DevilsDigest confirmed Pete Thamel’s report that Missouri defensive backs coach Aaron Fletcher has joined the Arizona State staff. An official announcement by the school is forthcoming. Fletcher’s hire is to replace team analyst Donnie Henderson who assumed the role last August on an interim basis. Henderson replaced defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins who, along with other two assistant two coaches, was placed on paid administrative due to the ongoing NCAA investigation regarding Arizona State’s alleged recruiting violations.

Fletcher spent one year with the Tigers in Missouri yielded 26 passing touchdowns and an average of 206.8 yards which netted a ranking of no. 5 among SEC teams and 20th among all FBS programs. Fletcher spent most of his college coaching career in Tulsa, where he was a defensive backs coach for six years. He has been known to have extensive recruiting ties in the state of Texas that manifested in his various college stops.

Prior to joining the Tulsa staff, Fletcher spent three seasons (2012-14) at Houston Baptist University (FCS), where he helped start the Huskies’ football program from scratch. He coached Prince Sam to the program’s first-ever all-conference selection in 2014. In addition to leading the team’s secondary, Fletcher was crucial to the recruiting efforts while in Houston, helping land the school’s first-ever top 100 recruit.

Before moving into the collegiate ranks, Fletcher coached at three Dallas-area high schools from 2006 through 2011, including his most recent stop as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at David W. Carter High School from 2011-12. While there, he coordinated one of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex’s top defenses.

Fletcher also spent time at Desoto and Lancaster High Schools as defensive pass game coordinator and was regarded as one of the nation’s top developers of high school defensive backs. In 2008, Fletcher’s secondary corps for the Lancaster Tigers earned the billing of the nation’s best secondary by several publications, coaching two All-Americans and four all-state selections. Four of his players were named Texas’ Top 100 recruits in 2008.

Fletcher began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach at Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Austin. Notable players coached by Fletcher include Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills (DeSoto), former Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears defensive back Demontre Hurst (Lancaster) and Chris Houston (LBJ), a second-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons, who also played for the Detroit Lions.

Fletcher attended Ranger Junior College for two years (1995-96), and as a cornerback earned team defensive MVP honors and all-conference accolades. He then moved to Texas A&M - Commerce and started at cornerback under current Mizzou assistant Curtis Luper. In 1999, Fletcher was rated as one of the top 20 defensive secondary draft-eligible prospects and participated in the NFL Pre-Draft Camp. He earned his degree in health education from Texas A&M - Commerce in 2003.

Fletcher played in the National Indoor Football League for the Austin Knights in 2001 and the Arena Football League with the Laredo Law Football Club in 2004.

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