In my own words: Geordon Porter

Clocking in at 4.32 seconds in the 40-yard dash and 10.6 seconds in the 100 meters, it’s easy to pigeonhole wide receiver Geordon Porter as the proverbial downfield threat. But the Etiwanda (Calif.) wide receiver believes he can show the full arsenal of his skills and can do so as early as his freshman year.

It may require a lot of patience on Porter’s side to develop his traits and put his versatility on full display. Yet, as a prospect who committed to the Sun Devils nearly a year after they were the first school to offer him a scholarship, with committing to Notre Dame and de-committing from the Fighting Irish in between, the wide receiver has already shown the due diligence required to grow.

We sat down with the ASU true freshman to talk about his football’s background, the role track has played in his development as a football player, the impact his two former student-athlete parents had on his recruiting, and what kind of influence has ASU star wide receiver, N’Keal Harry, had on him since Porter arrived on campus last month.

“I started playing football in second grade and running back was my first position. I played that position for a good while, and I was scoring like five touchdowns a game. I was trucking people like that. I was just playing then just to have fun because I loved football. In high school, I started growing a lot taller and I wasn’t able to juke (defenders) like I used to so I started playing wide receiver in my sophomore year. Been working on my craft ever since and here I am at Arizona State.

“I started running track my sophomore year in high school and it was a cool balance for me with football. It was fun blowing away from people. Running track, you run in a straight line and it does help your downfield speed, but football is a more complete game where you sometimes have to slow down. But track really helped my (football) game a lot.

“I’ve been hearing all the time that I’m track guy who plays football. So, in the beginning, I wasn’t getting that many offers, but when the schools starting seeing my size and speed they really got interested in me and offered me. But I just keep on working hard to prove people wrong. Turning a 5-yard catch to 80 yards (gain), that I’m working on. People telling me I’m just a fat receiver has always been motivating for me and humbles you to work on other things in your game and showing people that you can do it all.

“My dad ran track at USC and my mom ran track first at Cal and then at USC where they both met. That’s where I get my speed from (smiles). My parents pushed me to run track but I also wanted to do it because I love trying new things. Running track worked really well for me.

“I was really lucky that my dad was always looking into everything during recruiting and told me to be careful in the process. I’m really grateful that he was talking to so many people to make sure I make the best decision and he was always telling me to look into everything too. When things got hard he helped me break everything down and made it easier for me. It also helped a lot that both of my parents were student-athletes and they can tell you how to balance everything out. Even though track and football are two different sports, you still have to develop in your sport and still take care of your academics. I got a lot of wisdom from them.

“Arizona State was the first school to offer me and that was really big. They stuck with me for a whole year. They talked to me every week and stayed in touch. It was a long recruiting process, there was a lot of thought that went into my decision but in the end, I’m happy that I chose Arizona State. They showed me love when a lot of schools didn’t and that was really big. I guess it’s always big when it’s the first school that offers you, especially when it’s a Pac-12 school. I don’t know if ASU was always my number one school because it was still a hard decision.

“Committing to Notre Dame and de-committing was just me seeing coaching changes around college football and being sure about certain things. I just wanted to re-evaluate everything and even when I decommitted I was still interested in Notre Dame. The life lesson I took away was just to be really careful in everything you do. But at the same time, you can’t really control everything (in the recruiting process) because things are always switching up. You never know how things will change in the future.

“The first time I visited ASU I loved everything I saw. I really loved coach Graham. Everything was just booming around here and I really liked their business school. And then Herm Edwards takes the job and that’s a legend right there. It really was a smooth transition for me between the two coaches and it really didn’t matter to me. First time I talked to coach Edwards, what struck me is how much he cares about his players. I was really convinced hearing from pro guys he coached in the NFL that he really is a great coach. I heard all that and I was thinking ‘dang, this (ASU) might be it.’

“It was huge that (offensive coordinator) coach Likens stayed on the team. One thing I really like about coach Likens is that he’s not strictly a football guy and really cares about you and your family off the field. He always asks about your life, asks how my mom and dad are doing. And he really cares about football and is very detailed about how to run routes, how to release, and he put a lot of guys in the pros. He’s a very nice and funny person but he always gets down to business too and that’s good. I like how he switches it up.

“It wasn’t a big adjustment having coach Likens going from wide receivers’ coach to offensive coordinator and coach Fisher coming in as a wide receivers’ coach. Coach Likens said that coach Fisher taught him everything he knows, so it’s a basically the same guy.

“Coach Edwards being in the game for such a long time was a big impact in my decision. He has a lot of experience and you don’t always get that with a college coach who coached that long in the NFL and really knows what it takes to get there, which is my main goal. I didn’t even visit ASU after he was hired. I already knew what ASU was all about and things really didn’t change for me when he (Edwards) was the coach.

“It really helped that (linebacker) Khaylan Thomas came from the same high school as I did and we kept in close contact when I was getting recruited. He always told me to keep on looking at everything with my process and that everything was going to work out. He was right because everything worked out well. He’s another big reason I came here, especially being an Etiwanda boy like me.

“I’ve been in Tempe for just about a month. The biggest eye-opener is now living on your own, but I’m not homesick or anything like that. Every day we wake up at 7 a.m. and the strength and conditioning practice is at 8. Depending on the day we either lift or run and that’s about an hour long. We do 7 on 7’s (players-only) on Tuesday and Thursdays after strength and conditioning and before lunch. It’s harder to do it then but it’s something that will just get you in better shape and ready for the games. Around noon you go to study hall after lunch and after that you relax for the rest of the day.

“I really like seeing the players working hard all the time because that will force you to elevate your game. You see a guy like N’Keal Harry work hard all the time and it wants to make you want to match that. He’s been cool with me from day one. He didn’t wait for me to come up to him, but he approached me first asking me if I needed anything.

“All the vets were great to me when I was going through the (recruiting) process and the relationship is even better now because I’m around them 24/7. It’s been a great learning experience. When you go 7 on 7 what really pops out is the vets’ technique and now you have to learn it and always ask questions. Doing that now helps you prepare for fall camp.

“I’m battling to back up N’Keal, but I’m just going with the flow and competing to see how things turn out. People really don’t know how hardworking he is. If he drops one ball from the jugs machine he gets mad and I like that. He wants everything to be perfect. He’s a very good guy that helps me a lot.

“Strength and conditioning was a little shock in the beginning because you see how different college is from high school. Coach Joe is a great strength and conditioning coach and I really like how he shows you how to lift. If he shows you how to do it, then all of us actually have to do it.

“I like the scheme here because it’s very versatile with a lot of routes and it’s a balanced attack with the running game. It’s a great offense for a wide receiver to get into and you’re playing in a system where you are showing a lot of different things to NFL scouts. I’m very glad that I’m in this position. The coaches want me to do a lot more than be a downfield threat and work a lot with me on technique and my routes once fall camp starts. I want to work on getting faster in and out of my breaks and get better with my releases and off my jams.

“My expectations are to play this year and help the team win. There is a little pressure but at the end of the day I know what I’m capable of.”