What are the expectations for ASU’s group of linebackers after losing star Robert James to the NFL?
James was one of the nation’s best surprise stories in college football last season, as he capped off a career which began with academic challenges—and nearly ended prematurely due to migraine headaches which hospitalized him during the spring before his senior season—with a first-team All-Pac-10 season in 2007. After only recording 68 tackles in 29 games during his first three seasons, James exploded as a senior under first-year head coach Dennis Erickson, leading ASU with 106 stops as a starter in all 13 games at weak side linebacker, ranking him seventh in the Pac-10 in tackles. The Phoenix native added 9.5 tackles for loss, seven pass deflections, and four interceptions, and received ASU’s Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Year Award. Few Sun Devils developed and improved as greatly over his career as did James, who arrived to Tempe from Phoenix’s Maryvale High School as a 180-pound defensive back and transformed into a ferocious 230-pound linebacker, and was ultimately selecte
