Pickens commits to Arizona State
Don Lugo High School's A.J. Pickens verbally committed to Arizona State on Tuesday. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior will play slot receiver for the Sun Devils after serving in a variety of roles at Don Lugo, including running back, cornerback and kick returner.
Pickens received scholarship offers from six other schools: Arizona, Washington, Oregon State, Utah, San Diego State and Fresno State. He took official recruiting trips to all but Utah and San Diego State. The decision boiled down to Arizona and Arizona State.
"I wanted to stay as close as possible to my family," Pickens said. "I just felt more comfortable at Arizona State. With the environment and the people, it just felt like a good fit."
Pickens will have to transition to a new position, having played receiver sparingly in high school. His 4.49-second 40-yard-dash speed was employed primarily at running back where he carried 102 times for 930 yards and nine touchdowns during a 7-4 senior season. He had 14 receptions for 69 yards but rarely lined up anywhere but the backfield.
Greg Setlich, Pickens' coach at Don Lugo, thought cornerback would best suit Pickens in college. While many of the schools were undecided which position he would play, Pickens preference for offense also favored Arizona State.
"I barely got to play wide receiver but I always wanted to," Pickens said. "With my team struggling they put me at running back. In college I'd rather play receiver than defensive back."
Pickens left Arizona State recruiting coordinator Matt Lubick a message Monday, informing the Sun Devils safety coach he had good news. He received a call back Tuesday and informed Lubick of his decision. Pickens has not discussed the Sun Devils' immediate plans for him.
"I'm going to try to play as soon as possible," he said. "But if I feel like I'm not ready I can always redshirt."
Arizona State was a co-Pac 10 champion this season along with USC. The Sun Devils finished 10-3 following their Holiday Bowl loss to Texas.
If he signs on the line Feb. 6, Pickens will be the fifth Inland Valley product in the last two years to attend Arizona State, joining Norco High offensive linemen Adam Tello and Garth Gerhart, and Colony High cornerback Omar Bolden (who started nine games for ASU this season). Norco senior offensive tackle Kyle Johnson has also verbally committed to ASU.
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About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
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Interesting comment. Coached against Pickens and know many of the Don Lugo coaches. He played WR on all of the films I saw and when I talked to coaches they said he seemed to balk at playing WR when they would put him there. I even heard his dad got mad at the coaches for trying to move him to WR. Very interesting....