5 days until kickoff, Manny Wilkins was one of Arizona State's most prolific passers

The anticipation is overpowering.

With Week 0 games now in the books, Saturday's season opener against Northern Arizona is lurking just over the horizon. Yesterday we honored the legend of safety Darren Woodson, a player whose call to Canton is long overdue. With 5 days until kickoff, we turn back to the offense to highlight the career of quarterback Manny Wilkins.

A highly sought four-star recruit from Novato San Marin High School in California, Manny was recruited by 21 colleges before committing to Arizona State for his freshman year in 2014. With Taylor Kelly and Mike Bercovici holding down the QB position he would redshirt in 2014, dressing for only one game. He saw extremely limited action in 2015, appearing in four games and not registering any passing stats, rushing for 55 yards on 7 carries.

After Bercovici's graduation in 2015, the quarterback competition opened, concluding with Manny winning the starting job over Brady White in training camp. His first career start came in the season opening 44-13 win over Northern Arizona, and a week later would throw his first career touchdown pass in the 68-55 shootout win over Patrick Mahomes and Texas Tech.

Manny and the Devils would start out the season 5-1, including a Pac-12 After Dark classic 51-41 win over Cal, but would fall flat the rest of the season, losing the final six games of the season and missing out on a bowl bid.

In an otherwise forgettable season, Manny impressed in his debut season as a starter, throwing for 2,329 yards and 12 touchdowns against 9 interceptions, adding 246 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns on 128 attempts in 10 games, while also serving as a team captain alongside Zane Gonzalez. His 43 completions in the defensively challenged 56-35 Territorial Cup loss remains a program record, eclipsing Mike Bercovici's mark of 42 set just two years prior.

The 2017 season saw Manny return as a captain, and produced the best year of his Sun Devil career. Starting all 13 games in the final season of the Todd Graham era, Manny led the Devils to a 7-6 record and the first of three bowl appearances in a row, throwing for a career-best 3,270 yards and 20 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, and furthering his dual-threat abilities with 282 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns.

He threw for 300+ yards in four games on the season, saving the best for last with a season-high 352 yards in the 52-31 loss to North Carolina State in the 2017 Sun Bowl. He was named Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 in recognition of his achievements for the season.

The next year ushered in a new head coach that most would like to forget, but for Manny it was business as usual. Team captain for a third year as a redshirt senior, he surpassed the 3,000 yard mark for the second straight season, finishing the year with 3,025 yards for the 10th and most recent 3,000 yard season by a Sun Devils quarterback.

His 20 touchdowns gave him a career mark of 52, 6th all time in program history. He set career highs in rushing with 452 yards and 8 touchdowns, none bigger than his 11 yard score in the game known simply as "The Comeback".

His 8,624 career passing yards rank 5th all-time in program history, while ranking 4th in total offense with 9,659 total yards. His 20 career rushing touchdowns rank second among Sun Devil quarterbacks behind only Mark Malone (21), and he's tied with Danny White for the longest streak of consecutive games with a passing or rushing touchdown with 20 games between 2017 and 2018.

After graduation, Manny went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft but was signed to the Green Bay Packers practice squad for the 2019 season. After a few years away from football, he re-emerged in 2023, signing with the St. Louis Battlehawks of the XFL. He followed the Battlehawks when they joined the UFL in 2024, grinding to a 3-3 career record to date with 803 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in 9 games.

Manny's legacy in the maroon and gold will elicit varying responses from the Sun Devil faithful. As one of just three ASU quarterbacks to beat both L.A. schools and Arizona in the same season (2018, joining Taylor Kelly in 2013 and Jake Plummer in 1996), his consistent presence during a changing of the guard at head coach sets him apart for me, making him a worthy inclusion with 5 short days until kickoff.