In its quest to land a quarterback in the 2022 class the Sun Devils have identified Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson High School standout Conner Harrell as one of its prospects, and in a fairly novel recruiting process, there is a high level of interest from ASU, which was manifested with an offer tendered yesterday.
“I first heard from Arizona State about a week ago,” Harrell said. “(Offensive coordinator) Zak Hill is the first coach to call me from there. He said that I’m a great fit for the offense and what they are trying to do and that I’m similar to the quarterback they have now (Jayden Daniels). He said that after he left that I could possibly play there for all four years.
“I know Arizona State is on the come-up and have a great head coach. Coach Herm Edwards was actually the (ASU) coach who gave me the offer when we talked for the first time. That was pretty cool and that was pretty exciting.”
As a junior, Harrell led the Warriors to a perfect 14-0 season as Thompson captured the Alabama Class 7A State championship last year. He completed 73 percent of his passes (229 of 312) posting 3,568 yards, 42 touchdowns, and three interceptions. Harrell also collected 319 rushing yards and five scores.
“He (Hill) definitely thinks that I can bring my athleticism to the table,” Harrell described. “I can get out of the pocket to run the ball or I can stay in the pocket and read defenses. Last year I improved on keeping my eyes downfield instead of taking off and running. But I did a better job keeping my eyes downfield even when I ran out of the pocket.”
Harrell said that now that he has received the offer that he and his father would research the school and the program in earnest to familiarize themselves with ASU. He’s quite aware of the team’s ambition to win not only the Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl but also contend for a national championship, and added that he expects to now be in an even closer contact with Hill. Naturally, the Alabama quarterback sees the Sun Devils as one of the programs recruiting him the hardest as of late, and listed some other colleges that would fall under that category.
“Northwestern, Duke, TCU and West Virginia are some schools that are recruiting me a lot,” Harrell remarked. “I didn’t get to visit any schools before visits were shout down (due to the pandemic) but I plan to visit Northwestern and Duke in June. I still need to talk to coach Hill about an Arizona State visit, so we don’t have anything set up yet. But for sure there’s a good chance that I visit them.
“When I visit Arizona State, I want to see what kind of people they have in the program, what the stadium is like, and just what it’s like to be as a player and student at Arizona State. I just want to learn everything about it. I’m happy that I can now visit schools that I really like before I make my decision.”
Harrell is slated to graduate high school this December, but his timetable for an announcement will be a good few months before then.
“My birthday is September 9th, so I could decide on that date,” Harrell commented, “but I could also see myself committing before the season starts. I know I probably don’t want to commit after my birthday. That’s a little bit of a timeline but not much. I definitely want to a school where I’m able to get the best opportunity.”
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