ASU Football Season Awards: Devin Lucien is our 2015 Breakout Player of the Year

This is the fourth part in our postseason series wrapping up the ASU football season. We will handing out awards and and evaluating each position in the coming weeks.

It's a difficult task pinning just one player as a "breakout star" from this Sun Devil squad. Yes, the Sun Devils felt what it was like to be a .500 level team this season. The same Sun Devils who were slated no less, to go 10-2, brimming with new, explosive talent. But while Arizona State struggled with coaching changes, offensive woes, and lapses in coverage on defense, the prediction of the fresh talent this season remained correct.

Two offensive transfers and a defensive veteran were neck-and-neck in this one, but it was the wide receiver who amassed nearly 400 yards and led the team in receiving for the last two weeks of the season who was deemed our 2015 breakout player of the year.

Breakout Player of the Year: Devin Lucien, WR-No. 15 (Redshirt Senior)

Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 195 pounds, Devin Lucien traded UCLA blue for ASU gold, coming into this season after playing receiver for three years on a very good Bruin squad. Lucien was quiet at the beginning of the season, allowing both Demario Richard and Tim White to step into the offensive spotlight while he remained a dark horse that would emerge toward the middle of the season.

It was after missing the USC game due to an injury sustained in the second half of the New Mexico contest, that Lucien found his stride and quickly became quarterback Mike Bercovici's favorite target.

In three seasons with the Bruins, Lucien caught 58 passes for 752 yards and four touchdowns. In one year at ASU and now at the end of the regular season, it is Lucien's name that sits atop the chart for total receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns. The agile receiver accrued 931 yards on 57 receptions, a 39-yard kick-return and averaged 77.6 yards a game for seven touchdowns.

Lucien had his largest impact on his first and last Territorial Cup game, in which he collected a career-high 190 yards off nine receptions including a 59-yard touchdown catch, his longest of the season. Lucien was voted the Bob Moran Territorial Cup Most Valuable Player for his invaluable contribution to the 52-37 victory.

In his final regular season game against Cal, Lucien caught eight passes for 200 of ASU's 395 yards through the air and claimed three touchdowns in a losing effort.

This possession receiver had his best season of college football at ASU this year and led his teammates in yards, receptions and touchdowns, all making him our breakout player of the year.

Turns out, maroon and gold looks good on him.

Runner Ups:

Antonio Longino, LB-No.32 (Redshirt Senior)

Longino was the second player in ASU history to be named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks this season. He led an oftentimes, blitz-happy defense with ten sacks with 19.5 tackles for loss and accumulated 60 total tackles by the end of the regular season.

Longino was a reliable force for ASU, seeing some time at Devilbacker as the season progressed and proved his worth as a leader to this Sun Devil squad both on and off the field.

Tim White WR-No.12 (Redshirt Junior)

Head Coach Todd Graham called for explosive plays and that is just what Tim White delivered him. The speedy target on the outside broke out in a big way for ASU this season.

White found the end zone seven times on 554 yards and averaged 25.6 yards on 31 kick returns, one of which was  a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Utah's elite special teams unit.