Nesta Jade Silvera stepped back triumphantly from the gaggle of large bodies, his shoulder swaying with swagger, his mouth already prompted with a challenge.

“Stop playing with me, boy!”

Inside zone run practice is a task the interior defensive line relish. It’s a chance to dig into the trenches, thump the guy in front, and quash the ball carrier before he gets too far downhill. Competition is cranked, and egos are amplified.

For Silvera, an offseason transfer from Miami who sat out the spring due to injury, it is the perfect time to cement himself vocally in the lineup.

In position drills, Silvera has done his part as a newcomer learning among a group of players already well-accustomed to the system. He had a timely recall on position coach Robert Rodriguez’s fronts and fluidly communicated adjustments to his teammates when applicable. His adaptation to Rodriguez’s unconventional technique is improving. When Rodriguez gathers his wolfpack around for individual tips, Silvera is one of the players who pick his brain the most.

But on the field, pitted against the offensive line, Silvera blazes with a type of confidence that outshines everyone on the field. His ACC grit comes to the surface. The role he will play for ASU this fall becomes that much clearer to see.

So when Silvera is piledriving Arizona State’s players into the turf, he wants you to know his intentions are good-natured.

“If I don’t tell them like what I’m doing against them to help them, it’s like, what’s the point?” Silvera said. “I gotta tell them how they can defeat me because I know how you can defeat what I do. So if I tell them, and then they stop it, that’s only gonna help us in the long run. And same with them; they’re going to tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

While the coaches had to remind players to keep the aggression down and prevent tempers from flaring, for most of the session, they largely gave pointers and watched with enthusiasm. Silvera enjoys the player-led environment, which he believes has facilitated a comfortable integration.

“That’s a testament to the coaches in the sense of just trusting us to do that,” Silvera said. “So I feel like it’s a really tight team unit. A lot of guys are on the same page, and if you weren’t, you obviously saw a lot of guys leave. You saw guys not be on the team anymore. We’re a month away, and we’re as tight as we can be.”

Silvera was brought in to play nose tackle, but he established his belief that he’s much more than that. In that case, it’s better to describe how Silvera plays than box him into a singular position. The 6-2, 306-pound lineman is quick on his first step and brings a healthy amount of power into his initial strike. He has good lower body agility and a motor that doesn’t cut off until the whistle sounds. Most importantly, he creates opportunities for his teammates with his willingness to plug gaps and divert the direction of the run.

Silvera had a much simpler description of his playstyle.

“This is an aggressive defense, and I feel like I’m an aggressive player,” Silvera said. So just sticking me in a defense like this where you’re going forward, you’re attacking guys, you’re not just sitting there holding blocks up. You know, the D-line here makes plays. That’s where I see myself fitting in. I feel like I’m a playmaker. I’m gonna go out there and make plays. You label me as a nose tackle, but I’m a football player.”

Outside of creating a presence in the team, period, Silvera is also making strides in unlocking elements of his game that failed to be unearthed while at his old program. His leverage on the blocking sleds, an integral part of the defensive line’s daily regimen, is much more efficient after just a week. Old habits, too, are slowly breaking down.

“A lot of the times, I may catch my eyes in the backfield,” Silvera said, “whereas now, I might lock in on that shoulder tip, boom, and then that’s gonna take me to the play. Certain things like that definitely I feel like Coach Rod has helped me with. Arm, hand placement, of course. Just the little things. It’s the little things that he’s definitely been honing in on with me.”

Behind him sits freshman Robby Harrison, whose spring was well-documented. Harrison, a three-star recruit out of South Carolina, is a different character compared to the outspoken Silvera. Nevertheless, Harrison feels like Silvera is his wingman, and the two have grown close.

“I think we got a great bond,” Harrison said. “He’s pretty strong, too. So, you know, we try and talk to each other. It’s wonderful because I always wish I had a big brother, and I feel like I’m his little brother.”

Harrison is soft-spoken and polite, still learning the ropes, growing more comfortable with the college atmosphere with each passing day. But he is also a human golem that can squat over 600 pounds, bench press upwards of 400, and stonewall running backs with his sheer size alone. Harrison has already been endorsed by several teammates as the strongest on the team. He seems almost sheepish to admit it.

It’s hard to ignore the ceiling of the Harrison. Rodriguez certainly doesn’t; in fact, he proclaims it. “If you learn to marry your explosion with your power, you can become an unstoppable force,” he told Harrison in front of the defensive line on Friday.

“It makes me think I got to do more on my part to get what he wants,” Harrison said. “And to see that change in the film room and on the field to be able to be that. But, like, right now, I know I’m still developing in it.

“I just gotta wait my time and keep progressing with the technique he’s getting at.”

Despite being 6-4 and 320 pounds, Harrison is in some ways at a disadvantage. His center of gravity is much higher than Silvera’s. Rodriguez teaches a stance that requires a much wider base and increased amount of balance. On top of that, there are the hidden nuggets of countermoves and attacks that can only be revealed once the fundamentals are mastered.

“Really how to bend, come out with explosion through my hands, and running my feet,” Harrison said, listing off Rodriguez’s points of emphasis for him. “He’s been big on me – like on the moneymakers; we call em – coming out with explosion, grabbing it, and pulling it up.”

There is an expectation in the defensive line room to not only compete but overachieve as well. Players routinely arrive early and drill their weaknesses. That culture is rubbing off on Harrison.

“People tell me to get out there early to get it in,” Harrison said. “It’s my fault today. I didn’t get there in time to work that. Well, I’ll fix it. I will fix it the rest of camp and the rest of the time I’m here.”

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