Round of 16
Region 4: Individual Accomplishments
No. 1 "Cory Hahn Gets Drafted By the D'Backs" vs. No. 8 "Will Sutton Named a Consensus All-American"
The Case for Cory Hahn: When the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Cory Hahn in the 34th round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Sun Devils everywhere were collectively reminded what makes sports so great. But what made it so special was that D-Backs president Derrick Hall found a way to make sure the move was more than a honorary gesture.
The organization invited him in for an introductory press conference usually reserved for an A-Rod caliber signing. And during that Q&A session, Hall made sure to inform the media that the D-Backs intended to keep him around in a full-time capacity. Here's what Hall had to say from our friends at AZ Snake Pit:
"It was a very emotional selection for us to make. When Ray Montgomery and his staff came up with the idea and presented it to me, it was a no-brainer. It's not about us. It's really about Cory and his family. I was able to spend time with them right after the injury in his hospital room and he's a wonderful kid. We want to make this permanent. We don't want this to just be about the selection and him being a draft pick, but about him working in full-time employment with the Diamondbacks and hopefully we'll make that come to fruition for he and his family here soon."
Simply put, Hahn is in inspiration to all so it was incredible to see him be rewarded for everything he's done emotionally for Sun Devil nation. If we at House of Sparky could draft him, we would. Instead, we'll just have to settle for advancing this amazing human being on to the next round.
The Case for Will Sutton:
How are you not going to vote for the face of Arizona State Athletics' coming out party? In 2012, Sutton made a name for himself as the nation's top interior defensive lineman. Among the many accolades he earned in the process were the Pac-12 Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year award as well as All-Pac-12 and consensus All-American honors (becoming only the 18th Sun Devil to unanimously be named to the team).
And there's little denying he earned all the hype. Sutton led the team with 23.5 tackles for loss and 13 sacks, some gaudy numbers considering he was being double-teamed in the middle most plays. The craziest part of it all is that if he didn't essentially miss two full games with a knee injury, he might have set some national records as his 1.92 TFL per game and 1.08 sacks per game average were both top-3 in the country.
Sutton rewarded us by coming back for his senior season so shouldn't we reward him by voting him on to the next round?