Arizona State freshman wide receiver shows promise

TEMPE, Ariz. — While the Arizona State football scrimmage this past Wednesday marked the end of fall camp, regular practices have begun. The Sun Devils were out in the heat early this morning, and the team showed a lot of promise. One player specifically impressed and it was freshman wide receiver Kaleb Black from Texas.

Kaleb Black shows promise for Arizona State

Kaleb Black is a 5’9 freshman receiver from Klein Oak High School in Texas. Black dons the number 17, and flew a little under the radar in high school.

He was a consensus three-star prospect among the major recruiting services. Rivals gave him a rating of 5.5 while 247 Sports Composite rankings listed him as a Top-250 overall prospect in Texas and the No. 222 wide receiver prospect in the nation.

In his varsity career, he hauled in 124 receptions for 1,905 yards and 17 touchdowns. The speedster also served as Klein Oak’s kick and punt returner. Overall in his varsity career, Black racked up over 2,300 all-purpose yards and 19 total touchdowns.

The freshman was part of the “Texas2Tempe” movement in the Arizona State football program. The primary recruiter was wide receivers coach Ra’Shaad Samples. Samples competed with 16 other schools that offered Black, including Memphis, Army, Wisconsin, and Tulane.

So far in Tempe, Black has impressed me in both Wednesday’s scrimmage and this morning’s practice. He does a tremendous job of using his speed, footwork, and overall athleticism to create space. While he is on the shorter side, his speed and ability to create separation from defenders more than makeup for it.

Multiple times in practice he excelled in shorter route situations in quickly getting open. It’s also easy to tell that he is a disciplined and patient route runner. Black never looks rushed when running his routes and sells all of his fakes and different motions, which is part of the reason he’s able to get open.

It’s unclear what his role will be as a true freshman, but Kaleb Black has the potential to be a very good offensive player for Arizona State football.

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