Each "quick hits" from here forward will have a featured recruit to showcase who the future is of this Sun Devil football team. This week it's top recruit 4-star quarterback Brady White from Newhall, California. Now, I'm not one to make big, bold predictions and my brother once told me that nothing someone says before the word "but" really counts... but, I believe Brady White will be a four year starter for the Sun Devils. The success of pure passer Mike Bercovici gave CTG's offense a new wrinkle this season and Brady fits the bill. The #4 pro rated passer by ESPN and Elite 11 quarterback, Brady White has a solid arm. Extremely accurate on short to intermediate routes and solid pocket presence, the only weakness I noticed on tape was the occasional footwork blunder, a forced pass or two and a bit of flutter on his deep ball. Besides those flaws, he seems to have a knack of keeping his eyes down field, feeling out pressure in the pocket, not panicking and delivering a solid ball with his feet set or not. Even some of his forced throws were completed into the tightest of windows, threading the needle in ways some college QB's dream about. Remember too, White is still young. Slight (and I mean slight) footwork issues and judgement errors can all be corrected with the right coach at the helm. Needless to say, I think Todd Graham can handle that.
The boldness of the four year starter claim really stems from last year's freshman phenom recruit Manny Wilkins. Another Elite 11 quarterback, Manny is more of a dual threat at the head of the offense, with arguably a more powerful arm and more speed. After Berco's departure, we should be in good hands either way. Brady will be coming off a redshirt year learning CTG's offense and Wilkins will be the #2 hopefully seeing some game action in early season blowouts. Unfortunately for Manny, this Sun Devil offense seems to operate better with a pure passer under center. A better arm will carry this offense farther than a pair of legs will, which has been consistent with Coach Graham's QB philosophy from day one. People tend to forget Taylor Kelly beat out Michael Eubank for his starting spot, who had a powerful arm and was an even better runner. Sound familiar?
Look, I'm not saying Manny Wilkins won't be successful at the collegiate level. He may very well end up as one of the most talented back-ups in the PAC-12 (ie formerly Mike Bercovici) or transfer to find immense success (ie Michael Eubank). However, if Bercovici can show the same type of production next season, especially without Jaelen Strong, the Sun Devil scheme at QB may lend itself even further to a pure-passer who can occasionally run rather than a strict dual-threat spread option guy. Unless Todd Graham brings in another top recruit to compete after next season, it seems like this is Brady White's job to lose... and he hasn't even stepped on campus yet.
MY EYES RT"@Uniformswag: First look at the new @SunDevilEquip @adidasFballUS #uniswag pic.twitter.com/xCIZjt3tsj"
— Ryan McGinn (@RyanMcGinn_) January 11, 2015
That dump truck of money is suddenly not looking so pretty... but full disclosure, I haven't personally seen that pile of German green yet. Anyway, Adidas dropped this uni combo on us at the American Football Coaches Association national convention (that is a mouthful) and thankfully, it's just a rough prototype. The thought of keeping the copper lids around is encouraging, meaning Trey Bars won't completely toss all of Nike's work out the window, but if Adidas wants to compete with the big dogs, any leaked photo of absolutely anything needs to be pure fire. New "prototype" jerseys that don't look fit for a Pop Warner team isn't bringing Notre Dame back through that door guys. Well, that and a 10 year contract. We've been spoiled Adidas; you gotta be better... or bring Sparky back. You'll rule Tempe within minutes.
To start, I'm glad the 942 Crew is finally getting the recognition they deserve. They've spent over two years coming up with clever ways to take our football home field advantage and bring that to the basketball court. I remember seeing the Curtain for the first time. It was magical. There was a chubby bearded man, dressed like Miley Cyrus (so of course, half naked) riding a wrecking ball. I'll never forget saying to myself, "How has this not gone viral yet?" Kudos guys, you really deserve it.
Now, everyone and their mom has said their piece (peace?) on our new school tradition, so I'll leave you with this: #FallonToFargo. Sorry Kimmel, it's only because he's going to be out here anyway. We still love ya bud; don't make us choose.
Senior Bowl Helmet ... pic.twitter.com/63PovmO7Jy
— Damarious Randall (@RandallTime) January 19, 2015
With the Senior Bowl this Saturday, I wanted to congratulate Jamil Douglas, Marcus Hardison and Damarious Randall on their invitation to represent ASU. Why you gentlemen are on the North Team I will never understand. Also for those behind the times, Taylor Kelly won the starting job in the East-West Shrine Game last Saturday after Jim Zorn picked him for his high IQ and dual threat nature his name out of a hat. Yes, the strikethrough is over the right text. At least Taylor was on the geographically correct team?
Last, but not least, it's no secret that the basketball team has been, well, bad as of late; like really, really bad. But every cloud has a silver lining and ours is Shaquielle McKissic throwing down a nasty dunk every other game.
It almost makes you forget Jahii could still be here... If you'll excuse me, I'm going to drown my winter sports sorrow in a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and eight hours worth of 30 For 30's.