Lucas pursuing 'legendary' status; prepared to lead Sun Devils in 2021

Ahead of ASU’s 2020 season, then-redshirt senior cornerback and local favorite Chase Lucas strolled into a team meeting. The premise of this get-together in August wasn’t to review the playbook, nor was it to review a defensive set from practice the day before; it was to announce which players would receive the captaincy for 2020. Who would be the five extra-ordinary players to lead his teammates into battle in a season which contained a vast amount of uncertainty due to COVID-19.

Lucas was certain that his name would be called. The ballhawk defensive back, who was a local standout at Chandler High School, had been a staple in the ASU starting lineup since his redshirt freshman year, and he remained a perfect four-for-four in Territorial Cup victories, setting the standard for excellence among his position group.

When Edwards revealed the names of ASU’s five captains for 2020, despite two of them being on the defensive side of the ball, Lucas was excluded from the list. The fifth-year corner was heartbroken; tears streamed down his face as he left the meeting.

“I remember when Herm (Edwards) pulled the paper back with all the names on there, I just remember sitting there looking at it and feeling my heart break,” Lucas said. “I put so much hard work and dedication into something I didn’t get. I remember walking out of the meeting crying, bawling tears.”

Edwards stopped Lucas and explained his reasoning. In response, Lucas, with heavy-hearted curiosity, asked the veteran head coach the question anyone would ask: “Why not me?”

“He said, ‘You did everything perfect, but these guys did it better than you,’” Lucas explained. “I shook my head and told myself; I can respect that. I couldn’t give him any other reason to not put that ‘C’ on my chest (in 2021). I just felt like I was able to prove something to myself and everybody that doubted me.”

While he may have wanted to prove doubters wrong in 2020, in which he had a stellar season across ASU’s limited four-game slate and earning First Team All-Pac 12 honors, the decision process to return for a sixth year didn’t come easily for the Sun Devil veteran. As a member of the 2016 recruiting class, he’s been more and ready to move onto the next phase of his career and was certainly insistent on going to the pros. On Monday, Lucas dove into his reasoning leading to his return for one final year in Tempe and how a conversation with equipment manager Jerry Neilly truly sparked his ultimate resolution.

Lucas’s theme of the day? “Legendary.”

“I was having a long talk with Jerry a couple of days before I made my decision,” Lucas recalled. “He told me, ‘I don’t know what’s going through your head if you want to stay or leave, I don’t know what you’re planning on doing, just know if you stayed and kept doing what you were doing in the 2020 season, you can get in the hall of fame at Arizona State, and you can be a Chandler & Tempe, Arizona legend.’ I went home and thought about that for hours.”

“I went to sleep that night, woke up, and told coach (Chris) Hawkins – tell everybody I’m coming back, make sure you save a spot for me. I think that is honestly the best decision I’ve made.”

Now back in maroon and gold for a rare sixth year, Lucas is supercharged, both physically and mentally, as he prepares to take the field for ASU one last time. What makes Lucas’s mentality in 2021 different, though, is his willingness to pass down the values he’s learned during his expansive time in Tempe.

Rather than just focusing on his own abilities as a player, he’s decided to go beyond just that. He doesn’t just want to make himself better; he wants to make the players around him better, something that another veteran cornerback on the team – fifth-year Jack Jones – helped him realize.

“I have to give a lot of credit for my success and changing really to Jack man,” Lucas admitted. “Having that presence, that type of swagger, athleticism, type of ball player he is, really helped me step up my game… I needed to have a reality check, and Jack was that. We compete to be the best, but we are the best of friends.

“I felt like I wasn’t a role model or leader to the secondary and wasn’t a role model or leader to the team. I feel like that’s why coach Herm didn’t put the ‘C’ on my chest. It was like I wasn’t vocal enough. I wasn’t pushing everybody to be their best. Now going forward, all I care about is this team… Moving forward, I want to put everybody in a great position to take care of their family and really be legendary here.”

On Monday, Edwards announced that Lucas would serve as team captain this year, finally shrugging off all the doubts that Lucas has encountered across the last eight months since he was snubbed of that opportunity. The veteran head coach knows the value that Lucas brings to the table and the aforementioned mindset emphasizing his mentorship to his younger teammates.

“We are fortunate enough to have Chase come back; he’s been a part of this program even before I got here,” Edwards said. “I looked at him and viewed him as a football player and told him eventually he’s going to be one of the leaders of this team. So, he’s a team captain (this year). He’s played a lot of football, and the players respect him as a person and as a player, so that when he says something, his voice is loud, and the players know that they have to hold each other accountable… It’s in (the returners) best interest that because they wanted to come back, they have to be the ones showing the leadership here because it’s their football team, and I like that.”

Lucas is one of six defensive starters who returns to Tempe after having the opportunity to go to the NFL Draft. The veteran corner, now committed to his own personal abilities on the football field, but even more so on leadership and guiding young players to follow their dreams and cut out distractions expanded on Edwards’ comments regarding leadership and how much that has changed since he was in his younger years.

“One thing I really want to work on this year is shining a light on the young kids,” Lucas confirmed. “I’ve been 18, 19, 20; I just turned 24, so I’ve got some years on these kids. I believe if I show them the right way or the opposite of what the leaders showed me when I was young here, I feel like Arizona State could be the next powerhouse in the Pac-12. Herm, coach Hawkins (defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce) all told me (the leadership) starts with me. So if I’m going to be the legendary guy I keep saying I want to be, I have to change some things. So, I’m going to change some things around here.”

With Lucas’s growing focus on leading younger players to be the best version of themselves, he’s been able to develop an eye for talent among the players in his position group, one he said on Monday is “the most talented he’s ever seen” with a level of never-before-seen camaraderie and bond as well.

“We’ve got 20-21 guys in the DB room, and not one person hates on another,” Lucas said. “That’s something that I never had coming up here; people were always trying to compete but compete negatively. I just feel like this room is very special.

“I’m pushing everybody every day, and it doesn’t just translate to the DB room; it translates to everybody. It’s the offensive line, running backs, everybody. I didn’t come back here to be average; I didn’t come back here to be good. I came back here to be legendary, and I’m going to hold everybody to that standard.”

Much like Jones’s lessons to Lucas, the redshirt senior returner finished his comments on Monday with a lesson from another player, the recently departed Frank Darby, who hopes to be picked in the NFL Draft in just over a month from now. (Darby’s Pro Day will actually take place in Tempe on March 29th).

Lucas and Darby were roommates the last four years and the constant energy and enthusiasm by the receiver taught Lucas yet another valuable lesson: in order to be remembered, don’t let your foot off the gas; there’s always room to improve.

Using that approach, it’s now up to Lucas to write the last chapter of his Arizona State legacy. He’s fully aware that the results of final lap of his college journey are entirely up to the level of effort he will demonstrate each and every day.

“How I carry myself on and off the field is the same. I keep my head high and want to be the best energy, kind of how Frank Darby was,” Lucas said. “No matter if you saw him at a truck stop, bus station, in class, (in front of the press), he was always the same. He never lowered the throttle. Living with him for four years, it really rubbed off on me.

“I feel like what’s going to make me legendary is separating myself from how I was my freshman, sophomore, junior years. I always feel like there’s room for improvement, whether it’s film (sessions), me getting right in the weight room… I feel like until I’ve done everything I can to check off those boxes, I’m not going to be legendary.”

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