Enrique Cruz fits ASU’s prototype. He’s 6-foot-6. Heck, that’s all he really needs. He could have come in under 200 pounds, never touched a pigskin before and a half dozen college football programs would throw an offer at him on potential alone, on the basis (and old football adage) that you can’t teach height.
But Cruz, at 265 pounds and offensive line skills that have loaded up an offer list of a dozen, including seven from power-five programs. For now, Cruz said the trio of schools recruiting him the hardest have been Syracuse, Indiana, and Arizona State.
The Sun Devils, Cruz admitted, have been in contact with him for about two weeks, extending an offer to the Villa Park, Illinois offensive lineman on Monday.
“It really made my day,” Cruz said.
While Cruz has had conversations with offensive analyst Kevin Mawae and offensive coordinator Zak Hill, his main contact in Tempe has been graduate assistant Adam Breneman, who has begun forming a tight relationship with Cruz and given him the run-low on the Sun Devils.
“(He said) they are a really good school and their coaches are amazing too,” Cruz said of Breneman.
This is an odd time for recruits. Instead of a summer full of official visits, prospects around the country have weighed the thought of committing to a school they’ve never visited or stalling their commitment with the fear that they may wait too long and schools may fill up their recruiting class.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has halted official visits and left any football-related activities or dates in question.
Regardless, Cruz said he’s anxious for the day when he’ll be able to make the 1,700-mile journey to Tempe to check out the Sun Devils’ facilities and have face-to-face meetings with their coaches.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” he said. “I can’t wait until I can go check it out.”
For now, though, Cruz’s ASU intel will have to come from a slew of Google searches and what the Sun Devil coaches have relayed to him -- notably how he may fit into Hill’s new scheme.
“He said they do it all. He’s like, ‘We run power, screens, all of it.,’’ Cruz said Hill told him. “They really like my athleticism and how I am in the open field … “My strengths are my pass blocks and open-field blocks, most definitely. And my weaknesses are probably on my down blocks on run blocks, but I’m working on that this year.”
Cruz also has a multi-sport resume to hang his hat on. At Willowbrook High, Cruz played basketball, wrestled and competed in the shot put and discus on the track and field team. That versatility and cross-sport training, Cruz said, improved his football game by simply lifting more and becoming more coordinated in myriad respects.
For now, though, with his senior season up in the air and the recruiting calendar still in flux, Cruz is merely trying to decide what school best addresses his top two priorities.
“How the school is with academics and the atmosphere of the school,” he said.
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