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Prized QB recruit Shaw quits ASU's football team
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Derek Shaw, who arrived on Arizona State’s campus last fall as one of the most prized quarterback recruits in the nation, quit the team on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder with a cannon arm redshirted in 2005 and was considered the Sun Devils’ QB of the future. But the emergence of Rudy Carpenter, a then-redshirt freshman who led the team to a 4-1 record after Sam Keller’s thumb injury, created an imposing depth-chart roadblock.
An ASU spokesman said that he will complete his studies this semester.
“Derek has made a decision to leave the ASU program to pursue other interests,” coach Dirk Koetter said. “It wasn’t the right fit for him here. He leaves in good standing, and we wish nothing but the best for him.”
Keller, a senior-to-be, is once again No. 1 on the depth chart. And with Carpenter just one year ahead of him, Shaw faced the possibility being a backup through the 2008 season.
Potential playing time was not the only factor.
Midway through last year, Shaw said that going from everybody’s high-school All-American to humbled scout-teamer was hard. He had problems adapting to college life and the ASU playbook and admitted to being on the “(expletive) list” of Koetter.
“It’s been up and down, a tough transition,” Shaw, who went to Oceanside (Calif.) High and turned down scholarship offers from such schools as Miami (Fla.), said then. “I picked up a lot of bad habits in high school, and I’ve had trouble getting used to everything.”
As the season progressed, the distance between Carpenter and Shaw grew. Carpenter passed for more than 2,000 yards and finished as the top-rated QB in Division I-A.
Shaw’s departure leaves two redshirt freshmen-to-be, Nate Mortensen and Brett Boon, behind Keller and Carpenter. Danny Sullivan, a signee from Los Gatos, Calif., arrives in the fall.
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