The UA Wildcats may be the ASU football team's in-state rivals, but there are actually more players on the Sun Devils' roster from California than from the Grand Canyon State.
When the Sun Devils face USC on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium, a great number of players will have extra motivation when they take on the school they watched while growing up.
"Our Southern Cal guys, no question, get up for SC," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "That's been evident to me ever since I've been here."
ASU has nearly 40 players on its roster who hail from the Golden State, and more than 20 of them are from Southern California.
"You want to play against a team that is in your home area and play against a bunch of guys that you knew or played with or grew up with," said junior strong safety Riccardo Stewart, who is from La Verne, Calif. "Most of our family members are SC fans. Most of our friends are SC fans, and when you get a chance to go take a shot on those guys, it's always great."
Stewart added that he has 27 friends and relatives from his hometown coming to Tempe on Saturday.
"I refuse to talk to any of my family members that are SC fans this week until after the game," he said. "They'll be wearing gold, but I know true in their hearts they are SC fans. But we'll change that."
Redshirt freshman tailback Loren Wade used to live just "two to three minutes" away from USC. His mother works in a credit union on campus and sees Trojan players on a regular basis.
"My mom works there, so [USC] got most of my support growing up," Wade said. "Now I come here, and it's time to play against them. It feels kind of funny, but you got to take care of business."
Both Wade and Stewart were offered scholarships to play at USC, but said they felt more comfortable with the Sun Devils.
"When I got offered [a scholarship to USC] it was a big deal to my family, and I liked it for all the wrong reasons like everyone else," said Stewart, who said he was annoyed with all the Trojan fans around him as a youngster.
"They got Heisman Trophy winners, they got national championships, and they win a lot with their alumni and their tradition."
Stewart added that in his senior year of high school after he committed to the Sun Devils, he attended the ASU/USC game in the Los Angeles Coliseum and snuck into ASU's locker room afterward.
"It was great watching guys like [former Sun Devil and New England Patriot] J.R. Redmond from Southern California go back and play [the Trojans] and I thought, 'I can't wait to get my chance to play against USC,'" Stewart said.
While both Stewart and Wade opted not to attend USC, a grocery list of Southern California natives at ASU were snubbed from getting a chance to play football in their hometown.
Though ASU competes for the best athletes Arizona has to offer, they also battle the Trojans for Southern California's top talent.
ASU is allowed 57 recruits to come to Tempe each year on official visits. Not coincidently, the coaching staff is spending 15 of those this weekend when the Trojans come to town.
In addition to players from Georgia, Texas and New Mexico, Koetter said "seven or eight" of the 15 visiting come from Southern California.
"We always want to keep the best guys in Arizona, but there is not enough players in Arizona to support two Pac-10 teams," Koetter said. "So the next place where there is a huge number [is Southern California]."
Koetter pointed out that about 140 California natives signed Pac-10 scholarships last season.
"[The USC game] is always big," Koetter said. "It's big for a lot of reasons, and recruiting is certainly one of them."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
