Top-30 recruit DL Monkell Goodwine describes his intrigue with ASU
Four-star prospects like Monkell Goodwine usually have such similar decisions, it seems predetermined years in advance. For all the 6-foot-5, 300-pounders, the athletic marvels, the guys who have Olympic speed and bodybuilder power, a college decision feels like a game of Plinko.
They drop their token through the top. No matter the day, the situation, no matter who’s president; it lands in one of eight spots. For so long, give or take a name here and there, Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas A&M, LSU, and Michigan were practically written in Sharpie.
That’s the precedent. Following conventional thinking, it feels like destiny that Goodwine, a 6-foot-4, 264-pound four-star defensive lineman from Maryland and Rivals’ 26th-ranked player in the ‘21 class, will drop his Plinko chip and announce his commitment to a college football powerhouse. And, following the trends of the sport, it wouldn’t be a bad decision.
But what about the others, the group of schools amongst his 32 offers which don’t annually find themselves in the top five or even top 10 of every recruiting ranking under the sun? Does a school like Arizona State even have a chance?
Posed this question, Goodwine maybe paused a second, before reversing the interview.
“Marshawn Lynch. What school did Marshawn Lynch, go to?” Goodwine asked.
“Cal.”
“Yep. Is California known for putting running backs in the league?”
“Not really.”
“And even if they were, Marshawn Lynch was one of the biggest players who came from that school. My motivation from that is ‘Go hard, and anything can happen.’ You can go to any school -- a D2 school -- and still, get to the league. You may not be first-round or second-round, but you’ll put on for your city you came from and the college you came from.”
With that mindset, it seems only natural that Goodwine isn’t limiting himself to schools close to home. In all reality, he wants to leave Maryland, he said. Not because of anything in particular, but rather because he’s been there too long. The people there know him, and he knows them.
Goodwine wants to trek towards a foreign destination, an unfamiliar landscape with fresh faces who have different perspectives. By succeeding in a new place, he thinks, his network instantly balloons, the reach of the Monkell Goodwine brand expands.
“If I stay home, how am I supposed to meet new people?” Goodwine said.
If that place ends up being Arizona State, defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez will be to thank. The former Minnesota Vikings assistant D-line coach reached out to Goodwine on June 23 and offered the four-star pass-rusher, marking Goodwine’s first Pac-12 offer. For someone like Goodwine who sees opportunity on the West Coast, being the lone Pac-12 school to extend its offer is an important note.
A week isn’t enough time to form an unbreakable bond, but Goodwine likes where he’s at with Rodriguez.
“I feel like we’re on a good path right now,” he said of Rodriguez before raving about ASU’s ‘Pro Model:’ “It’s a big deal for me. I take that as a big deal. That’s giving me a heads up like, ‘If I do well for the next three to four years, I can be a guy in the NFL.”
Most recruits throw out the NFL like it’s an open invite rather than an exclusive club. Goodwine though, through his four-star ranking alone can see the league as a real possibility. If high school football players were getting drafted, his ranking says he’d be a first-rounder. That makes the thought of the NFL less hazy.
Say he is as good as the rankings, what does that entail?
“I just attack. That’s it. All my life, I’ve been an aggressive guy,” he said. “I just really use my speed. Like I run with the DB’s every practice, and I keep up with them. It’s just like, ‘Use your speed, Monkell.’ I’m probably going to get bigger, and they’ll want to move me inside, but other than that I know what I can do. I’m a speed rusher.”
At the moment, Goodwine admitted that Texas A&M, LSU, Clemson, Kentucky, and Alabama, which had head coach Nick Saban on a one-on-one Zoom call with Goodwin earlier this week, are the schools recruiting him the hardest. Even with that notion, Goodwine said the influx of new offers have made him hesitant to create a top-whatever list and will likely lead to him to announce a later date.
Goodwine is friends with 2021 five-star cornerback Tony Grimes, who committed to North Carolina earlier this week. He’s a little surprised that his fellow DMV native was able to commit during a pandemic but understands because Grimes, at least, took a visit to Chapel Hill.
So far Goodwine has taken visits to, namely, Alabama, Texas A&M, Clemson, and Oklahoma, which may force him to lean towards those schools, while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause uncertainty in college football recruiting.
But as he narrows down his choices and zones in on his final decision, Goodwine will be cognizant of the programs that meet his priorities.
“(It needs to have) the right coaches who are going to be there for a long time, for my whole career in college,” he said. “Coaches with experience. Great environment, like living in a good environment. And having a good team, of course. A good defensive scheme and a great facility.”
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