When Herm Edwards welcomed everyone aboard the Arizona State football train, the passenger cars were largely empty.
Few were sold on him as the engineer to keep the "New Leadership Model" on the tracks, much less steer it to the destination — top 3 in the Pac-12, top 15 in the nation — set forth by ASU Vice President for Athletics Ray Anderson when he hired Edwards, his long-time friend, to replace Todd Graham.
A year later, even with ASU finishing with the same 7-6 record it had in Graham's final season, the train is beginning to fill.