In December, former Miami defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera entered the transfer portal. The consensus four-star prospect, who accumulated 105 tackles (16.0 for loss), 2.0 sacks, and a forced fumble in 37 games, had plenty of suitors to choose from. Silvera held a film session with every school he considered. He heard over and over again how great of a fit he would be at each program.
Then, he met third-year Arizona State defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez on his official visit. Silvera finally received the honest assessment he had been waiting for.
“When he ran into us, I was the only knucklehead who was telling him what he wasn’t,” Rodriguez said. “And so I was telling him, ‘Hey, man, you’re good, but you got to do this. I can tell it’s pretty impressive you stayed up here because look at your angle, look at your inside hand.’ I’m telling him all the things that we teach, and he was blown away.
“He said, ‘You know, I felt that I was missing something. I could feel that these things were happening, but nobody told me why.’ And we were the first ones to tell him why.”
Silvera committed to the Sun Devils in January. It was clear to him that Rodriguez could teach him how to play football the way nobody else could. Rodriguez feels that way, too.
“I am preaching the gospel,” Rodriguez said. “This is something I believe. . . I’ve seen guys make it to the top doing this stuff. So you can’t tell me otherwise that this ain’t the best in the world.”
Rodriguez left what he called his “dream job” on the Minnesota Vikings' staff as its assistant defensive line coach to join ASU’s pro model in 2020. Frustrated with the lack of attention paid to the technical development of college football players, Rodriguez has made it his mission with the Sun Devils to produce athletes on the defensive line fit to produce at the highest level. His spirited coaching style, high-energy attitude, and passion have transformed the ASU front into an integral unit of the defense.
It is all because of Rodriguez’s commitment to helping his players achieve complete mastery.
“When you want confidence – and this is something I teach my players all the time – it’s not about looking in the mirror and giving yourself affirmations,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not about a pep talk. The only thing that builds true confidence in somebody is mastery.
“If you want to be confident on Saturdays, be a master of your technique. And I just feel like I just came up under the best, and I’m a master of what I do.”
A list of the top 50 defensive lines came across Rodriguez’s desk earlier this week. The Sun Devils were not mentioned. Rodriguez said he and his players looked at the film of some of the programs that made the cut. It made them realize that the only ranking that mattered was their reputation to those in maroon and gold.
“I want to be the most respected group on this football team,” Rodriguez said. “One of the things that I’m proud of is when [Marvin Lewis] blessed me to be here and trusted me to take this job, the defensive line was not even in the running. And those kids have put in the work to get there.”
Rodriguez is hard to miss at ASU’s spring practices. His booming voice is assertive and frequent. It commands the attention of his players, threatening supremacy over the loudspeakers blasting the team’s music playlist. Rodriguez is careful to walk the line between criticism and praise. He is equally as quick to blossom over a player’s improvement as he is to bark at poor technique.
“I don’t say anything to demean people, but also I don’t want to falsely get my guys pumped up if they’re doing something wrong,” Rodriguez said. “Because on Saturday, ain’t nobody there to tell them a lie. It will be all truth because the guy in front of you is going to tell you the truth. And he’s going to expose your weaknesses.”
Rodriguez specializes in cultivating promising talent. Walk-on B.J. Green arrived last August as a speedy but undersized project at the 3-tech spot. Rodriguez pushed Green in every practice, dismantling and rebuilding his stance, positioning, hand placement, power, and leverage. Sometimes, that meant extra reps in isolation while under direct supervision after the rest of the defensive line was finished.
Rodriguez’s efforts translated to impressive on-field results. Green turned into an impact member of ASU’s third-down package, nicknamed “speed group.” At the conclusion of the Las Vegas Bowl in December, Green finished the season as the team’s sack leader.
Rodriguez has more projects to attack with his toolbox. Redshirt sophomore Gharin Stansbury is one player Rodriguez hopes to unlock the full potential of this spring. A 6-5, 220-pound defensive end with length and desire flexibility to bend the edge, Stansbury struggled to get comfortable setting up in Rodriguez’s desired stance last season. This spring, he is much more balanced and secure.
Rodriguez thinks Stansbury’s breakout is inevitable.
“When you first see Gharin, he looks like a baby Doberman,” Rodriguez said. “It’s all, you know, toothpick legs, big old paws, right? And they stand there all gangly, kind of like a baby deer, legs all wobbly. And then all of a sudden, you’re just used to that, then one day you look up, and that Doberman is kind of standing [upright] with a good base.
“After a year or so, he’s the kind of dog that people run to the other side of the street when you’re walking him. I say he’s about at that stage right now where he’s standing straight up, and you kind of go ‘wait a minute, what do we have here?’”
Rodriguez understands the value of hands-on coaching and actively involves himself in his own drills. He arrives early to work one-on-one with players. At one point, Rodriguez ordered Stansbury into several stances as he mirrored the behavior and positioning of the offensive line. Stansbury transitioned to each technique and fluidly adapted to the shifts.
The enthusiasm for his craft is palpable. Rodriguez once had his eyeglasses unintentionally broken by Omarr Norman-Lott during a hand striking exercise as he enthusiastically combated the lineman’s blows. When freshman nose tackle Robby Harrison struggled to marry his hands and hips during an upward thrust of a heavy blocking sled, Rodriguez immediately stepped in and demonstrated the efficient form.
Harrison, who just finished his fifth spring practice with the team, is another work in progress for Rodriguez. A three-star prospect from South Carolina, Harrison is big, athletic, and powerful but understandably raw at this point in time. Rodriguez enjoys the challenge of developing Harrison, who he believes was overlooked and has a chance to be a future keystone of the defense. The technique will get there, but Harrison’s receptiveness to Rodriguez’s coaching has been the most encouraging.
“That is one of the strongest young men I’ve ever been around,” Rodriguez said. “I slapped him on the shoulder the other day, kind of gave him an atta-boy, and it almost broke my finger. This dude is made of granite up top, right? He’s got good feet. The only thing that slows him down is the reaction time.
“I happen to think we got another great one right there. Another really good find that was just under-recruited and kind of fell under the radar. But we were able to identify the right qualities and the best part with all those kids that we brought in with that makeup is that they’re all high character kids. It’s the same thing with Robby. He’s gonna be just fine. You’re going to love him on game day because he’s going to run through a wall and won’t think twice about it.”
The players have bought into Rodriguez’s methodology. In turn, they now understand how to lead like Rodriguez as well. That vocality is evident now, as players routinely correct teammates and help each other brush up on areas of difficulty. Harrison’s college football acclimation is being accelerated as a result.
“There have been a couple of times where I’ve wanted to step out and correct Robby, and there are five dudes who beat me to the punch,” Rodriguez said. “The culture has gotten better, and so the quality of the depth is better. I trust more guys out there. I’m seeing those guys make adjustments on the field that I had hoped they would make when they were older.”
The defensive line lost critical members last season. Defensive end Tyler Johnson and nose tackle DJ Davidson are preparing for the NFL Draft these days. Shannon Forman exhausted his eligibility and is now working as a graduate assistant under Rodriguez. But the animated coach is confident his current group will be ready to receive the proverbial torch.
“You are always going to miss good players,” Rodriguez said. “But you just take that mantle and put it on the young guys and see if they can match that standard. So far, they’ve done that.”
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