Lyrik Rawls came to Arizona State trying to leave the Big 12 behind. That plan lasted until the offseason calls started, the visit to Tempe happened and his old Marshall, Texas, connection at ASU made the decision harder to resist.
Rawls had spent four uneven years at Oklahoma State and one season at Kansas, and when he hit the transfer portal before his final year of eligibility, he told himself the next stop would be outside the league. He had more than 30 offers, but the pull of familiar faces - and especially senior safety/nickel back Montana Warren, his high school teammate - changed the direction of his sixth college season.
"I told myself I wasn't staying in the Big 12," Rawls said. "I had 30-plus offers, but it was really just a [special] connection when I got over here. I had players on the team that I already kind of knew, and then once I got over here, they all brought me in like family."
Warren and Rawls both grew up in Marshall, Texas, an East Texas city of 23,292 just 20 miles from the Louisiana border. Rawls used to drive Warren to summer workouts under the Texas heat, and that relationship helped seal the fit when Warren flipped the script and became the guide on Rawls’ visit.
"I came on my visit, he was my tour guide," Rawls said. "He made it easy for me. He was telling me the real about the the place, and I was like, 'This was the place I want to be.'"
ASU brought Rawls in to help replace a pair of major pieces in the secondary: Xavion Alford and Myles "Ghost" Rowser. Rawls arrived as the most accomplished of the Sun Devils’ three safety transfer additions, and his 2024 season at Kansas showed why.
In 12 starts, he finished second on the team with 72 total tackles. His 79.6 tackling grade from Pro Football Focus was the best among Kansas safeties and third best on the defense.
He also did damage in coverage, not allowing a touchdown, giving up only a 71.4 passer rating when targeted, and adding an interception and seven passes defended.
The departure of Alford and Rowser left big shoes to fill. Rowser started 27 straight games for Kenny Dillingham’s team and led ASU safeties in tackles in back-to-back seasons, including 98 during the Sun Devils’ 2024 Big 12 Championship run.
Alford missed all but two games last season because of a back injury, but still earned All-Big 12 first team honors in 2024. He also had a major leadership presence, serving on the Pat Tillman Leadership Council since its creation, delivering halftime speeches and earning a reputation around the program as the standard-setter.
Rawls is already stepping into that space. Ahead of Big 12 Media Days in early July, he was the only one of ASU’s 40-plus newcomers voted onto the Pat Tillman Leadership Council by teammates. That kind of role is familiar to him; he held a similar position during the second half of his time at Kansas.
"Being on the leadership council was kind of easy to me," Rawls said. "All I had to do was just be myself, and guys was gravitating to me, and all I had to do was just continue to lead others."
"He brings it every day," Dillingham said. "He's so consistent.
You know what you're going to bring. When you're consistent every single day, you communicate on the field, you're physical, you like football and people can feel it, all those things stack and stack."
The coaches keep coming back to the same word when they talk about Rawls: professional. It’s the kind of label that matters when a defense is trying to absorb major turnover and keep its standard intact.
"I want to be elite," Rawls said. "So it's going to cause me to have elite habits, to keep the main things, the main things, worry about my priorities and then do my extracurricular when it's time to do that…most guys they watch me.
So now that I know they're watching me, I gotta be more precise with what I do. I can't lag off because then my younger guys will think they can do it, so it's about holding myself to the standard before I could try to preach it."
That mindset didn’t come easy. Rawls’ path has been full of detours, and the toughest one hit at Oklahoma State, where a redshirt year as a reserve was followed by his first three starts as a sophomore.
He looked like a Power Four starter in the making until a torn ACL knocked him off track. He started just one game over the next two years, and the experience changed how he sees the game.
"When I tore my ACL in my first starting season, I went into a big depression," Rawls said. "But like, it definitely has molded me to be who I am.
I'm humble for the game, passionate about the game, man. Cause like, I had it taken away from me.
So every time I hit this field, I gotta be happy."
Arizona State is dealing with a different kind of challenge this year. After an offseason of unusual roster retention last year, the Sun Devils are now navigating the opposite kind of turnover, and Rawls sits at the center of the leadership group tasked with keeping the culture steady.
Ward summed up the kind of presence ASU thinks it has in Rawls.
"He's lived a lot of life and had a lot of life experience," Ward said. "He gets a lot of respect because people know that he's a truly genuine guy."
Rawls isn’t pretending the road has been simple. He’s just done comparing it to anyone else’s.
"I always told myself to not compare my journey to other people's," Rawls said. "I battled injuries and redshirted, but I still enjoyed my journey because now I get to be here and help the younger guys.
I get to help lead them and be a part of their journey. So I've just been taking it all in."
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