It's been an action packed day on the quarterback recruiting trail for the Arizona State Sun Devils, and the team has experienced both a devastating low and a promising high.
Around noon on Wednesday, Tyler Bruggman--the four-star recruit from Brophy High School--decided to commit to Washington State, spurning his hometown Sun Devils for the high-powered offense of new Cougar head coach Mike Leach. This closed a very difficult recruiting decision for the young quarterback, and dealt a setback for ASU's efforts with in-state recruits.
However, ASU was ready. They had been heavily recruiting Joshua Dobbs from Alpharetta High School in Georgia, and many viewed him as a comparable option for ASU should they miss out on Bruggman.
Sure enough, within minutes of Bruggman's decision, DevilsDigest.com tweeted that Dobbs had in fact committed to ASU. Dobbs had offers from 14 schools, including Arkansas, Maryland, TCU, Mississippi State and Syracuse.
Dobbs is an athletic two-sport star and an intriguing pro-style quarterback. He has a good frame at 6'3", 190 pounds and plenty of room to fill out. A three-star prospect, he is lauded for his accuracy, strong arm and intelligence. However, he does not have the overall polish as a quarterback of Bruggman, due in part to his time being split between football and baseball. He is a developmental project with very good upside, and could be in the mix in 2014.
Last season for Alpharetta, Dobbs completed 59.7% of his passes for 3,113 yards, 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, while rushing for 200 yards and two scores.
The ability for Todd Graham and his staff to secure a prospect of Dobbs' caliber so swiftly is another encouraging sign of their planning and execution and overall ability in recruiting. This is bolstered by the fact that they were able to reach out to Georgia for Dobbs, and this hopefully can be the first of many recruits to come from that fertile region.
See ASU's newest arm in action:
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