Sun Devil Football’s Lucas Named To Thorpe Award Watch List

Press release from Sun Devil Athletics:

July 27, 2021

Sun Devil Football continues to be well-represented on the preseason watch lists with the announcements of Chase Lucas earning the nod on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list for the nation's top defensive back and Merlin Robertson receiving his first preseason accolade as part of the Butkus Award watch list for the nation's best linebacker.

It's the second preseason award nod for Lucas, who was named to the watch list for the Bednarik Award last week for the nation's top defensive player. He is also a 2021 Athlon Sports Preseason All-Pac-12 First Team selection.

Lucas was the highest graded corner in the Pac-12 in coverage last season with a grade of 84.7 and the 16th-highest graded corner in the nation. Among players with at least 250 defensive snaps, Lucas was the fifth-highest graded defensive player in the Pac-12, regardless of position, with a score of 81.4 from Pro Football Focus .Lucas recorded a score of 84.8 in pass coverage for the season, the highest for a cornerback in the league and the second-highest of any defensive player. He was the sixth-highest graded cornerback in the nation in pass coverage and the 12th-highest graded cornerback in the country overall.

He allowed just 109 yards in coverage, seventh fewest in the Pac-12 while his 7.8 yards allowed per catch were third in the league and only allowed five first downs, fourth fewest in the league and forced five incompletions - good for third in the league. Lucas allowed a first down or touchdown just 31.8 percent of the time, seventh-lowest in the Pac-12, and allowed just one player over 15 yards, second-lowest in the league.

Lucas Forced an incompletion on 27.3 percent of the passes thrown his way, the ninth-best tally among corners nationally and was targeted just 22 times on the season despite playing over 90 percent of the team's defensive snaps, allowing just 14 catches.

Robertson was second on the team with 20 tackles last season and enjoyed a great season opener against USC, collecting ten tackles, one tackle for loss, one fumble recovery, and an interception on his way to winning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. He came through with seven tackles and half a tackle for loss against UCLA.

Robertson had a negative grade on just 11.0 percent of rushing defensive plays on the year, according to PFF. His average depth of tackle was just 2.44 yards, seventh best in the league among linebackers.

He was not credited with a missed tackle on the season after a sophomore year where he was seventh among league linebackers in fewest missed tackles. Robertson was the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2018.

For complete release and all preseason Sun Devil Football honors, click here

This press release was produced by Sun Devil Athletics. The views expressed here are the author's own.