There aren't many linebackers on the planet that look like Eric Gentry.

Standing at 6-foot-6, there’s no fooling Gentry about where the ball is going. His eyes easily clear the offensive line and follow the developments of the backfield. He tracks the ball carrier from there, who often finds little success hiding behind blockers when their plan has already been compromised.

In coverage, Gentry towers over tight ends entering his airspace. His quickness and fluidity keeps pace with receivers. When he is assigned to blanket a running back, Gentry erases them from visibility.

Length is another intangible that Gentry possesses. He has grapevines for arms that almost scrape the turf when he sets up in his stance. They allow him to play with a different balance of spatial awareness to read the quarterback and stay close to his man. When the ball is thrown his way, Gentry plays the catch point. At the line of scrimmage, he swats down passes like a bear attacking a beehive.

Crowned as a Freshman All-American last season, Gentry’s status as a special player for Arizona State has begun to be carved into stone. He has the qualities of all three linebacker positions packaged into one. Gentry has the size and aggressiveness to play the SAM, the communication and intelligence to operate the MIKE, and the athleticism and reaction speed to perform at the WILL.

Those qualities have already popped on the field, as well as Gentry’s diligence in the film room. His biggest play was a fourth-down tackle for loss on UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson with the Bruins in scoring position. Gentry saw Thompson-Robinson, or DTR, pull the football and plunged his hands into the chest plate of the advancing left tackle. He then surged off the edge to bring the dynamic quarterback down behind the line.

However, Gentry admitted he didn’t even need to see DTR keep the ball. Gentry knew it was coming because he noticed the trend during the film study of UCLA’s offense. When UCLA took down LSU in their second game, DTR’s tendencies stuck out.

“We knew that when he was in his formation, where No. 2 was in the backfield, and it was in the red zone, he always kept it,” Gentry said. “There were a lot of times where our coaches told us when it’s fourth down; he likes the ball in his hands. And it was represented throughout the game.

“On 3rd-and-5, he was scrambling for a lot of yards. He liked to put the ball in his hands, and he’s a special player. For me, it was being in the right place at the right time to make that play.”

With a full season and a second spring camp under his belt, Gentry is working to become more than just a breakout first-year player. He wants to be the game-changer that he knows is in his cards. This is the most important offseason of his life.

As illustrated by his takedown of DTR, the film room makes up the foundation of Gentry’s drive for greatness. In order to be a game-changer, one must analyze the masters of the craft. For every player that makes an impression on him, Gentry finds an element he appreciates and adds it to his game.

Here are the players that have influenced and molded Gentry throughout the years.

Micah Parsons - Speed and dominance

Proximity was huge for Gentry in studying Micah Parsons. Before Parsons was an All-American pass rusher at Penn State and Defensive Rookie of the Year as a first-round draft choice for the Dallas Cowboys, he played on the same 7-on-7 team as Gentry. Parsons was older, so the two never crossed paths growing up. He and Gentry’s high school coach were close, though, and Gentry remembers being amazed back then when Parsons was on the rise. He immediately knew Parsons was NFL material.

“He was big as hell, and he was super fast,” Gentry said. “He was playing receiver, running back, linebacker. He did everything. I knew he was a mismatch and a dominant player. Then he came to Penn State, and he was starting and everything in that spring game. I was like, ‘yeah, he’s for sure going to the league.’ He's one of those people to me that just got that mentality to go get it.”

In just his first professional season, Parsons has caused reverberations on every level of football. Gentry said Parsons is the main player the ASU linebacker group watches in their film room sessions. His footwork and the opportunities that stem from its quickness is the biggest takeaway from Parsons’ tape.

Take this sack against Minnesota in 2019, for example. Parsons nimbly jukes out the center with minimal contact and hunts down the quarterback with his elite closing speed. His movement on the approach is entirely responsible for shifting his blocker off-balance and opening up the outside lane.

“You always want to have a plan when you pass rush,” Gentry said. “A lot of offensive linemen are big, but they don’t have footwork. A lot of times, you just get them off footwork, and they fall or just become clumsy. Coach Claiborne always tells us no matter how big they are, tip the cow.”

Parsons is as explosive as they come, and Gentry said improvement in that area has been a big focus for the linebacker group overall. But creating turnovers and dislodging the ball is also a priority. Parsons seeks the ball on every chance he gets to hit the quarterback, such as his chase down strip-sack on Patrick Mahomes.

Gentry was used primarily as a substitute coverage linebacker in his first season, so opportunities to rush the quarterback were a bit scarcer. But on his first collegiate sack on Arizona quarterback Will Plummer, the teachings gleaned from observing Parsons were obvious.

Gentry swarmed off the left edge and engaged the receiver sliding to block him. However, Gentry locked his arms and grabbed underneath the receiver’s shoulders, pinning his opponent’s arms in place to prevent any decrease in momentum. Using his length and the block as a springboard to crash toward Plummer, Gentry rocketed to swipe the ball.

“I don’t even know how I missed his arm,” Gentry laughed. “Last year, AP (former ASU defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce) used to say that having a sack is selfish because the best players go for the ball. That’s where all the money's at. We’re trying to lead the country in turnovers, even if it’s just testing the ball by punching at it. We’ve got real confidence in doing stuff like that.”

On top of everything, Parsons is a hometown model of success for Gentry. Parsons is the proof in the pudding, a sensational talent that ticked every box and became a valuable impact player for every team he played for the second he stepped on the field. Gentry desires to follow in those footsteps.

Grant Delpit - Height and instincts

Due to his immense height and thin frame, Gentry always seemed to affiliate himself more with defensive backs and players that looked more like him. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Gentry would hop over fences for field work to enhance his coverage skills. There were no linemen to discuss pass rush tactics with, so Gentry picked the brains of the cornerbacks and safeties.

“They told me about leverage and what receivers are like,” Gentry said. “I was even going against tight ends and running backs too. A lot of those reps just built my confidence for me to be able to go out there, guard somebody, and feel comfortable with being on an island.”

Although the pandemic was a tough time for many people, Gentry credits the period for helping him mature and grow as a well-rounded player. He would send Pierce videos of him backpedaling. It set him up to serve as more than simply depth at his position under ASU starters Merlin Robertson, Kyle Soelle, and Darien Butler.

“That was the best moment of my life,” Gentry said. “The most important moment of my life was quarantine. I was skinny as hell. I wasn’t the strongest, for sure. Not the fastest. But after that, I had the most confidence. Toward the end, I was at my peak, and I was just feeling really good.”

Gentry saw a lot of himself in former LSU safety Grant Delpit, who now plays for the Cleveland Browns. Delpit, who is 6-foot-3, actually wore Gentry’s No. 9 before switching ahead of his junior season. During those first two seasons, when Delpit wore the same digit and dropped into the midfield hook/curl zones to read the quarterback, he looked strikingly similar to Gentry’s duties as a freshman.

“My best friend’s favorite team was LSU, so we would always watch him,” Gentry said. “I also knew of him when he was at IMG Academy (in Bradenton, Florida). I watched him throughout the years and saw him play as a freshman. So he’s another guy that I definitely like the way he plays in general.”

Delpit’s aggressiveness to sniff out plays and deliver big hits appealed to Gentry as well. At the beginning of this 1st-and-10 rep against Georgia Southern, Delpit used his height and eyes to read the handoff and identify the ball's direction. This allowed him to make early strides toward the flat and fly past the offensive line for the tackle for loss. The quarterback ended up six yards behind the line due to Delpit’s pursuit.

Gentry had already seen the play. He admitted he had seen all the plays shown to him many times already. Despite the repetitiveness, his enthusiasm and fire for the tape grind have never wavered.

“I can watch plays over and over again and not get bored,” Gentry said. “I still have the same reaction. I watch Micah and Grant to this day.”

Fred Warner - Run support and leadership

Gentry started to notice Warner after the 2019 season when the 49ers went 13-3, won the NFC West, and earned a Super Bowl bid. Fred Warner, a third-round draft pick out of BYU in the previous year who quickly locked down San Francisco’s MIKE linebacker role, was the beating heart of the unit. Warner signed a record-breaking five-year extension with the 49ers worth $95 million along with $40.5 million guaranteed last July.

“To be a captain and control that defense, I always had my eye on him,” Gentry said. “And to see the leap that he took from that 2019 year to the next year was amazing. He went from being an underrated linebacker to having that respect.”

Where Warner shines is his feel for the run game. He has a sixth-sense ability to plug gaps immediately as they open and disrupt the path of the running back. On 4th-and-1 versus the Jets, Warner zoomed up the middle and bypassed the right guard before the lineman could get set. Gentry wants to translate Warner’s marriage of reaction speed and athleticism to his run support.

“It just shows you athleticism plays a huge part in the run game,” Gentry said. “I always thought that athleticism was just in the pass game. I never thought about how I could use my length and all my other attributes against the run. So I took the time during the offseason to really look at people and see how they use their body.”

It can be difficult to toe the line between having too much aggression and finesse. Warner consistently makes the right calls and alters his pursuit. Gentry said it comes down to a ‘split decision’ in the opening moments that dictate the type of run in front of him.

“When it's a certain run-like stretch,” Gentry said, “you’ve got to be more aggressive in order to press on the line and make sure the running back doesn't get up on that o-lineman, so he won't have room to make a move. In those moments, you just go down and go. But a lot of times, in scenarios where Duo or Dive, it’s just coming downhill.

“When you have that fast reaction like he did, sometimes linemen can barely get out of their stance when you’re damn near past the line of scrimmage.”

Darien Butler - Aggression and mindset

"That's my favorite player right there. 2-0 is my favorite player, always. We talk all the time. I just want to pick his brain about how the NFL is going (and) how he feels. He's the epitome for me, the highest he can be for me as a football player.”

The effect Butler had on Gentry after just one season playing together is obvious in the way the lanky linebacker lights up at the mention of his idol’s name. Before Gentry arrived in Tempe, he watched Butler’s high school tape. He saw relentless aggression and passion there, which Gentry is keen to emulate.

“He’s going to hit whoever,” Gentry said. “A lot of times, football is about who really wants to play. Black (Butler’s nickname) is one of those people that no matter what if he’s hurt or not, he is going to come right back the next play and go hit somebody.”

An overlooked three-star recruit, Butler joined the Sun Devils with a chip on his shoulder in 2018 and became a three-year team captain. Last season, he broke out and notched 68 tackles (8.5 for loss), two sacks, and three interceptions. Two of those picks came in the same game, ASU’s season opener against Southern Utah.

Butler failed to be distracted by the receiver sitting down on a stop route over the middle. Instead, his eyes were locked on the quarterback, and bounded forward to jump the mesh pattern. Butler arrived at the ball and won at the catch point.

“He’s got that quick, explosive speed,” Gentry said. “As soon as he gets off or sees something, he just goes there. He has an instant burst to go get it.

“I'm so mesmerized about how people are still doubting him. Obviously, because of the size, but he has better film to me than most of the linebackers in the country. His film pops on more than anybody. He’s always telling me, ‘bro, nobody wants it more than me. That's why I go so hard.’ I just tip my hat to him all the time.”

***

The ascension of Eric Gentry starts with adding to his frame. When he arrived a year ago, Gentry weighed less than 200 pounds. Over the last three months, he added 12 pounds and is eyeing 225 as an ideal playing weight for the fall. A newfound eagerness for the weight room is one reason for the change. However, the true Achilles heel is a lightning-fast metabolism that zaps away calories and has kept his weight fluctuating.

“It's always been frustrating for me as a kid,” Gentry said. “I've been trying to gain weight since probably eighth grade. When I was younger, I was always big but I was just really skinny. I guess I was a hard hitter and everything, so nobody really ever looked at it.”

Strength and conditioning coach Joe Connolly has adopted Gentry as his project, and he provides the linebacker with nutritional advice. With the guidance of Conolly, Gentry has focused more on complementing his diet with adequate hydration. He can eat more and avoid burning the food off because he drinks the necessary amount of water and electrolytes.

A bigger, strong, and more comfortable Gentry promises to unlock the full potential of his cyborg-like talents. In addition, he’s already gotten a head start on scouting the opponents he will face in the fall, such as new USC transfer quarterback Caleb Williams. With the accolades and film now on display for every team to study, Gentry anticipates a target on his back for his sophomore season.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I wear it and that’s what I want,” Gentry said. “I want people to game plan for me and all that because I know what I am. I don’t want to shoot for just being an All-American because I want to be the best ever to play football.

“I want people to be like, ‘what is that? How do we even do something about that?’ I’ve got a vision where I have the confidence for what I’m going to do this year. I just can’t wait to play all these teams because I’m going to make sure they’re going to respect me and my team.”

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