thing that they will say is that Edwards has failed them in any way this season, particularly Wilkins, whose final set of memories as a Sun Devil before entering a new chapter in his life will be with Edwards as his guide.

“Coach Herm, he’s been amazing,” Wilkins said. “I got a lot of good quotes from him that I’m sure I’ll keep with me for the rest of my life. He’s just truly been a blessing.”

While the offensive players were able to stay relatively in their comfort zone under this new regime, with a familiar albeit different face sliding into the offensive coordinator’s chair in Rob Likens, the defense underwent a top-to-bottom makeover with the arrival of Danny Gonzales’ 3-3-5 scheme.

With a unit led by the likes of Wren and Harvey, the latter making the choice to switch from offense to defense in his final season in Tempe, the most experienced players were of the utmost importance to Gonzales once taking over.

“I met with the seniors on defense first because in any football team, your seniors are your foundation,” Gonzales said. “They have the most invested, they’re usually the most mature… The great thing was, those guys wanted to be successful… they believed in what we were trying to build from the very beginning.”

“If this thing goes the way we plan, and we become the most statistical-dominant team in this league like we can be, those guys set the foundation, and they can look back with a bunch of pride.”

Part of building that foundation for these seniors has to do with setting the tone for the players that will carry the torch after they’re gone, and that seems to have been accomplished and then some.

“I’ll never forget, before we started fall camp Manny [Wilkins] came into the room, the whole team was there, and said, ‘I’m tired of being mediocre,” redshirt sophomore Chase Lucas said. “That’s something I’m going to carry over to next year, and anybody on our defense is going to know that you got to take it play-by-play, game-by-game and know that you got to give it your best at all times.”

“I feel like our seniors are going to leave their legacy here, and we’re going to let them go out with a bang.”

Bobby Kraus is a football beat writer for the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter @bobbykraus22