Yesterday's entry in our countdown to kickoff highlighted the career of Sun Devil legend Jim Jeffcoat. Today, we stay on the defensive side of the ball and look at the career and impact of Brett Wallerstedt.
Hailing from the Little Apple of Manhattan KS, Wallerstedt made the move west to begin his college career in 1989 under second year head coach Larry Marmie. After seeing limited playing time in his freshman season, Brett made his presence known at linebacker, recording 109 tackles in 1990, good for second on the team behind Nathan LaDuke's 122.
As a junior in 1991, Wallerstedt raised the bar even higher, registering a career high 122 tackles, but was shockingly left off the Pac-10 All-Conference team. Returning to Tempe for his senior season, Brett followed up his impressive junior campaign by recording 119 tackles, including 22 tackles for loss.
In recognition of his performance on the field, he earned recognition on the All Pac-10 First Team, and was named an Honorable Mention All-American. As if those accolades weren't enough evidence of his performance, Brett represented the West Coast in the East-West Shrine Game, and was recognized as defensive MVP in the game.
In April of 1993, Brett's name was called when the Phoenix Cardinals took him in the 6th round with the 143rd overall pick. Over four seasons in the NFL between Phoenix, Cincinnati and St. Louis, Wallerstedt appeared in 30 games, recording 38 tackles (23 solo). His best season in the league came in 1995 with Cincinnati under coach Dave Shula, recording 22 total tackles (20 solo).
Following the NFL, Brett returned to Arizona and has served in multiple capacities with Arizona State University, currently serving as the Senior Associate Athletic Director of Sun Devil Athletics Corporate Partnerships since 2018. In recognition of his collegiate performance, Brett was inducted into ASU's Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. He remains 4th all-time in program history with 362 tackles, and shares the program record for career solo tackles with 238.