Davon Durant Flips to Arizona St: Sun Devils Land Former South Carolina Commit

First, the No. 14 Arizona State Sun Devils decisively beat the Stanford Cardinal at home. Now, they've added one of the top junior college players in the country to their class of 2015. All in all, it's been a good seven days.

According to 247Sports' JC Shurburtt, the Sun Devils captured the commitment of 4-star JUCO linebacker Davon Durant on Tuesday:

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The nation's No. 1 JUCO inside linebacker, Davon Durant (Butler C.C.) has committed to Arizona State after backing out of a commitment to South Carolina.

Durant is a native of Greenwood, S.C. and is on track to enroll at ASU in January.

The versatile, athletic prospect could play any of the linebacker spots at Arizona State, including the "Devil" position.

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Durant also confirmed the news on Twitter:

He's the second linebacker to pledge his future to ASU on Tuesday night, joining 3-star recruit Khaylan Thomas, per Doug Haller of AZCentral.com:

Durant is the seventh-best JUCO player in the 2015 class, according to 247Sports' composite rankings. He'd previously committed to South Carolina but decided to spurn the Gamecocks.

"It's nothing they did," said Durant, per Phil Kornblut of GoGamecocks.com. "I was thinking about it and I thought it wouldn't be the best choice for me. They've got a lot of linebackers and a lot of guys coming back. I'm going to give other people a chance."

At the time, Durant had yet to officially commit to Arizona State, but he talked about some of the positives about possibly joining the Sun Devils.

"I like their defense and they have a good scheme," he said. "Their coaches are great. We hit it off on my official. It's a good program and defensively I think I would fit well."

Matt York/Associated Press

Over the years, Arizona State has had intermittent joy tempered with disappointment. John Cooper and Bruce Snyder took the Sun Devils to the Rose Bowl, and the combination of Dirk Koetter and Dennis Erickson showed promise early in their respective tenures before bowing out after failing to take the program consistently forward.

ASU is undoubtedly making progress under Todd Graham, both on the field and the recruiting trail. With the commitment of Durant, the team jumped 15 spots into 23rd for the class of 2015, according to 247Sports.

Finding players like Durant is what will help Arizona State bridge the gap with the likes of Oregon and Stanford in terms of sustained success.