Gerald Munns is the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week and one tough S.O.B. But did you know he was almost one tough S.O.B. for someone other than Arizona State?

( Photo by the amazing Robert Kline)

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We remember sitting in the office of Chandler Hamilton coach John Wrenn on the eve of the 2005 state championship game. Wrenn looked at us and said something to the effect of This kid is the best player in the state and ASU isn’t interested.

A day or two after Hamilton was upset by Phoenix Brophy, linebacker Gerald Munns accepted a scholarship offer from ASU. Knowing how close Munns was to ending up at a UNLV or Boise State made watching his performance against Stanford all the more enjoyable.

In the words of Dennis Erickson, Munns broke his pinkie “pretty severely” in practice last week but insisted on playing in the Pac-10 opener against Stanford anyway. The soft cast on his hand didn’t seem to slow him down, as he registered seven tackles (including one without a helmet), a deflection and an interception to lead ASU’s defense.

He’ll have pins surgically placed into his pinkie in the next few days, but will return to the lineup against Georgia.

Erickson called Munns’s interception the turning point in the game as it led to an ASU touchdown that stretched the lead from 10 to 17 points. And the Pac-10 yesterday called Munns the conference’s defensive player of the week.

Munns, who adds a blend of point-of-attack brawn and thinking man’s brain to the middle of the defense, has developed into one of ASU’s best players.

As a preseason profile in the East Valley Tribune pointed out, Munns was tentative earlier in his career, spending too much time doing that thinking stuff and not enough time aggressively menacing ball carriers. He’s since ditched his Mohawk haircut at the insistence of coaches who wanted him to play mean instead of just looking mean.

At 6 feet 4 inches and 240 pounds sans headgear, we think Munns looks pretty mean without the Mohawk—or a helmet.

(The Arizona Republic gave Munns some love on Sunday.)

New to Echo from the Buttes? Don’t miss:
Our salute to the overlooked, under-appreciated Keegan Herring.
Our debate on Tempe’s top five bars.
Our assessment of the divisive Rudy Carpenter’s legacy.

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