Jalin Conyers was in a great place to help Kaden Helms in his decision-making process. After a season at Oklahoma, the 6-foot-4, 249-pound tight end transferred to Arizona State in the offseason and has already had a stellar spring game, scoring two touchdowns (an event Helms did attend), inciting optimism about his possible contributions in 2021.

But, this weekend, his most important role was as a player hanging out with the prospects visiting Tempe. First off, it shows a lot about how much of an impression Conyers has made on the coaches in Tempe if they’re already having him interact with prospects. And, second, Conyers's experience at multiple schools can be extremely beneficial.

Helms is a 6-foot-6, 220-pound tight end and a formidable receiving threat out of Nebraska who has already nabbed two dozen offers. But his recruitment process is seemingly entering the final stretch. Last weekend, he took an unofficial visit to ASU. In the next three weeks, he’ll go on officials at Miami, Oklahoma, Auburn, and North Carolina.

Conyers, who has already been part of both the Sooner and Sun Devil squads may have been the best person to speak with Helms.

“He was giving me the inside scoop on Oklahoma, why he transferred and stuff like that. He was saying how dynamic he thinks me and him can be (at ASU),” Helms said of Conyers. “He wasn’t necessarily knocking Oklahoma because it was a different tight ends coach who recruited him than me. He just said he liked the ASU environment more and felt like he can be himself more.

“One thing that stood out to me was he said that at Arizona State, you don’t just feel like a football player, you feel like a human being, too. So there’s not the pressure to be a machine. The coaches understand you have a life outside of football. That was pretty cool to hear.”

Along with Conyers, Helms talked with other current ASU players, including quarterback Finn Collins, offensive lineman LaDarius Henderson and running back Chip Trayanum. Helms said the ASU coaches made sure to get him and Trayanum in the same room, wanting Helms to hear from a guy who turned down several other power five programs to be a Sun Devil.

“It was good to hear from him with his insight on why he chose Arizona State,” Helms said of Trayanum. “He said he really felt like it was the place for him because he could be himself. He told me he really wanted to get away from all the commotion in Ohio and see new things.”

Helms naturally spent a considerable amount of time during his trip with his main recruiters – tight ends coach Adam Breneman and offensive analyst Kyle Jacabo – yet he also had long-sit down conversations with offensive coordinator Zak Hill and head coach Herm Edwards, who spoke to Helm, his mom, and his trainer for about an hour in the Edwards’ office.

“He (talked about) how he sees the program fitting in with me as a person and player. He really tries to run the program like an NFL team, which I thought was really cool,” Helms said of Edwards.

“He said he liked how versatile I was. He said they’ve really never had a true, versatile tight end who can line up outside, slot, in line, h-back, move around, motion a lot, stuff like that.”

As Hill spoke with Helms for 45 minutes, the ASU OC gave the tight end prospect a checklist of things he should figure out during his visit, questions like: Can you picture yourself at Arizona State? Do you feel like the education would be covered? Do you get along with the players?

“Pretty much all the boxes were checked off,” Helms admitted. “It was pretty cool to see that everyone on the coaching staff cared. Going from the assistant tight ends coach Jacobo to Herm Edwards, pretty much everyone on the coaching staff was showing me love.”

In part because of that love, Helms admitted that the Sun Devils were in his top-three schools at the moment. He, of course, has a quartet of visits still to hit. After that, though, Helms said he’ll take a little time to decide and plans to announce his commitment the first week of July.

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