The NFL held its honor ceremony on Saturday and recognized great play by individual players. Quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees were respectively named league MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. Cam Newton was Offensive Rookie of the Year and Von Miller was Defensive Rookie of the Year.
However, one player who grew up here in the Valley of the Sun was the league's Defensive Player of the Year. That would be none other than Chandler Hamilton and Arizona State product Terrell Suggs.
Suggs was one of the league's biggest disruptive forces. He had 70 tackles, 14 sacks, seven forced fumbles and two interceptions on the season. He played for the Baltimore Ravens, who played down to the wire of the AFC Championship and had one of the league's best defenses.
Suggs has been a force since he came into the league, having logged over 80 sacks and forced more than 25 fumbles in his career.
At Arizona State, he set the single season NCAA sack record. However, if you caught his TV intro, he didn't attend ASU. Instead, it was Ball So Hard University. Sun Devils and ASU fans likely are more tha pleased t obe considered in that light.
The funny thing is that when he was in high school, he was not the state's best defensive player. He was the state's best running back.
Now he is recognized as the top defensive player in the entire NFL.
While he is playing in the AFC and not for the Arizona Cardinals (most would say that Arizona should have drafted him instead of trading their pick for two later ones in the same round that ended up bringing Calvin Pace and Bryant Johnson to the Cards.
We have no idea if playing in Arizona would have led to a different career outcome, but at least we can revel in the fact that a former Sun Devil could accomplish this in his NFL career.
Congrats, T-Sizzle, for your greatness and for having learned so much at BSHU (Ball So Hard University).
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