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ASU football graduate transfer Devin Lucien adjusting to his surroundings

The former UCLA Bruin is in his first fall camp with the Sun Devils

Devin Lucien football practice
during ASU football practice on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, at the Verde Dickey Dome in Tempe.

ASU redshirt senior wide receiver Devin Lucien, like a majority of this 2015 senior class, did not come to Tempe four years ago. 

In fact, senior wide receiver D.J. Foster is the lone player from ASU head coach Todd Graham's inaugural recruiting class who will play his senior season this year.

Lucien found his way to Tempe after starting for one of the Sun Devils' biggest rivals for the duration of his collegiate career, leaving the Westwood, Calif. campus of UCLA to come to join fellow southern California native Mike Bercovici as a graduate transfer.

Bercovici and Lucien share the southern California bond, a friendship  Lucien said has grown "exponentially" since arriving on campus this summer.

"I was with (Bercovici) all the time during the summer when I first moved out here," Lucien said. "We did everything together. We ate together, we played video games all the time and most importantly we were up there studying plays."

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound wideout caught 29 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns for the Bruins last season, and has caught 58 passes for 752 yards and four touchdowns across three seasons.

Despite receiving solid playing time in at UCLA, playing at ASU gave Lucien a unique situation.

"What drove me into coming here was just more opportunity," Lucien said. "Everyone has the expectation to get to the next level, and I felt like being here, being with (Bercovici), being with these coaches and these players that I had a really good opportunity of doing that."

Much of the opportunity stems from the depth at the wide receiver position, which was trimmed when Jaelen Strong left for the NFL Draft and Cam Smith underwent season-ending knee surgery.

"With Jaelen Strong out and Cam Smith out, a lot of responsibility has been left for a receiver to fill that void, and hopefully, with a great camp, I can be that guy," Lucien said.

Lucien has lined up at the nine-man "Y" spot previous occupied by Strong in two days of camp thus far, working with the second-string.

"I'm not as big as Jaelen, of course, but I feel like I have the athleticism to make up for that," Lucien said. "I can stretch the field, and I can run routes too. I think it fits me perfectly, which is one of the reasons why I came here."

The former Bruin has had to get used to the Sun Devils' rigid, "military-style" culture.

"The culture is different at every school," Lucien said. "Everyone has their own way of doing things. Here I'd say it's a little bit more strict. Coach Graham is very high on military and the culture they have in the military and he makes sure to bring it to his players here."

The experience of playing in the Pac-12 for three seasons has allowed Lucien to grasp deputy head coach Mike Norvell's offense more quickly, he said.

"I'm not trying to be too high on myself but I feel like I have (the offense) down pretty packed," Lucien said. "I didn't make too many mistakes today and one thing that comes with having experience is you can get the concepts a lot easier."

Lucien said there's one big thing that separates the offenses at UCLA and ASU.

"They throw a lot more, and they throw it downfield," he said.

Norvell said he was impressed with Lucien's first two days at fall camp.

"We wanted to really kind of accelerate and see where he was at and he's done a good job," Norvell said. "You can tell he's spent some time studying and doing the extra work, and he's definitely a special talent."

ASU doesn't have many players returning with game experience at the wide receiver position, making Lucien that much more valuable.

"He knows this league," Norvell said. "He knows what it takes to play in the Pac-12 and to be successful here. Now it's about really coming in and becoming a Sun Devil and adhering to all the things that we ask him to do day in and day out. It's been fun watching him kind of get in there and mesh with our guys."

The offseason additions of Lucien, JUCO transfer Tim White and true freshman Terrell Chatman have changed the once-questionable wide receiver depth in one that Norvell said "has a chance to be as good as we've ever had."

Foster has become the de-facto veteran of the wide receiving corps despite this being his first season at the position after transitioning from running back.

"I love the wide receivers (we have)," Foster said. "Ellis (Jefferson), Gary (Chambers), Fred (Gammage) and then Devin (Lucien) coming along. It's unbelievable how much talent we have. Even the second group, I mean Tim (White), we have all these guys, Terrell (Chatman). It's unbelievable the talent we have."

Additional Notes:

- The following players were wearing camouflage "PT42" jerseys Thursday to represent character on and off the field: redshirt senior safety Jordan Simone, redshirt senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington, redshirt sophomore safety James Johnson and redshirt junior linebacker Laiu Moeakiola.

- "Flame" helmets were awarded to these players to recognize players Graham feels he "can win a Pac-12 championship" with: redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici, Foster, redshirt senior guard Christian Westerman, Simone, Carrington, Johnson, Moeakiola, sophomore running back/linebacker Kalen Ballage, sophomore running back DeMario Richard, junior kicker Zane Gonzalez, redshirt senior center Nick Kelly and redshirt junior tight end Kody Kohl.

- Redshirt senior guard Vi Teofilo and junior wide receiver Cam Smith were wearing green non-contact jerseys. Teofilo is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, but participated in most of the lineman drills.

- Ballage, as Graham told reporters Wednesday, worked solely with the offense and kickoff returns Thursday, lining up as the second-team running back. He will alternate between offense and defense this fall, alternating each day. 

- With Ballage playing offense, redshirt sophomore linebacker Chans Cox lined up at first team "Devilbacker."

- Redshirt freshman linebacker Ismael Murphy-Richardson, who practiced with the newcomers Wednesday night, practiced with the veterans Thursday morning as the second-string "Devilbacker."

- Graham mixed and matched first-teamers from Wednesday to Thursday and even in the middle of Thursday's practice. 

He alternated between redshirt senior wide receiver Gary Chambers and redshirt sophomore Ellis Jefferson for the first-team "Z" wide receiver spot.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Christian Sam and redshirt junior Salamo Fiso split first-team reps for the "Sam" linebacker spot.

Graham mixed things up at the field corner position, alternating between senior Kweishi Brown and redshirt senior Solomon Means for first-team reps.


Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.

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