Before he arrived in Tempe, Darien Butler was given a clear message from Arizona State defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales.

“Come prepared.”

At the time, it was known there would be a relatively open conversation regarding the linebacker position in fall camp.

Nearing the end of fall camp, Butler has fully integrated himself into that discussion — maybe even more than Gonzales may have expected him to be. According to Gonzales, Butler’s “natural” knack for the game has stuck out during preseason practices.

“For a true freshman you never know what you're going to get,” Gonzales said. “He's far, far ahead of where I thought he would be, so yeah he's got a great chance at having a chance to start when we play in two weeks.”

Over the past week or so, Butler has consistently appeared with the first team linebackers, having spent ample time working with the second team up until last Thursday’s practice.

He’s trying not to get too far ahead of himself, at this point. But after a week on the first team, an opportunity is clearly there for the taking, and it’s one not often presented to true freshmen.

“It feels really good, man,” he said. “I really want to stay as humble as I can, but it feels really good. I’m just going to keep working every day, whatever I’ve got to do to keep getting better, keep progressing, I’m going to do whatever I’ve got to do.”

When Butler has appeared on the first team defense, he’s often been paired with fellow freshman linebacker Merlin Robertson.

Butler and Robertson go way back. They both hail from the Long Beach, California area, and competed with one another all four years of high school — Butler at Narbonne High School and Robertson at Junipero Serra High School.

According to Butler, the friendship between the two dates back to the early stages of their respective football careers.

“Coming from back home with Merlin Robertson, we’re close,” Butler said. “Me and Merlin came together, man, that’s my guy. I grew up with him, we started playing football together in seventh grade. We’ve been going against each other every year of high school.”

Between the two of them, at the start of fall camp, Robertson’s tended to be the name tossed around when it came to freshmen with starting potential at the linebacker position. In terms of recruiting metrics, Robertson held a four-star rating per Rivals.com — as well as the second-highest rating of ASU’s 2018 class — as opposed to Butler’s three stars.

That’s in the past, though. While Butler has quickly proven himself as just as viable a candidate in the position battle at linebacker, his relationship with Robertson continues to be strong.

“We’re still on the same team, at the end of the day,” Butler said. “When he’s in a game or when he’s in at practice, getting reps, I’m making sure he’s doing what he’s got to do, and sometimes when he’s out and I’m in, he’s making sure I do what I’ve got to do. He pushes me, I push him.”

Both Butler and Robertson, at their respective high schools, competed often against their current position coach, Antonio Pierce, who had been the head coach at Long Beach Polytechnic since 2014 before accepting the linebackers coach position at ASU in December.

According to Butler, his familiarity with Pierce — as well as Pierce’s extensive football résumé that features a Super Bowl ring and a Pro Bowl nod — has made a major difference in his growth throughout his first few months of college football.

“He played the game,” Butler said. “He knows what it takes. And he pushes me and the rest of the linebackers. I really appreciate coach A.P. a lot.”

For Pierce, the one thing that’s stuck out about Butler since the beginning has been his size. Butler stands at 5-foot-11 — somewhat undersized for his position — but had been a consistent nuisance since 2014 when playing against Pierce’s Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits.

“Yeah, listen, I played against him four years in a row, him and Marlin Robertson, those are the guys I know firsthand,” Pierce said. “Darien was about a pain in my butt. He’s a guy who’s a very physical individual.”

A couple more inches, in Pierce’s minded, could have been the difference between Butler and a truly elite level. Regardless, Pierce sees Butler as a key piece to the puzzle — not just on defense, necessarily — going forward.

“I think if he is 6-1, 6-2, we are talking about one of the top tier linebackers in the country,” Pierce said. “He’s going to be another guy that hopefully when he gets in, we don’t have to redshirt him or do anything like that. He’ll play on special teams and give us some added depth.”

According to head coach Herm Edwards — who has also been impressed with Butler’s natural abilities as a linebacker — that kind of build has its advantages.

"You always tell players you want to leverage the tackle,” Edwards said. “He's already built for leverage. He's not the tallest guy in the world. You can't see him, really you can't see the guy. He's quick, he sees the hole and he's decisive, and he's a really good tackler. He's built to be a tackler. He's going to help us, there's no doubt. He's going to help us early, too."

At the end of the day, though, regardless of his size or expectations prior to the fall, Butler was given an opportunity by his coaching staff to prove himself from the get-go.

To this point, it’s fair to say he’s made the most of it.

“The coaches gave me the chance to show what I can do,” Butler said. “I feel like that’s all I needed.”

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