Arizona State Lands 14-Year-Old Recruit from Texas

Loren Mondy, a 14-year old linebacker from Texas who hasn't even started high school yet, has committed to playing his college ball at Arizona State, per a report from Chris Karpman of Rivals.com. 

Mondy, who is 6'1" and 233 pounds, said in Karpman's story that he was offered by Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham on the first day that he visited the campus. 

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"I went to the Arizona State (satellite) camp at Sam Houston (State) and coach (Todd) Graham saw me and loved me and asked me if we could come down there, so we did last weekend," Mondy said. "I was hoping to get offered, and it happened the first day we were there. Coach was like, 'if you want to play with me, I'm all with it. But if you commit with me, you're going to have to talk to your family and really think about it, and you can't be going to everyone else's school and camps and things.'"

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That stipulation that Mondy can't visit other schools made by Graham is an interesting one, to say the least. Whether Mondy decides to open up his recruitment after a few years of high school ball just to see what other programs are like remains to be seen. 

After being offered by the Sun Devils, the first school to offer the youngster, Mondy chose to accept the offer, saying that he saw everything he wanted at Arizona State. 

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"It was great. The campus is really nice, the coaches are awesome, the facility is nice," Mondy said. "I like the campus, and it's like a family environment and coach Graham is like family to me. It's like family overall."

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Mondy's commitment to the Sun Devils marks the youngest player to ever commit to playing college football at Arizona State. 

The big connection between Mondy and Arizona State is Mondy's father, Michael Mondy. The elder Mondy played for Graham at both the high school and college level. Michael played his college ball at East Central University, an NAIA school. Graham was a defensive coordinator from 1991-93 at the school. 

Mondy's announcement follows a recent trend of recruits committing to schools at younger and younger ages. In July of last year, ESPN's Mitch Sherman reported on the trend. In his story, he highlighted David Sills, a 13-year old quarterback that committed to USC. 

Sills is now 17 and still verbally committed to the Trojans.

Dylan Moses is another young linebacker prospect that is receiving attention from big-time programs. Despite not having played a down of high school ball, he's received seven offers, including Alabama and LSU, according to 247sports.com.