Deonte Anderson pleasantly surprised by ASU offer
In a matter of several months, Arizona State went from a team Deonte Anderson casually saw on TV, to one of his many Power 5 suitors. The Florida defensive lineman told us ASU has a combination of aspects that are appealing to him right out of the gate.
“Getting that offer was a big surprise because I didn’t think they ever looked at me,” Anderson said of the Sun Devils’ offer. “They really started talking to me recently, like three days ago. I’ve been talking to their D-Line coach, Robert Rodriguez. Their (ASU’s) education is great just like their sports."
“Coach Rodriguez said that he sees me as a defensive end and that he likes my effort in how I play. I’m a shifty, athletic player. I need to improve on using my hands better when I come off the ball.”
ASU’s NFL experience on its staff has naturally been a facet of the program that is mentioned to all of the school’s prospects during the recruiting process and much like with the Florida defensive lineman is making an early impression in the Sun Devils’ pursuit.
“They talked about how their staff has people that can help players succeed through college and helped them get to the next level,” Anderson remarked. “Coach Rodriguez told me that he coached for the Vikings, and he got offered to coach for a lot of other NFL teams. But he wanted to come to coach in college, coach up players to be at the NFL level.”
Anderson mentioned South Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Nebraska as the schools recruiting him the hardest. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic he wasn’t able to attend various camps at those schools and others, nor did he have a chance yet to visit any of those campuses.
“It’s been kind of weird because I can’t even go on official visits right now,” Anderson said of his recruiting process. “I really want to go on all of them. Distance doesn’t don’t matter because where I go, my people going to go, and my family would come to see me play.”
The lineman is undecided on whether he will be graduating high school in December or not, and said that in the event of his senior high school season being postponed that he would certainly entertain the notion of enrolling in the college of choice in January.
“I want to go to a school that has a great education,” Anderson stated, “has a great environment to live in and has a great team environment.”
Jesse Morrison contributed to this article.
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