Following last Friday’s practice, newly appointed Arizona State Football captain Case Hatch walked into the media room to address reporters. Hatch, wearing a white sleeveless cutoff and a backward red trucker hat, sat down, perhaps expecting to only answer questions about his new role and ASU’s new-look offense. Two minutes into the press conference, Hatch was asked about one of his new freshman teammates, wide receiver LV Bunkley-Shelton.
The ASU H-back immediately blurted out his thoughts on the first year wideout, swiftly and decisively.
“That kid is an animal.”
Bunkley-Shelton, who hails from Gardena, California, just south of Los Angeles, was one of ASU’s most sought-after recruits in the 2020 class. Ranked by Rivals as the No. 17 wide receiver prospect in the country and the No. 13 prospect in California, Bunkley-Shelton racked up 156 catches for 1,896 yards and 10 touchdowns during his 30 games at the varsity level.
Bunkley-Shelton began playing football at five-years-old, and played quarterback, running back, and defensive back until the eighth grade. During his final year of junior high, Bunkley-Shelton switched positions to wide receiver. That year, he received his first offer, something which undoubtedly opened the young player’s eyes to a completely new set of possibilities.
“I knew that in eighth grade, I was good enough to play Division I, where I got my first offer (BYU),” Bunkley-Shelton said in an interview with Devils Digest in June. “It made me think that I need to buckle down and actually take football seriously and take it to whole another level.”
That same year, Bunkley-Shelton met current ASU Co-Defensive Coordinator Antonio Pierce, who told the young receiver about his current school, Long Beach Poly. Over the next several years, as Bunkley-Shelton progressed through high school at Gardena Junipero Serra, the young receiver stayed close with Pierce, who eventually “put in a good word” for him at ASU.
“The first time I talked to Herm Edwards, I was starstruck,” Bunkley-Shelton said of his current coach in June. “I knew him from ESPN, and I knew all of his NFL accolades. ASU’s is the NFL pathway. They have so many NFL legends. So many great coaches on that team. I don’t know who passes up on ASU.”
Pierce, Edwards, and ASU’s NFL pedigree certainly made Tempe an attractive destination for Bunkley-Shelton, but the four-star high school prospect hadn’t bought in just yet. After the 2018 season, ASU’s wide receiver coach Charlie Fisher, whom Bunkley-Shelton had grown increasingly close to during the recruiting process, left the program.
“I would talk to him as much as I could. I would call him and just talk to him about football and stuff like that,” Bunkley-Shelton recalled. “And then once he left, I was like ‘damn…that’s my guy.’”
Bunkley-Shelton was left with a choice: attempt to bond with ASU’s next wide receiver coach or move on from Tempe altogether. Other suitors interested in the stand-out receiver included the likes of Arizona, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, USC, and Washington. He explained his options to Devils Digest in June.
“When I was first visited ASU, I knew that it was probably going to be a great fit for me. But I had to still explore my other options. AP is my guy, but I still needed a bond with the receivers’ coach because if he doesn’t like me, then what are the chances of me playing?... So, after coach Fish left, I was kind of stressed about it, like I don’t know if I really want to consider ASU, Coach P came, and then I said, ‘wait, never mind.’”
Coach P, as in current wide receivers coach, Prentice Gill, was exactly what the young Bunkley-Shelton needed to convince him to keep ASU as a serious suitor. The pair’s relationship dates back to Gill’s time coaching at USC, back when Bunkley-Shelton was only a freshman in high school and Gill was a graduate assistant.
“He’s always been in my phone, and I’ve always been in his, we are going on knowing each other for about five years right now,” Bunkley-Shelton said.
As Bunkley-Shelton continued to build connections with Pierce and Gill as he neared his commitment date, the young receiver still wasn’t completely sold on the Sun Devils. Bunkley-Shelton though had another California connection that piqued his interest in ASU, a connection that was within the white lines of the gridiron.
In the 2018 offseason, ahead of Bunkley-Shelton’s breakout junior year at Junipero Serra, the young receiver played for one of the nation’s best club 7v7 football programs, Ground Zero. Among the quarterbacks on the Ground Zero roster was a player named Jayden Daniels.
“I knew Jayden Daniels back in high school, and he was a really good player,” Bunkley-Shelton said to Devils Digest in June. “But I wanted to see what he can do in college because that can help me become a better player. And then I see how he grew, and he got a lot better (at ASU), and I knew this was going to be the right spot for me. Jayden can extend the play. You need a quarterback that can run. And he can play the big role too.”
After watching his former teammate shine as a true freshman at ASU, Bunkley-Shelton took an official visit to Tempe for last year’s contest against USC. On Jan. 4, 2020, the four-star prospect publicly committed to the Sun Devils as a part of the best wide receiver class in program history, signing alongside fellow three Californians and four-star wide receiver prospects Johnny Wilson, Chad Johnson Jr., and Elijhah Badger (who will not be able to play for ASU this year due to academic ineligibility).
Since arriving in Tempe, Bunkley-Shelton has turned a lot of heads by competing for a starting spot against sophomore Ricky Pearsall from the very first preseason practice on Friday. As of Saturday, Pearsall currently sits as the starting slot receiver, but his freshman competition isn’t far behind him, switching in and receiving some first-team reps as well.
“When I’m on the field, (I) just go. That’s how I’m thinking right now,” Bunkley-Shelton said of his mindset. “I know (Pearsall) is in front of me, and Ricky is a dog. I just have to keep working, keep working until I get my spot. Ricky is making it tough, so all I have to do is keep working, so when I do go in, I just shine. That’s my mindset right now.”
In ASU’s practice report from Friday, Bunkley-Shelton made multiple contested catches in coverage. One specific catch came in a one-on-one drill against redshirt freshman Jordan Clark, who is slated to be ASU’s starting Nickel in the secondary. Bunkley-Shelton made an incredible snag and took the ball in for a touchdown, despite Clark's impeccable defense. The freshman receiver had instantly made an impact and was raved about in the post-practice press conferences by teammates like Hatch and the most senior of Bunkley-Shelton’s receiving counterparts, redshirt senior captain and starting X receiver, Frank Darby.
Led by Darby, ASU's new-look wide receiver group has displayed a tremendous amount of upside and potential through the first two days of practice. Bunkley-Shelton, Pearsall, Wilson, redshirt freshman Andre Johnson and redshirt sophomore Geordon Porter are all in the mix at Hill's offense's three wideout spots.
“From all of the receiver groups I’ve been a part of, this group is different. There’s a spot that can get taken every day. This is the best wide receiver group I’ve been around as far as competition and skill level,” Darby described to the media on Friday.
Even his former teammate Daniels couldn’t ignore the freshman’s first impression on the team.
“I know that he’s a good route-runner, he knows how to get open. He has such good speed. But he knows concepts, and he’s just eager to learn,” Daniels noted. “He comes in here always asking questions, he knows his stuff, he catches the ball. That’s the main thing, we just need him to get open, catch the ball and we’re all on the same page.”
Bunkley-Shelton described himself as a “workaholic”, a statement that’s becoming increasingly evident as the freshman’s talents continue to emerge daily in preseason practices.
“He’s one of those guys that prepared himself really well coming into camp,” offensive coordinator Zak Hill said of the freshman. “He always is thinking about what he puts in his body, the work and the process of what we’re going to put in for the day. He’s very detailed in his preparation, and you can tell on the field because he plays fast.”
Hill’s new offense, which incorporates the use of three receivers and a tight-end/h-back depending on the set, opens up numerous opportunities for Bunkley-Shelton to display his shifty agility and smooth route-running as a slot receiver. Coming into a new offense as a freshman can be intimidating; however, Bunkley-Shelton is no ordinary freshman.
“(Coach Hill) does a lot of shifts and motions and different things. He runs two plays in one, and he sits in zones, Bunkley-Shelton explained. “I like to see how the defense is playing. I like to sit in holes, and I’m just a route runner. I’ve been doing that ever since I can remember, back to when I was 10 years old.”
For the Sun Devils, the blueprint of a high-impact, explosive, and big play-making receiver is already well-established. In 2017 and 2018, it was N’Keal Harry. In 2019, it was Brandon Aiyuk. In 2020, it’s Frank Darby’s turn to inherit the role. In a couple years’ time, the next name on that list could very well be spelled LV.
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