Back from the mend: Chase Lucas on returning from injury, UCLA's challenges
Banished to the Arizona State locker room for the second half of the Sun Devils contest with BYU, super senior cornerback Chase Lucas was awaiting re-evaluation after suffering a hit to the head late in the first half. The training staff told Lucas they would take another look, but as the third quarter progressed, Lucas realized it was a delay tactic to avoid the veteran Sun Devil defensive back from forcing his way back onto the sideline to watch the game in a loud road environment.
“They lied to me,” Lucas jokingly told reporters Wednesday as he recalled his injury. The sixth-year Sun Devil defensive back suffered a concussion after taking a knee to the head while attempting to make a tackle in the second quarter of ASU’s 27-17 loss to BYU. “Third quarter happened, and they never came back.”
Most doctors advise against looking at electronic screens following a concussion – and studies have shown that abstaining from them can speed up the recovery time from a concussion – but Lucas couldn’t resist. Upon his realization that he would not be returning to the game or the sideline, Lucas had to get creative to watch the remainder of the game.
“I had to go on streamy live and pull up the game. It was on my phone, and the connection was terrible,” said Lucas of his viewing experience from the locker room of Lavell Edwards Stadium. And so, Chase Lucas was just like most ASU fans. “I remember when Merlin (Robertson) got the interception, it was like, ‘oh, Merlin got the interception!’ And I throw the phone, and I’m like, ‘oh my God!’”
But as Arizona State’s bad luck unfolded and Robertson had his interception return punched out by Tyler Allgeier, so too did Lucas’s.
“And then (the stream) froze,” Lucas said. “Next thing you know, it pops up, and it’s like, ‘look at this play from 25.’ I just remember screaming in my head.”
The concussion for Lucas kept him out of Saturday’s 35-13 win over Colorado and was the first game he hadn’t participated in since the season-opener in 2017 against New Mexico State. Even that contest saw Lucas dressed. Without his presence, some young Sun Devils were able to get more opportunities and valuable experience during a Pac-12 game.
“They’ve done a really good job,” Lucas said of the young Sun Devil defensive backs. “A lot of the guys are just locked in, and they know that they’re going to have the opportunity to play. Our whole starting defense hasn’t been able to play together one game, so when you think about that and how successful we’ve been and how much more successful we can be when everyone gets back in order – the young guys know they’re going to have to play.
“I know as an older guy, and as a captain of the team, I’ve got to push them to be at their best.”
Because Lucas had participated in 44 consecutive games for Arizona State before missing the game against Colorado, not being available gave him a significantly different perspective than what he was used to.
“It was actually really dope to watch the game,” Lucas said. “I really enjoyed watching my defense ball out. It was a good perspective. I enjoyed the time that I had interacting with the fans, interacting with my teammates; it was a cool thing. But I’m not doing it no more. It was a one-time thing. I’m about to go ball out for the rest of the year.”
As Lucas returns for this weekend’s matchup with No. 20 UCLA, the Arizona State secondary gets closer to being at full strength. Saturday should be the first time this season that interim defensive backs coach Donnie Henderson has gone into a contest with each of ASU’s starting cornerbacks available.
“It starts with him and his confidence,” Henderson said of Lucas’s impact on the ASU defense. “He’s played a lot of football games, and when you play a lot of football games like he has, the confidence is there, and you’ve seen enough just from visual experiences. When you think you’re the best and you feel like you’re the best, you kind of feel like you’re pretty good, and I think he’s at that point right now.”
Lucas has so much experience at the collegiate level that he’s matched up with over 30 quarterbacks. Assuming that UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is able to participate after suffering a shoulder injury against Stanford, it’ll be the third time Lucas has faced the UCLA signal-caller. Thompson-Robinson would be just the fifth quarterback – of 33 that he’s faced – Lucas has matched up with three times.
“He’s a great player, and he’s also a friend of mine,” Lucas said of Thompson-Robinson, who ranks second in the country in passing yards per completion. “I know he’s going to do his due diligence, and I am too.”
After complimenting UCLA’s run game, Lucas noted that Thompson-Robinson would have to make quick decisions as to who to try to challenge in the ASU secondary.
“I know DTR is looking out at the back-end thinking, ‘who am I going to throw the ball to? Where am I going to get these plays?’ So, I think we’re ready for him, and I know he’s going to be prepared for us. His legs are incredible. There are two running backs on the field at all times, maybe three or four, depending on the packages.
“He’s a great runner, but at the same time, he makes good decisions, and he’s a good leader.”
Arizona State heads to Los Angeles, hoping to reverse the trend of its previous two trips. A 2019 trip to the Rose Bowl and a 2020 trip to the LA Coliseum have both been unsuccessful for the Sun Devils. In the first two tries against Thompson-Robinson, the Bruins have come away with the victory both times.
“I think we’re just too focused to let any distractions come between us and our goal,” Lucas said as an LA-heavy roster returns to what many call home. “We’ve got some unfinished business out there. The game plan is just to go win the game and have fun doing it.”
Because Lucas passed up an opportunity to chase his NFL dreams following the shortened 2020 Pac-12 season, contests like Saturday’s that could change the course of the division race are magnified for him.
“If we would’ve beat BYU, we would’ve been on national television, probably in primetime; that’s the thing that hurts,” Lucas said. “But it’s the next game. This game is a big game for us. We need to go take the Pac-12 South and go do the things that we’re destined to do and have tried to promise this community that we were going to do.
“I think we’re in a great position. The Pac-12 is wide open, so we have to go get the job done.”
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