.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
There's been little to no hint as to why Devin Lucien decided to leave the comforts of his home in Southern California and move to Tempe.
Lucien recently sat down with Doug Haller at the Arizona Republic and when asked why he decided to leave Westwood, Lucien still was tight lipped about his decision.
"It was just something that I felt like was right," he told Haller. "What happened at UCLA happened at UCLA. I'm ready to move on."
it seems like there's a lot more to it than Lucien is letting on. Jim Mora also was tight lipped when asked about Lucien's decision to leave when asked about it during spring camp a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, UCLA took the high road when releasing Lucien and allowing him to make ASU his next destination. Because Lucien is a graduate student he's immediately eligible to play wherever he ends up, but because he's headed to a school within the Pac-12 Conference, Lucien needed UCLA to release him, which it did.
Whatever the case, Lucien decided on the Sun Devils because of his strong relationship with Mike Bercovici. Lucien told Haller that nine Pac-12 schools were targeting him, along with Alabama and Miami. Ultimately, a long-standing friendship with Berco was too much to pass up.
"Me and (Bercovici) go back to probably our sophomore years of high school," Lucien told Haller. "We would see each other in summer camps. We'd throw together in the offseason. Then, we ended up going to rival high schools. He went to Taft, I went to Crespi. We battled against each other, but we always had respect for each other."
Lucien also opens up about filling Jaelen Strong's shoes, his aspirations for the NFL and the UCLA-ASU rivalry. It's really a good read.
(h/t Arizona Republic)
Photo Credit: Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports
