ASU Football: Herm Edwards will be a huge figure for N’Keal Harry

A close relationship between wide receiver N’Keal Harry and head coach Herm Edwards will be essential to Harry’s success with ASU football and beyond.

In life, there are certain bonds that bring the best out of people: professor and student, parent and child, and mentor and mentoree, to name a few.

When paired correctly, these relationships create individuals that are prepared to overcome challenges and use experience to their advantage. If the pupil is ever in need of support, they know who they can rely on.

As an athlete, specifically in the game of football, players have the advantage of incorporating several bonds into one with their coaches. Outside of drawing up plays or being the guide for how to read a defense, coaches are there to teach skills of adulthood, be a parental figure and prepare their athletes for life beyond football.

Herm Edwards is one man that exceeds at these exterior values of coaching. At yesterday’s Pac-12 Media Day, Edwards characterized himself as a “communicator,” one that is always open to having any type of discussion with his student-athletes.

“It’s great to be heard, but more than be heard, have a solution,” Edwards told Pac-12 Networks. “And that’s where communication has to come in. For me with the players, I’m a communicator. I’m always talking to the players. There’s not a thing that they could ask me that I’ll go like, ‘oh, I’ve never heard that before.’ I’ve probably heard it before. And I think they’re starting to trust me with that.”

One player that Edwards has already struck a relationship with is junior N’Keal Harry. Harry, a 6’4, 213-pound wide receiver from Chandler, Arizona, entered Arizona State as one of the biggest recruits in program history. He was ranked as the No. 1 wide receiver in the country and the 18th ranked recruit overall in the class of 2016 by rivals.com.

Following a breakout sophomore season where he caught 82 passes for 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns, the All-Pac-12 First Team honoree is primed for an even bigger year in 2018, having been added to preseason watch lists for the Maxwell Award, Fred Biletnikoff Award and recently the Paul Hornung Award.

Harry’s name has also been spotted on several big boards for the 2019 NFL Draft. He was projected to be selected by the Houston Texas with the 29th overall pick in Todd McShay’s way-too-early 2019 NFL Mock Draft, and is also ranked as the No. 2 wide receiver in the class of 2020 by draftscout.com.

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With Harry’s future holding so much promise, he’s already done his duty by seeking Edwards’ guidance. He said it’s already starting to pay dividends.

“His words really do stick with me,” Harry told Pac-12 Networks. “I still remember being a senior in high school, having him coach me at the Under Armour game, and him telling us that it’s so important for us to act right off the field. What we do off the field is a direct reflection of our family, and we can either make our family extremely proud or bring shame to our family. And that’s something that’s stuck with me ever since I’ve heard it.”

In return, Edwards has said that Harry has given everything and more than he’s asked for as a head coach.

"He has a special quality and one you need in anything in life that you do. He competes. He competes. You have to compete at whatever you do in life, whether you’re a media person, a television personality, you have to compete every day. When he walks on the field, whether it’s in practice, whether it’s in the weight room, whatever it may be, he competes."

As he pointed out yesterday, Edwards has experienced countless moments that he can tell stories about. He coached and played football at the professional level, grew up as a biracial son of a World War II veteran in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, commentated for ESPN and has also raised three children.

Harry will shortly begin the most important phase of his life, growing into an adult that will likely play football for a living and start a family in the coming years. If there’s anyone that can prepare him for those years, it’s Edwards.

At Arizona State, we’ve already seen how strong a player-coach relationship can be. Sun Devil basketball coach Bobby Hurley and guard Shannon Evans II were a pair that embodied a bond like father and son, with Hurley taking Evans with him from Buffalo to Tempe and turning him into an All-Pac-12 guard that was key to the team’s run to the NCAA Tournament last season.

Several times, Evans would quickly point to their relationship being like family.

Even though we’ll never see how just how special a bond can be from an outside view, it’s clear that Edwards wants to guide his players, specifically Harry, in the right direction. Over the course of the next year, Harry will likely have to resist temptation, false promises and possibly betrayal that will look to overthrow the great things ahead of him.

Thankfully, he’ll be spending a majority of his time with a man that is committed to making sure none of that ever comes to fruition. With that in mind, Harry’s path to success becomes even clearer.