The Devils in the Details - Arizona State Football
‘The Devils in the Details” is a weekly detailed look at what’s going on in Arizona State Athletics. This week launches the first ever episode and part one with publisher of DevilsDigest.com, Hod Rabino, where we discuss ASU football with regards to recruiting and the pandemic. Due to the Corona virus, the recruiting dead period remains in tact. So that means that everything has gone virtual. Recruits are now seeing schools in a whole new way. Hod recently spoke with Co-Defensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator, Antonio Pierce and according to Pierce, “there hasn’t been a huge adjustment because they were doing some virtual processes before this pandemic hit so there wasn’t a whole lot of shift. It went from being 20-30% virtual to now 100%. No in-person contact whatsoever is permitted during this time. There was a lot of FaceTime before the pandemic though.”
Hod mentioned something that stuck out to him about what Pierce with regards to how Head Coach Herm Edwards can relate to these young athletes.
“We have a lot of not only NFL personalities on our staff, but also media personalities. To you and I he’s known as a former NFL coach, but to a lot of recruits out there, he is known as the ESPN personality talking NFL football,” Pierce told Hod.
Not only have the schools had to adjust to going 100% virtual, but also the recruits. Everyone is adjusting and the recruits are trying their best with the new normal as well.
“I think for a lot of them it is definitely an adjustment. The recruits that were able to make a name for themselves while their junior season was going on, they are probably not affected as much. There are still prospects who are going to write their own ticket….I think the pandemic and not being able to be on the road has forced coaches to take a really hard look at those diamonds in the rough, those recruits under the radar," Hod explained.
One thing is clear through all of this, the pandemic effects us all, recruits and coaches having to pivot and learn a new way of living ...for now.