ASU football wins California recruiting battle for 2020 class

By now, you may have heard: Arizona State got some top recruits out of California in this recruiting cycle, getting some of the best prospects for the 2020 class in its neighboring state.

According to 247Sports, there are 31 prospects in California rated 4 or 5 stars in the 2020 class. Of those, ASU got seven (Nos. 11, 13, 15, 17, 23, 29, 31).

USC, a Pac-12 rival of the Sun Devils that’s, you know, actually in the state of California, got just two (Nos. 5, 30).

This factoid was pointed out by Banner Society’s Alex Kirshner, who put together a map of the United States and assigned winners of the recruiting battle in each state. In California, that winner was Arizona State. In Arizona, Ohio State took home the title.

If I told you California had 31 blue-chip prospects, USC signed two, and Arizona State signed seven, would you believe me? You would not. But you’d be wrong. Maybe USC should have fired its coach or something.

Indeed, USC retaining hot-seat head coach Clay Helton was a storyline this past year in the Pac-12.

California’s top recruit, quarterback Bryce Young, is set to go to Alabama.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, ASU lost its home state recruiting battle. There are nine four- or five-star prospects in Arizona, per 247Sports, and Ohio State got two of them: Salpointe Catholic safety Lathan Ransom (No. 4) and Chaparral quarterback Jack Miller (No. 9). The Buckeye’s were the only team to get multiple top prospects from Arizona.

The top recruit in the state, Saguaro cornerback Kelee Ringo, signed on with Georgia.

In addition to the “Cali Devils,” as ASU likes to call them on social media feeds, the Sun Devils also earned the commitment of DeaMonte Trayanum, a four-star running back from Ohio. He is their only incoming blue chip prospect not from California, per 247Sports.

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