Arizona State insider offers sobering look at 2023 recruiting woes
Arizona State signed six high school recruits during the 2022 cycle. It added three more from the junior college level. ASU inked 14 transfers to help offset a rash of departures from key players, but the class of youngsters was as small as it has been in some time.
Just two cycles prior, Arizona State welcomed 20 to campus. The 2021 class was smaller, with 13 enrollees from the high school ranks, but to have single-digit additions from developmental players is pretty uncommon at the Power Five level. The 2023 cycle is off to an even worse start, all serving to highlight just how much Arizona State has been affected by the investigation into alleged recruiting violations that took place under the watch of head coach Herm Edwards.
Sun Devil Source’s Chris Karpman shared a snapshot of ASU’s recruiting woes on social media Monday, reporting that Arizona State is one of only two programs at the Power Five level with fewer than three commitments so far this cycle. Israel Carter, a 3-star quarterback from Corona (Calif.) Centennial, is the lone public commitment right now.
ASU is the only P5 team in the country with just one commitment in the 2023 class.
Only one other P5 team (Auburn) has fewer than three commits.
55 of the 64 P5 teams have at least 5 commits.
ASU is currently ranked No. 89 in the 2023 team recruting rankings by 247Sports.
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) June 20, 2022
Context is key. Alabama only has five known commitments for its 2023 class. Eight of the other 11 Pac-12 programs have six or fewer. The problem is what the situation looks like going forward. ASU has only hosted one official visitor this month. By contrast, Arizona has hosted 29.
Karpman also reported that 10 of the 16 4-star high school prospects who signed with ASU from 2019 through the 2021 classes have already left the program. Those departures were some of the biggest losses sustained this offseason, and several occurred after ASU made sweeping staff changes earlier this year.
The NCAA opened an investigation into the Sun Devil football program a year ago. ASU could be saddled with Level I violations at some point this year, but nothing concrete has come from the investigation so far. That has left a cloud over the program as well as the head coach, as many have questioned Edwards’ job security throughout the offseason.
Still, Arizona State offensive lineman LaDarius Henderson expressed confidence in the program as it readies for the 2022 campaign.
“If you’re a big media guy or you’re really into following all that stuff, the consistent word that you see or hear is ‘lost, lost, lost, lost,’” Henderson told local reports last week. “And you hardly ever really hear ‘gained, gained, gained.’ It’s almost as if we’ve just lost a bunch of players and haven’t gotten any, and if that’s the case, we don’t have enough people to play a game at all. I’ve focused a lot on the people that want to be here, the people that are here now, and the people that we’ve gained.
“To be quite honest, every loss isn’t a bad loss. I’m not saying every gain is a great gain but we sure do have some good ones when I look around this locker room. Some really good gains. That makes me optimistic for this team. That makes my teammates optimistic for this. When we’re optimistic and believe in each other, I feel like that’s a dangerous team.”