5 Questions about the Arizona State Sun Devils’ 2009 Recruiting Class
College football recruiting is a whirlwind. So many names you’ve never heard before, many of which you won’t hear again for two or three years. Keep reading as we try to make sense of the madness by answering five questions about Arizona State’s Class of 2009.
1. So, how does the Class of 2009 stack up?
This class of 19 high schoolers and two JC transfers – including the four who signed in December – is about middle of the Pac. Rivals, ESPNU and Scout ranked the class between fourth and sixth in the conference. Nationally, the class was ranked 26th and 29th by Scout and Rivals, respectively. Last year, our class was ranked 17th and 21st.
If not for the late addition of Vontaze Burfict, the class surely would have ranked in the 30s as it did in Erickson’s first season. Still, recruiting is all about stacking quality classes, so consecutive Top 30 classes built on high schoolers rather than JC transfers is a sign of good things to come.
2. Speaking of Vontaze, how good is this kid?
Well, you saw the video, right? The professionals also like what they see out of Burfict, a 6-foot-3 245-pound linebacker from Corona (CA) Centennial. He’s a five-star recruit and the top middle linebacker prospect in the country.
ASU claims that he’s the highest ranked high school prospect ever to sign with the school—topping Zach Miller, Terrell Suggs and a host of guys from the Frank Kush era that were too early to be ranked by the Internet scouting services. When asked to compare Burfict to a former player, Dennis Erickson said: “I guess I could say Ray Lewis, but I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on him.” High praise indeed.
3. What happened to all the big names in Arizona?
ASU hauled in nine prospects from the state of Arizona, but missed out on four of the top five as Desert Vista defensive tackle Devon Kennard picked USC, Palo Verde receiver Adam Hall stayed home in Tucson, and Chaparral linemen Craig Roh and Taylor Lewan headed for Michigan.
However, Erickson made amends by signing Saguaro’s Corey Adams, a monster defensive tackle who picked ASU over USC and Ohio State. A five-star recruit, the 6-foot-3 290-pound Adams could start alongside Lawrence Guy as a true freshman next season. (Check out Corey Adams’ highlight video.
4. Shouldn’t we have signed some offensive linemen?
The offensive line was atrocious last year, but don’t expect it to get any better because of the guys ASU signed yesterday. Evan Finkenberg, Kody Koebensky and Fred Thornton may end up fine players, but they won’t be ready to meaningfully contribute this fall.
The Sun Devils played a number of promising youngsters last year including Zach Schlink, who was lost midway through the season to a knee injury. When ASU failed to uncover a junior college lineman who was ready to contribute immediately, it fell back on Schlink and his buddies to carry the load. Experience and age can only help.
5. Now it’s your turn.
What are your thoughts on this year’s class? Vote for the player you think will have the biggest impact on the left. And drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Sun Devil Class of 2009
Corey Adams, DT, 6-foot-3, 292 pounds, Scottsdale (Saguaro)
Vontaze Burfict, LB, 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, Corona, CA (Centennial)
Christopher Coyle, TE, 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, Westlake Village, CA (Oaks Christian)
Dean Deleone, DE, 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, Park City, UT (Orange Coast CC)
Evan Finkenberg, OL, 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (Tesoro)
J.J. Holliday, WR, 6-foot, 165 pounds, Tucson (Santa Rita)
Osahon Irabor, CB, 5-foot-11, 183 pounds, Upland, CA (Upland)
Anthony Jones, LB, 6-foot-2, 218 pounds, Chandler (Hamilton)
Kipeli Koniseti, ATH, 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, Sacramento, CA (Grant)
Kody Koebensky, OL, 6-foot-4, 303 pounds, Scottsdale (Saguaro)
LeQuan Lewis, CB, 6-foot, 195 pounds, Norwalk, CA (Cerritos College)
Cameron Marshall, RB, 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, San Jose, CA (Valley Christian).
Shane McCullen, S, 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, Apache Junction (Apache Junction)
Jamal Miles, RB, 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, Peoria (Peoria
Brock Osweiler, QB, 6-foot-8, 235 pounds, Kalispell, MT (Flathead)
Gregory Smith, DE, 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, Perris, CA (Citrus Hill)
Max Smith, TE, 6-foot-2, 258 pounds, Scottsdale (Saguaro)
William Sutton, DT, 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Corona, CA (Centennial)
Fred Thornton, OL, 6-foot-4, 310 pounds, Phoenix (South Mountain)
Matthew Tucker, S, 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Aurora, CO (Grandview)
Marcus Washington, RB, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, Phoenix (Desert Vista)
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Exciting days, indeed. Like the fact that we’ll have some monsters in the middle of the defense. I still worry about our secondary chasing down all those wide receivers that seemed to turn screens into 20 yard gains at will (see the Oregon game.)
As for the offense, who knows? A new quarterback. The promise of a better line, because the players have had a year to grow. Sound dicey, at best. But, what the heck? Everybody’s a national champ at this time of year. Can’t wait to see what happens in spring practice.
Here’s a nice roster addition. Gerald Munns will be back with the team according to the Republic. This is as good as signing a 4-star JC linebacker!
A salute to Munns: http://www.echofromthebuttes.com/2008/09/09/gerald-munns-is-a-bad-motha-shut-yo-mouth/
Munns out for the year: http://www.echofromthebuttes.com/2008/10/01/gerald-munns-is-out-for-the-season/
Honestly, I like this signing class better than any in a while simply for the fact we got Burfict and Adams, two guys in the top 100. It’s cliche to say rankings don’t mean anything, but when you’re ranked as high these guys, it really does. If they simply do what they’re supposed to do, then they’ll be All-Pac-10 players. And yeah, they could underachieve, but even if they do, I don’t see how they can be anything less than solid starters at worst. ASU has had too small of senior classes the last few (because of busts and people leaving) to not get excited about two sure things like Adams and Burfict. And I do indeed call them sure things. Two and three star prospects are a dime a dozen.
A lot of attention is given to getting the top recruits in AZ, which ASU hasn’t done of late (see Kennard, Udofia, Griffith, etc.), and getting our share of the LA area, which ASU will never win. But what about that other nearby metro area? You know the one I’m talking about, right? The city that is right behind Phoenix in population? The city where the smart 1/2 of AZ goes in the summer? Yes, I’m talking about San Diego.
For the life of me I can’t figure out why ASU doesn’t have a huge presence in the San Diego scene in all sports. Today the San Diego Union-Tribune published a list of all county high school students who signed a letter of intent. The list is, as you can imagine, quite long and contains a whos-who of universities. Unfortunately, only two of these students signed a l-o-i to enter ASU in fall 2009: one baseball player and one volleyball player.
This area is ripe for the picking.
@David, I second the San Diego motion and move to amend by adding Las Vegas to the list. There are half a dozen BCS-calibre prospects there every year and it’s a 45 minute flight from Tempe. Plus, Dennis Erickson used to make a living there when he coached at OSU. I know we’ve tried of late, but other than Lawrence Guy I don’t know that we’ve had much luck.
Matt, don’t forget about Josh Jordan. The kid won a state title with Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman in 07 and was in the top four cornerbacks on ASU’s depth chart all season as a true freshman. Erickson did good getting him and he will be a serviceable player the next three years.
As for Las Vegas this year, I write about this shit all day long. There are three guys from Southern Nevada that could have really helped ASU out. One is defensive end Justin Chaisson, a No. 73 overall player on Rivals, who signed with Oklahoma. I know for a fact ASU was after him but his top four were the Sooners, Florida, USC and LSU so he didn’t give us much of a chance. Another is cornerback Torin Harris from state runner up Palo Verde who signed with USC. I know ASU was after him too. He isn’t top 100 but he was one of the first three guys USC offered a scholarship for this year because he ran like the wind at one of their camps. Last is a four-star defensive end named Keenan Graham who signed with UCLA. We’ll see him in the future. AND the Devils recruited him too. They are already pretty deep in Las Vegas, I promise you that. However, I am pretty sure they didn’t give Keola Antolin a look, who is another Gorman product who, as we know, played well at running back for the ‘Cats as a true freshman this year.
Add WR Jarrid Bryant to the list above. A former high school teammate of ASU’s quintet of Centennial grads, Bryant spent the last year playing basketball at a prep school in Connecticut. Here’s what ASU had to say about Bryant:
“Jarrid Bryant, a 6-4, 185-pound wide receiver from Salisbury Prep School in Salisbury, Connecticut, … originally attended Corona (Calif.) Centennial High School where he was a star basketball player. He did not play football as a senior in high school. Teammates from Centennial High School at ASU include current players Ryan Bass, Shelly Lyons and Brandon McGee and fellow 2009 signing classmates Vontaze Burfict and William Sutton. Bryant becomes the 20th high schooler in ASU’s 2009 recruiting class.”
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