ESPN’s Pac-12 Preview Shows Little Belief in Sun Devils, Herm Edwards
The Arizona State Sun Devils didn’t fair too well in ESPN’s Pac-12 college football preview.
On August 16th, ESPN college football reporter Kyle Bonagura published a complete preview of the Pac-12 conference. While there was a good amount of ink on our Arizona State Sun Devils, not a ton of it was positive.
For starters, Bonagura has the Sun Devils at No. 11 in the current Pac-12 power rankings, about two spots lower than I would have expected. Colorado, a team that went 5-7 last year, and Washington State, a team without a fortified quarterback, rank directly above the Sun Devils in ESPN’s preview.
In the section dedicated to new hires in the Pac-12, Bonagura added his name to the list of folks questioning Herm Edwards’ readiness at the college level. Referring to the hire as “The Great Herm Edwards Experiment”, Bonagura does credit the former NFL head coach as being a “born leader and football lifer”.
From ESPN’s Pac-12 Preview:
"“The Great Herm Edwards Experiment is nothing if not interesting. The 64-year-old hasn’t coached at the college level since serving as an assistant at San Jose State in 1989, nor at any level since being fired as the Kansas City Chiefs coach in 2008. But athletic director Ray Anderson, Edwards’ former agent, was unfazed by the obvious question marks about his readiness. He’s betting on a born leader and football lifer to find success at a place where mediocrity has been the expectation.”"
Before rounding out the preview with how the Pac-12 college football season will shake out by season’s end, Bonagura did place N’Keal Harry on the All-Pac-12 First Team.
It should be noted that in a separate ESPN article from the previous day by draft expert Todd McShay, Harry was projected as a NFL first-round prospect.
Read. Herm Edwards NFL Coaching Highlights. light
Unfortunately, the way ESPN sees things shaking out is with the Sun Devils finishing dead-last in the Pac-12 South.
The entire preview, which is very helpful for getting to know other teams, can be found here.