SPORTS

Former top recruit Chans Cox 'still learning' at ASU

Scott Bordow
azcentral sports

Chans Cox, out of Lakeside Blue Ridge High School, was one of the more-highly recruited players in Arizona,

Chans Cox paced back and forth in the end zone, his anxiousness evident in every step. Finally, he stopped but even then he couldn't stand still.

He fiddled with his mouthpiece. He shifted his feet backward and forward. Like a baseball hitter between pitches he re-fastened the Velcro strip on his gloves.

Arizona State had just begun a recent morning practice, but Cox wasn't on the field with the first-team defense. Nor would he be out there when the second team went in. He stood and watched, a situation that seemed unfathomable just a year ago.

Cox, out of Lakeside Blue Ridge High School, was one of the more-highly recruited players in Arizona, receiving offers from marquee programs such as Oklahoma, Nebraska and Notre Dame. But he decided to stay home, and when he not only signed up to play for coach Todd Graham but arrived early to participate in spring ball in 2013 it seemed just a matter of time before he'd be a starter and one of ASU's more-vital defensive players.

Yet here he was, waiting to get a few reps, not a forgotten man but one who had slipped into the shadows.

"It's good," Cox said. "I'm still learning, still progressing. I'm just blessed to be in the position I'm in. I'm playing D1 football, and that was always the goal of mine."

When fall camp started the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Cox was one of several players hoping to fill the Devil-backer position vacated by the departure of Carl Bradford to the NFL. Cox started fall camp as the starter but was demoted after just one practice. Since then, he's worn a scout-team jersey as a linebacker and practiced as a backup along the defensive line.

The diminished roles are far from what Cox — or ASU — expected. But senior associate head coach Paul Randolph said the Sun Devils haven't given up on the former Blue Ridge star.

"Chans is growing," Randolph said. "His eyes are getting better in recognizing, his footwork is getting better and it's just a matter of time and maturation."

Cox's inability to crack the first two teams on the depth chart is due in part to a wasted freshman season. He fractured a foot in spring practice and suffered a shoulder injury in the fall. He lost valuable repetitions and was redshirted.

"That was the bad part. It kind of set me back," Cox said. "It would have been a whole different story had I been able to progress more last year and get some experience. I'm just doing that right now."

There's some question, however, as to whether Cox will ever be up to game speed. Randolph, however, scoffed at the notion that Cox might turn out to be little more than a backup and special-teams player. For one thing, Randolph said, this is only Cox's second year in the program and the first year he's been healthy.

"He's finally healthy and now he can work and actually use the technique and fundamentals he's been taught," Randolph said. ""To me Chans is going to be a player."