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One of the greatest prep football players that the state of Arizona has seen decided Tuesday to take his talents out of state, as five-star recruit Christian Kirk committed to Texas A&M Kirk picked the Aggies over Auburn, Ohio State and UCLA among others, but it's his snub of ASU that is the most surprising.
The Sun Devils weren't initially seen to be in the race for Kirk, who's rated as a consensus five-star and No. 3 Class of 2015 receiver by Scout/Rivals/ESPN, but ASU made strides this season as favored Texas A&M stumbled to a 7-5 record. Kirk made his official visit for the Notre Dame game, and ASU's dominating win in the "Desert Fuel" uniforms was seen as a big step forward towards swaying Kirk to stay home.
Kirk was a teammate of ASU running back D.J. Foster in at Saguaro 2011, and Kirk's three state championships in addition to his gaudy stats puts him up there as possibly the best player to ever come out of the prestigious program in Scottsdale. The connection to Foster, ASU's unexpected season that saw the team climb up to No. 6 in the nation at a point and the Aggies' struggles were seen as huge swings of momentum in the Sun Devils' direction in the race for the five-star wideout.
With Kirk no longer in the picture for Todd Graham and the Sun Devils, ASU will try and secure a commitment from four-star California wide receiver Trent Irwin. Irwin, a teammate of ASU four-star quarterback commit Brady White, also was present on his officlal visit for the Notre Dame win. While a Kirk commitment would've been the first five star of the Todd Graham era and first ASU's snagged since Vontaze Burfict in 2009, a pair of 2013 four-star recruits (Jalen Harvey, Tyler Whiley) project to see playing time next year as redshirt freshmen and will certainly still help the Sun Devils' cause.