Chatman discusses ASU pick

It took Arizona State five days beyond National Letter of Intent Day to finally sign a wide receiver prospect in the 2015 class, but it got one.

A pretty well regarded one at that.

Baton Rouge (La.) Central High 6-foot-4, 180 pound star Terrell Chatman had Georgia, Miami and TCU pressing him for his signature up to and even well beyond the start of the period, but the Sun Devils ultimately proved victorious.

"It was hard because I had narrowed it down to two schools and from there I just didn't know what to do," said Chatman, who couldn't decide between ASU and TCU last Wednesday. "I wasn't ready at the time so I wasn't going to just go and sign, like flip a coin or anything like that. I just needed to give it a little more time to think everything through. It was really basically 50/50."

There was nothing in particular that ultimate led Chatman to pick the Sun Devils. It wasn't a moment of clarity or something unsaid previously that led to a new perspective once revealed. He just let everything soak in a little more and a decision came to him.

"It felt like a relief because the decision was hard to make and school were calling and asking a lot and it was hard to process," Chatman said. "But once I knew what I wanted to do, I was just happy about it."

ASU players resonated with Chatman on his visit and he liked the school's support for student athletes as well as the weather and the surrounding area. A burgeoning relationship with one coach in particular played a significant role.

"Mostly I was talking to (ASU offensive coordinator) Mike Norvell," Chatman said. "He's a real cool coach. He's basically a good person and I connected with him a lot on my visit. I look forward to working with him.

"I felt comfortable out there. The depth chart or the recruiting class really didn't matter to me. I fell in love more with the school than anything because I felt comfortable out there. I'm going to compete wherever I go and I feel like my ability will allow me to play anyway. The depth chart I looked at but it wasn't that much of a factor."

Though his family was supportive, Chatman said it took some time for the reasons for his decision to be fully embraced by his mother in particular.

"The distance is a big part, like my mom and stuff, it took here a while to understand why I wanted to go to Arizona State or even consider it because it's like a 23 hour drive from where I'm at," Chatman said. "I'm going to be a long way from home so I don't know how I'll adapt to that right now but I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it there because I really did on my visit. I'm feeling good about my decision."

Chatman said people have compared him to NFL star A.J. Green and recent ASU standout Jaelen Strong, but neither of those things had much influence over him.

"I could say the same thing about other schools and wide receivers that were successful at the other schools," he said. "Every school that was recruiting me had big name receivers that went there and I could be compared to. It was just something about Arizona State that felt like it was what I was looking for and where I wanted to go."