LaShonda Sims positioned herself to be the first face her son saw. Her eyes gazed down the long west tunnel inside Desert Financial Arena, growing just an inch wider with every silhouette that turned the corner from ASU’s locker room.

From her perch on the third stair overlooking the passageway, her hands pressed against the railing. She was wearing a black shirt with the logo for ‘Ruby’s Natural Hair Care’ across the chest. And she was patient.

Her family was just fine sitting in seats closer to the exit. Her 11-year old son, David, was just fine running around the empty arena, sprinting to his mom to show off the shoes his big brother handed him.

Rob Edwards eventually emerged around the corner. He strutted down the decline and hugged his mom. They climbed a few stairs to the rest of their family and left in the Tempe night.

LaShonda figured the family would go out to eat for Rob’s birthday, but when they’re in Arizona, he’s the tour guide. And on this night, on his 23rd birthday, Edwards wanted the whole group to do an activity.

Forget that it was late. Or that he just finished playing a basketball game. Or that he had a lot to celebrate after scoring 24 points against Utah. He wanted to spend time with his family. He wanted to go bowling.

****

Perhaps even more than her son, Sims recognized the urgency of this season. It’s Edwards’ last in college. There were the two years at Cleveland State. The year he had to sit out in Tempe. And the last two seasons, when he emerged as one of the best shooters Bobby Hurley has coached in Tempe.

Sims knew she needed to be as present as possible to witness his last go-round. On top of this weekend, she’s flown to Arizona from Detroit a number of times to catch Edwards’ games. She’ll be in Las Vegas next week for the Pac-12 Tournament.

And, in October, she was the only parent to make the trip to China for ASU’s opener against Colorado in Shanghai.

“It was awesome,” she said. “Rob really wanted us to come and then my mother really wanted to be there.”

A few months later, and the book on Edwards college career is shut. And as a whole, his journey isn’t unique to most basketball players.

He fought for offers out of high school. A coaching change forced him to move schools. An NCAA rule put him on the sideline through his new team’s run to March Madness. A ravaging back injury left him bed-ridden for points during his first eligible season. And a slump slightly derailed his chance to shine in his senior season.

Ok, Edwards’ encountered some rare and unfortunate circumstances. His path was bumpy. There was always adversity to battle and obstacles to overcome. He attacked it the same way he’s approached everything -- when something isn’t going your way, just work harder.

At Cass Tech High School in Detroit, Edwards was one of the best guards in Michigan. Future Michigan State star Cassius Winston knocked down two late free throws to knock Cass Tech out of the regional final during Edwards’ junior year.

The next season, Edwards was an All-State Honorable Mention. He averaged over 16 points with a half dozen assists and rebounds tacked on. But he only held one offer. He accepted, spending two seasons at Cleveland State.

He dominated the Horizon League and eventually gained national notoriety after he dropped 28 points on Kentucky at Rupp Arena. A few months later, the Vikings’ head coach, Gary Waters, retired and Athletic Director Mike Thomas resigned. Edwards decided he would, too, leave Cleveland.

Schools came calling. One coach stuck out.

“He settled on Arizona State and coach Hurley,” Edwards’ grandfather Andrew Sims said. “I said, ‘Well you’re going to have to sit out a year,’ and he said, ‘It doesn’t matter, coach Hurley is who I want to play for.’”

****

When asked, Edwards doesn’t even try to estimate how many times he’s texted an Arizona State manager at like 11 p.m. to go shoot. It’s a lot. That may be the worst kept secret inside the building, Edwards is always shooting.

On the Monday before his senior night, a manager didn’t respond to a late-night text. No matter, Edwards still threw up shots alone after the night’s high school championship games wrapped up.

“He’s the kind of guy that 10 o’clock at night, he’s going to call a manager and probably go in and get shots up,” Hurley said. “Almost to the point that we want to tell him, ‘Hey, you’re overdoing it.’”

Hurley, only half-jokingly, said he thinks Edwards was the only kid he’s ever seen go through a surgery and not gain weight. It’s nearly impossible, Hurley said, to have a back surgery that limits you from even doing cardio and still maintain a body-fat percentage in the single-digits.

“How!? Forward Mickey Mitchell, who had a similar back surgery last season, added. “I gained like 60 (pounds).”

“I would only like eat twice a day, like a salad and then like some little meal,” Edwards said. “But I would just be in the sauna all the time, like the steam room. I would get on the bike and just always try to work out and be moving. Instead of driving to the gym, I would walk. Just doing little stuff.”

Even through his senior slump, in which he went 1-for-18 from beyond the arc, Edwards’ solution was to shoot more. He would go to the gym before and after practice -- then he would come back late at night to throw up more attempts. Even while recovering from his back injury, coaches had to tell him to stop shooting so much.

But he always seems to find his way back to the gym.

Edwards, his mother said, always had a ball, of some sort, in his hands. And he moved along faster than most. By three, he was riding his bike from the salon LaShonda worked at to the rec center up the street. He was going to camps and drawing crowds as a lethal elementary-school player.

As it does for many kids, Edwards basketball habits began early when his dad -- a hoops standout himself -- started taking his young son to the gym. When Edwards father passed away when he was 6, his grandfather slid into the father-figure role and, of course, took Edwards to the gym.

“I carried him just like my own son,” Andrew said. “I talked to my momma and my momma told me, she said, ‘Well you just have to move into that slot,’ and I said, ‘I’m going to do the best I can’ … When I said, ‘Come on, let’s go to the gym, he was up and ready.

“I tried my best to enhance what he had. I told him, ‘Everybody don’t get a gift.’ For you to appreciate your gift, you have to have people enhance it.”

****

Hurley doesn’t even try to pretend. Edwards isn’t someone who he can use that old he-came-in-a-boy-but-left-a-man cliche on. Not to say that he arrived at ASU as a ready-made product, but no one ever had to check if he was doing enough.

“I wish that I could take credit and we could take credit but that’s entirely his,” he said. “He’s a very highly-motivated, self-motivated person.”

Edwards’ mom and grandfather insist he’s always had an incredible work ethic. Like everyone else, he has chips on his shoulder and people he wants to prove wrong. He has goals of playing in the NBA. He has terrible experiences he wants to grow from and overcome. He has lots and lots of motivation.

For his whole life, too, he’s had examples of what great work ethic looks like and what it can achieve.

Andrew was in the United States Air Force for four years before spending 30 years as a bus driver for the City of Detroit. He once went a whole shift unknowingly driving a sleeping man around. He learned “day people” and “night people” are very different. And through it all, he kept the thought of retirement on his mind.

“I knew if I could just do these few years -- 30 years -- I can be out and be alright,” he said.

Added Edwards: “It’s something you can go hard for just knowing someone has your back and they’re always down to do anything for you. And that’s why I feel like I’m the person I am today -- because he raised me up to be how he is.”

LaShonda graduated high school when she was 16 and dove headfirst into the world of hair care and beauty. Eventually, she turned into an entrepreneur and started a hair care product line -- Ruby’s Natural Hair Care.

“It possibly could have come from me,” LaShonda said of Edwards’ work ethic, “because I always been an entrepreneur, always worked for myself … creating your own time schedule, being consistent.

“My mother was emotional dropping him off at ASU. When we took him to the airport, she said the best thing about me and Rob is that we've been blessed with our hands. But the biggest blessing is we have a vision for our hands.”

Added Edwards: “My mom was really always working and she had like multiple jobs. And that's like her grind. So you know, I just took that into basketball and just switched it.”

Edwards has had places to turn to witness what hard work can breed. He’s used it to excel at what he does best. And in a few weeks, his college career will come to an end. He’ll continue playing basketball for as long as he can and then dive into something else with a ferocious mentality.

For now, he’s focused on what all his hard work has led to.

“I don’t want to let anyone down. Everyone knows I’m in college for a reason,” Edwards said. “I get a quick little rush that will go through my head right before the game, like everything that I’m doing it for. Why I’m out here and why I have this uniform on.

“It all comes back to me … I think about everything.”