ASU football recruiting: Four-star receiver Trey Palmer says ASU is in hunt with LSU, Georgia

Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida State, Georgia ... Arizona State?

The list looks like a game of “one of these things is not like the other,” and in a sense, it is. While ASU’s last seven years have been highlighted by a Pac-12 Championship Game appearance in 2013, the other five have all played in the national championship game within that same span.

But in the recruitment of wide receiver Trey Palmer, ASU is right up there, if not ahead, of college football’s giants who have all offered the Kentwood, Louisiana native.

During the finals of Nike Football The Opening in Dallas, Palmer said he did not have a top 5 yet but was asked “if you had to make a top 5 today, who are like the two or three schools that you know have done enough? Like they’d be hats on the table in the end.”

“LSU, Arizona State and Georgia,” Palmer told reporters including Bud Elliot of SB Nation.

The 6-foot, 179-pound four-star receiver, according to 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN, made his official visit to Tempe on June 1 — just five days after ASU offered him — with fellow Louisiana standouts cornerback Jordan Clark, receiver Devonta Lee, athlete Makiya Tongue and SMU DB commit Donald Clay.

(Tongue has ASU is his final 3 and 247Sports’ crystal ball predictions are split between Clark going to ASU or Stanford)

Palmer said the visit was “crazy,” noting that he really enjoyed the environment and, surprisingly, the Arizona weather.

“There was no rain,” he said. “In Louisiana, it rains.”

But the 129th-best player in the 247Sports’ composite rankings said the good environment had a lot to do with new head coach Herm Edwards.

The high approval ratings are not just coming from inside the Devils’ locker room — where players like Chase Lucas are raving about how their 64-year old head coach has given them “freedom” — but recruits are saying the same things.

“I like coach Herm, he’s a cool coach,” Palmer said “He lets you be you.”

If Palmer’s quotes aren’t an indication of his interest in the maroon and gold, the receiver’s pinned tweet on Twitter is of him decked out in ASU uniform on his official visit.

He said that his recruitment is still “wide-open,” and mentioned that he will likely commit sometime during football season. “I’m just looking trying to see what’s best for me,” he said.

During the Dallas Regional of The Opening, Palmer ran a 4.72-second 40-yard dash and recorded a 32.6-inch vertical leap. His athleticism, too, has led him to become a three-sport athlete at Kentwood High School.

At the track state championships, Palmer won the 200-meter event in 21.74 seconds and finished third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.81 seconds. And during his sophomore campaign playing baseball, he hit .380 with 11 RBI.

Palmer became very enthusiastic when his baseball career was brought up. “I love baseball,” he said. “Baseball was my first love.” He said he won’t early enroll in college so that he can finish his senior season on the diamond.

Here are Palmer’s highlights: