After a season of wreaking havoc that saw many records, as well as quarterbacks, hit the ground, ASU junior defensive end Terrell Suggs is now having his praises sung across the college football nation.
On Tuesday, Suggs was announced as one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy awarded to the best defensive player in the country.
The award is chosen by the Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club and will be given out on Dec. 9 in Charlotte, N.C.
The four remaining finalists are Maryland senior linebacker E.J. Henderson, Kansas State senior cornerback Terence Newman, Georgia sophomore defensive end David Pollack and Notre Dame senior cornerback Shane Walton.
Despite being in the national spotlight, Suggs has remained humble throughout the experience.
"I saw at the beginning of the season I was a candidate for all these awards," he said. "Then you look down the list [of other nominees] and you say, 'I can't look forward to these awards.' I just never let it affect me and never let it be a thing I was playing for. I just wanted to play for my team. That's what I did and it kind of just fell into place.
"It just means that a lot of things can happen when you humble yourself and put your team first. I didn't really play for myself anymore. I played for my team and all this stuff kind of happened. When you're not trying to make yourself a bigger name, when you're just going out there to have fun, things like this can happen for you."
Suggs has rewritten many records for ASU this season. His 20 sacks are a record for ASU, the Pac-10 and the nation. Former Sun Devil Al Harris set the previous school mark with 19 in 1978. Despite playing defensive end, Suggs is still fourth on the team this year in tackles with 61 and is tied for first with five forced fumbles.
He has already been nominated for the Ted Hendricks Award for best defensive end in the nation and the Rotary Lombardi Award for best lineman/linebacker.
"These [nominations] are all great for Terrell," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "They're all very well deserved and are great publicity not only for Terrell but for Arizona State football and Terrell deserves everything he's getting. He's one of the best players in college football. He should be recognized as such."
Smart on and off the field: The Pac-10 conference announced its annual All-Academic team on Wednesday. Players selected to the team must either be starters or have contributed significantly to the team while carrying a minimum GPA of 3.0.
The Sun Devils were well represented on the team. Junior tailback Mike Williams was selected to the first team for the second consecutive season with a 3.12 GPA. Senior linebacker Mason Unck (3.11 GPA) along with senior strong safety Alfred Williams (3.50 GPA) also made the first team on defense.
Junior wide receiver Skyler Fulton (3.29 GPA) was selected to the second team. Senior kicker Mike Barth, sophomore quarterback Chad Christensen and freshman center Grayling Love were named honorable mentions.
Good choices for captain: For the team's annual battle with the UA, the players voted on who would represent the team as captain. Those players included sophomore quarterback Andrew Walter, senior linebacker Mason Unck and senior strong safety Alfred Williams. Koetter said he approved of the choices.
"The main thing is that it's from the players' perspective which is what really counts here," Koetter said. "They see those three guys as the three best representatives of this year's team. I'm not talking about the future or the past, but for this year's team those are the three guys they felt best represented what they stand for this year, and I think they made three really nice choices."
Facing tough competition: Even though the Sun Devils have dropped three consecutive games after beginning the season with a 7-2 start, Koetter was quick to acknowledge the caliber of opponents that his team has taken on.
"If you look back on these last three teams we've played, a couple of things become very obvious to me," Koetter said. "Number one, we've played three teams in a row that have senior quarterbacks. Number two, the last three teams all have double digits in senior starters. By my calculations USC started 11 seniors, Cal started 14 and Washington State started 10. We have four senior starters.
"We have a tendency to forget two of the last three games [WSU and USC] have been against teams ranked in the top seven in the nation."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
