Four star wide receiver Adrian Wilson has been plenty bullish on the Sun Devils for quite a while now. And despite the fact that on his official visit, he was talking to a new offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, those sentiments towards ASU certainly did not go away bleeding to a Friday evening pledge.
“Me and Hines Ward had a conversation today,” Wilson said of ASU's first-year wide receivers coach, “and it solidified everything I needed to hear. Not only is he somebody that's highly touted in the position, but he’s someone that is very relatable. He told me everything that I wanted to hear, but it didn’t sound like that's what he was trying to do. He was telling us as a coach, what his goals are. That was definitely something I was looking for in a receiver coach, and Arizona State was definitely a school I was already into.
“He (Ward) said he will be the extension of your family, and that’s always something you want to hear from a coach. Other than that, he was talking about the things I can do developmentally-wise differently. He's gonna make sure you block before you get the ball. So, not only is your blocking going to help the whole offense, but it's also going to reward you at the end of the day. He seems like a real coach that's going to not only build you as a player but as a man off the field.”
Wilson, who is the No. 102 overall prospect and No. 19 wide receiver in the 2025 class, as well as No. 15 205 Texas prospect, posted 51 receptions for 927 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior. During his sophomore campaign, he caught 28 passes for 547 yards and eight touchdowns. The wide receiver was previoulsy committed to TCU and Oregon, a pledge that he backed away from last month. Ole Miss, Penn State, and Texas A&M were other schools that were heavily involved with him during the recruiting process.
“The coaches told me that besides my blocking,” Wilson stated. “I can turn a 50-50 ball into a 75-25. My route running is really good, but it’s definitely something I can work on. I have a very high football IQ in general, with different ways to run routes. (offensive coordinator) Coach Marcus Arroyo definitely made a huge impression on me, showing that they run a lot of things we use in my high school offense. He was telling me some of their play names, and I knew the routes that they run just because I already knew them. That's huge because it’s already going to be a seamless transition to me. They said that they like me at both outside receiver positions.”
Wilson was equally impressed with head coach Kenny Dillingham and said that his approach is one that resonates with him quite a bit.
“He said he’ll definitely not sugarcoat things,” Wilson commented, “and that's something that you definitely want out of your head coach. What he said matched up with a lot of other coaches, being the family away from family and home away from home aspect. He's young, so he's really relatable. He'll play you in Madden, but don't take him as the light-hearted coach; he's definitely going to tell you 100%, pull you in there, and tell you when you're being lazy. Being able to see him just move out throughout the campus and talk to the different players, you can clearly tell that they have a good relationship, but he can still be honest with them. He's from here. He went to college here. He knows everybody. You can't really lie to him about what you were doing. You could say, ‘I wasn't at the club,’ but he knows the owners of the clubs.
“He's gonna hold you accountable, and that’s definitely a coach that I need in my life. Being highly rated in high school, I'm gonna be honest: I kind of just get to do a lot of things that other people can get away with, like walk into class late and not have to go get a tardy pass. But with Coach Hines Ward, he's been there and done that, so he's not going to give you the pass. Hines Ward has done things way greater than I ever could. So he's got to hold me accountable; Coach Dillingham is gonna hold me accountable for the things that I'm doing as well. So that really resonates with me.”
Wilson will join a plethora of Lone State State players at ASU, highlighting the school’s #Texas2Tempe mantra, one that hasn’t been lost on the newest 2025 pledge.
“I know (incoming freshman wide receiver) Zechariah Sample,” Wilson noted. “I know some other guys from back home. It’s gonna help me as a true freshman, but not only with a lot of the players being from Texas, but a lot of the coaches as well, like (Director of Recruiting) Isaiah Williams being from the Dallas area, and that's somebody that was really was big in my recruitment as well. Even during the time that coach Samp (former wide receivers coach Ra’Shaad Samples) was here, he was really pushing my recruitment as well. So having al these from Texas who helped out with my recruitment, that's big.
“Now, on my visit, I’m trying to get some of these linemen and linebackers to commit too.”
Wilson is the sixth commit of ASU's 2025 class and the second four-star prospect joining quarterback Michael Tollefson. The wide receiver is slated to graduate in December and enroll in the spring of 2025.
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