Herm Edwards says “You play to win the game,” but do you recruit to win the game, too, Herm?
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards’ first recruiting class is not considered to be one of the better ones in Power 5. When ASU Athletic Director Ray Anderson fired head coach Todd Graham, he proclaimed ASU must have better players committing to play in Tempe. He no longer wanted to settle for average and said the Sun Devils should be getting more 4 and 5-star recruits.
Here’s who has put a pen to paper, committing to ASU…
4-stars:
Linebacker Merlin Robertson chose the Sun Devils over USC, Oklahoma and Oregon. Merlin revealed his ASU commitment on National Signing Day by using his infant son… Coming out and wearing your intended school’s apparel has been done too many times apparently, so Merlin took off his son’s jacket to reveal he was wearing ASU gear. He’s one of ASU’s only 4-star recruits, so #ForksUp regardless.
O-linemen Jarrett Bell chose ASU over several top Power 5 schools. He verbally committed to Nick Saban’s Tide but reopened his recruitment in November. The Sun Devils snagged Bell over Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA and Saban…Crazier things have happened, right?
DB Aashari Crosswell chose ASU over several PAC-12 schools including Arizona, Cal and Washington State.
Linebacker Reggie Hughes chose ASU over Washington State, Oregon State and UCLA.
All of Herm’s 4-star recruits are from Southern California. Merlin Robertson and Aashari Crosswell were recruited by recent coaching staff addition, Antonio Pierce. Pierce played for the University of Arizona and then went on to play in the NFL for 9 season. He coached at Southern California powerhouse and Snoop Dogg’s alma mater Long Beach Poly before .
The rest of incoming Sun Devils consists of 3-star California and Texas recruits.
Edwards said on ESPN2 this week, “Signing Day is a little bit unusual for me, because in pro football, you get to draft them. In college, they get to pick you!” I guess he’s still working out the kinks on this a little bit.