ASU Football: Devils Add 3 More O Linemen
By Mike Slifer
In building the 2015 recruiting class, ASU head football coach Todd Graham has obviously made offensive line a priority. In the last couple weeks, ASU has secured the verbal commitments of three offensive linemen. All of them are excellent prospects.
Cade Cote is a 6’4″/280 pound product of Williams Field High School in Gilbert. Steve Miller, 6’5″/280 is from just down the road at Gilbert High School. And Mason Walter from Temecula High School in California measures at 6’5″/275.
Besides their measurables, they are all rated as 3 star recruits and had offers from several schools. It’s particularly pleasing for Sun Devil fans to see coach Graham go after (and get) two local in-state prospects like Cote and Miller.
Offensive line will be a huge priority after next season. In this last recruiting cycle, ASU only signed two offensive linemen. And although, ASU will probably be just fine up front on offense this season, they’ll need more talented bodies to fill the void for when this current group leaves.
Offensive line is critical to any football team at any level. Without an adequate offensive line, you can’t win. You can’t even compete. To be a good team, you need an excellent offensive line. A hard-nosed, tough, smart, experience offensive line can carry a team and take over a game. So, going after good offensive linemen while recruiting is a no-brainer.
But with coach Todd Graham, it appears that he is more interested in quality than quantity. Last February, he most certainly could have signed more than two offensive linemen out of high school. And every school in the country tries to sign four OL’s every year as a minimum. But coach Graham only saw two worth having that he could get. And that’s in fact all he got. So, it’s good to see that he and his staff have made the position a priority in recruiting and have won the trust and confidence of three quality linemen.