Graham: 2015 Arizona State Sun Devils recruiting class about length, depth

Never say Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham doesn’t know his geometry.

When it came to this year’s signing class, Graham and his staff added what they said they wanted to help shape their current roster — length and depth on both sides of the ball.

Faxes came in all day Wednesday, and by the time Graham took the podium inside the Sun Devils’ recruiting “Boom Room,” there were 22 signees broken down as such:

• Two tight ends (Thomas Hudson and Raymond Epps)

• Five offensive linemen (Cade Cote, Mason Walter, Dillon Faamatau, Zach Robertson and Steve Miller)

• Four defensive linemen (Joseph Wicker, Jalen Bates, George Lea and DeOnte Reynolds)

• Three linebackers (Malik Lawal, Khaylan Thomas and Davon Durant)

• Three defensive backs (Kareem Orr, Stanley “Scrappy” Norman and Jay Jay Wilson)

• Two running backs (Jaason Lewis and Morie Evans)

• One ATH (running back and linebacker Nick Ralston)

• Two quarterbacks (Bryce Perkins and Brady White)

Collectively, the class is currently ranked No. 19 in the country according to Scout.com.

It’s pretty clear at a glance where Graham and his scouting team solved their respective recruiting equations, and where they just couldn’t add things up. While they snagged touted defensive linemen and quarterbacks, they failed to pen a single receiver.

But the goal of the class, which Graham says is his best-ever, was to add length on both sides of the ball.

“We want to stockpile and overstock both sides of the line of scrimmage,” Graham said.

He later noted that, size-wise, there would be a noticeable difference in the line.

“We’re a lot bigger,” he said, grinning.

It’s a true statement. At 6-foot-3, 275 pounds, local Gilbert product Cote was the smallest offensive lineman signed. The biggest? Zach Robertson, who is 6-foot-5 and tips the scales at 322 pounds.

Perhaps the get that made Graham the giddiest (“I did my happy dance,” he said) was defensive lineman Joseph Wicker from Long Beach Polytechnic in California.

Wicker, one of ASU’s seven four-star signees, is the fifth player out of Long Beach Poly to sign with the Sun Devils. According to Graham, that relationship with the high school is one of ASU’s biggest assets.

“Probably the best recruiters we have here are our players,” Graham said of the Long Beach ties alongside other schools. He said when Wicker noticed the growth and success of former defensive star Will Sutton alongside Long Beach Poly product Salamo Fiso, it helped him realize how well he would fit into the program.

Wicker, alongside his big, fast defensive line counterparts in the 2015 class, will make a huge impact, Graham said.

“We wanted to get explosive,” he said. “Guys that are explosive off the football. We wanted to get more physical inside.”

The words “explosive” and “physical” were used by Graham to describe almost every single defensive player.

Those, and the word “depth” were also used to describe two running back additions in Lewis and Evans; though Evans’ shorter, stockier build will put him in more of a position seen by current ASU back Demario Richard. With the shift of D.J. Foster into a multi-use player, Graham said the added backs will be helpful.

The Sun Devils also added depth to their quarterback corps with the signing of White and Perkins.

White, widely thought to be a top-10 national quarterback prospect, has the “it factor,” while Perkins is “underrated big time,” and “has it all,” in Graham’s mind.

But, he added, ASU is blessed to already have quarterback Mike Bercovici and said adding the two commits bodes for a very consistent future at the position.

“We are accustomed to scoring points around here, and winning football games,” he said.

Yet won’t they need some new blood catching their passes, too?

“We’re still working a little bit on that,” said Graham of his program’s notable lack of signed receivers — the variable his program has yet to solve.

Overall, though, he said that barring that of wide receiver, “we feel like this is the best we’ve done,” in a signing class by every position.

He said it will be the “deepest team, fastest team (and) most explosive team (ASU) has had to this point.”

Graham projects that can only add to the foundation he’s been able to build over the last three years.

“We’re winning and we’re going about it the right way,” he said. “I’m excited about this recruiting class and what they bring. I am really excited about what they’re coming to join.”

Quote of the Day

“I want to thank all of the players that we recruited that went elsewhere. I want to wish them the very, very best. I got to meet a lot of really quality young men and that’s something that I enjoy and hopefully we had an impact on them in some way. I want to thank the guys and wish them the very best that went somewhere else.”
— Graham, on losing recruiting battles.

Stat of the Day

• Graham and his staff went on 19 home visits in nine days prior to National Signing Day.

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