Change is good they say. Change helps people move on from a situation in life they say. Moving on from a particular place in life is sometimes not the best thing to do for a person. In the case of DJ Foster of Arizona State and his choice of staying in school or moving onto the professional ranks he chose to stay in school and get some more experience and what some people would call "seasoning".
Foster made the correct choice in my opinion by deciding to stay at ASU. He had a lot of publicity when he came out of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale. He was one of the biggest recruits that the state of Arizona has seen in recent history. He chose to come to Arizona State in part to stay at home and have family and friends be able to see him play on a consistent basis. His high school coach was also put in charge of high school relations with ASU and that helped as well. However, the biggest reason I believe he stayed was that his parents are ASU alumni and having his parents watch him play was a big deal for him. That reason may seem a bit cliché, but for many athletes that is a deciding factor in terms of where they go to school.
As far as this particular choice of staying in school it was a sound choice because as much as DJ Foster thought he might be ready to make the jump to the NFL. He's not there yet and his draft position is not where he would want it. At best he may have been a fourth round pick this years draft. He rushed for over a 1,000 yards, he caught 62 passes for 688 yards this past year. Good stats, but not stats that he wants if he wants to be a higher draft pick, and I am sure that Foster wants to maximize his draft potential when he does go pro.
Part of him maximizing his potential is possibly taking a bigger leadership role with the team and putting in the time in the weight room and learning everything he can to take advantage of a spread offense that can and has showed how good of a player he can be. There have been whispers of Foster not being as dedicated to his craft as he should be, but that is simply conjecture at this point because after all he still is a college kid and when has anybody during their college years been as dedicated to their craft as they should be? People who are out of college and have their careers going know what it really takes to keep that career going. Foster doesn't have that experience yet, but he will. I guarantee he will figure it out as he matures.
The other aspect of him maxing out his talent is for the coaching staff to use him a little better. Even though he ran for over 1,000 yards, it could have been a lot better for him if he wasn't asked to try and go between the tackles as much. He's not a guy that does great going between the tackles. He is most effective in space because he has phenomenal speed and he can't do that if he trying to dodge the nose tackle on every play. I also think he needs to be put into the slot position more often and he may just be better as a slot receiver than as a back in the Sun Devil attack.
There are personal reasons why he may have stayed too. I know that his desire to graduate and obtain his degree is a goal that he has had for a long time. His family has stressed that there is more out there in life than sports and that life is about starting and ending chapters in his life. Being a Sun Devil is a chapter in his life that he is not ready to end and so he is coming back for his senior season. I don't think that this was the sole reason for him coming back though.
I respect his choice for coming back, but I am not disillusioned by him saying that he wants his degree as that one reason. If he was going to be a higher draft pick, I could have easily seen this press conference going in the opposite direction and we would all be talking about DJ Foster jumping to the NFL. Fortunately, we are not talking about this today. We get to enjoy watching Foster run and catch his way around Sun Devil Stadium and other Pac-12 stadiums. I, for one, am happy that change did not happen in this case. Forks Up Sun Devil fans!
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