Beavers' organic relationship with Chris Hawkins has ASU in Top 5

Almost exactly a year ago, ASU head coach Herm Edwards was on the phone with Anthony Beavers Jr. It was a bit odd. Sure, the Sun Devils had been recruiting the four-star Southern California athlete for a while, yet it was also less than 24 hours prior to when he committed to Oregon.

That notion, given the decision came more than a year and a half before he could actually put pen to paper didn’t deter the ASU coaches.

“(Herm) was like, ‘I’m going to keep recruiting you if that’s fine with you.” And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s solid,’ Beavers recalled his April 2019 phone call with Edwards. “I stayed in touch with those guys … I was always talking with ASU.”

If that represented Edwards sticking his foot in the door just before Beavers closed up his recruitment, his decommitment from the Ducks in mid-February swung it wide open.

And who's responsible for kicking it past the hinges? Hand the credit to ASU’s first-year defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins, Beavers admitted.

Hawkins was hired right before the new decade began, tag-teaming Beavers’ recruitment with the Devils’ recently-hired wide receivers coach Prentice Gill -- the pair using their formidable Southern California roots to connect with the 6-foot-2, 200-pound athlete out of Harbor City Narbonne High School.

“I had previous relationships with them at their previous schools (Hawkins at USC and Gill at Oregon),” Beavers explained. “Prentice’s dad coached at my high school and then Hawkins’ dad is a big seven-on-seven guy in California. They’re people you can relate to, they have been in the same shoes you’re in.”

Furthermore, the Sun Devils have actually been recruiting Beavers since his ninth-grade year. But then, it was mainly co-defensive coordinator and then-linebackers coach Antonio Pierce handling the recruitment process. The shift in recruiters is perhaps an indication of the upsurge of major California ties ASU has added with its recent coaching hires.

Though Beavers has yet to take a single official visit, he’s been on a number of unofficials (he was in Tempe for ASU’s loss against USC last year). While a majority of the nation’s top prospects feel a high degree of uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, his past visits have afforded him some clarity through the process.

On Wednesday, Beavers trimmed his 27 offers to a Top 5, which included ASU, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Florida A&M and San Diego State.

Recently, Beavers told Devils Digest that if he was forced to make his decision in the near future, he said the Sun Devils and Spartans would be, in no particular order, his top two schools.

“It’s dope up at ASU, I’ve been there a couple of times … Nice environment up there, nice weather,” Beavers remarked. “(At the top of my wish list) is comfortability, connections, coaches -- not so much coaches but interest. It’s a different feel if a school likes you, loves you and really wants you.

“I talk to ‘C Hawk’ all the time. We have a good, honest relationship.”

While Beavers is still unsure when he wants to commit, he plans on signing during the Early Signing Period and graduating early to ensure he can get out to campus for spring ball. Listed as an athlete, the Sun Devils are recruiting Beavers as a safety.

In high school, the four-star -- who’s ranked No. 171 in the nation and a top-20 prospect in California -- had 83 tackles and two interceptions during the 13 combined games he played during his sophomore and junior seasons for Serra High School, the program he transferred from in the off-season.

“(I play) physical, smart and high energy,” he said.

At the moment, the Sun Devil roster is littered with Southern California talent, including freshman wide receiver LV Bunkley Shelton who played with Beavers at Serra High School.

But even with all those connections, he said the person he’s most spoken about ASU with is another freshman wide receiver, Chad Johnson Jr., whose trademark is his social media recruiting presence in the effort of having prospects joining him in Tempe.

“I talk with Chad all the time,” Beavers said. “He’ll just be like, ‘Stop playing and come on.’

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