Compared to many other 2021 prospects, Eric Gentry is somewhat fortunate. While he still wasn’t able to tour the ASU facilities or meet the coaches in-person, no different than the vast majority of recruits, the Sun Devils’ incoming linebacker/defensive end freshman was at least able to drive by the Tempe campus while visiting his family and get some sense of exposure to his new surroundings.
Nonetheless, Gentry knows that he has a challenging yet natural learning curve ahead of him, one that he’s fully motivated to meet head-on. Hours before he loaded up the car and took off on the long drive from Philadelphia; Gentry discussed his mindset ahead of his new football career chapter.
Full disclosure, we accidentally woke up Gentry at around 10 am Wednesday, but sleeping-in today was certainly justified. The Neumann Goretti standout was planning on leaving later that evening on a 2,300-plus mile trek (with undoubtedly a few stops on the way) to Arizona State. He didn’t need a cup of coffee or energy drink to immediately perk up with enthusiasm as he talked about his January arrival in the Valley of the Sun.
“I'm extremely excited,” Gentry said. “I'm so tired of being in Philadelphia that I'm just ready to move to Arizona. People told me about the great opportunities out there, and it’s just a lot of positivity. With everything going on in Philadelphia, I'm just ready for a new start going out there to Arizona State.”
Gentry is one of a few early enrollees to the school, that by virtue of their early graduation from high school made the choice to skip their senior season with their teammates as the team due to local state regulations will now have that campaign played in the spring.
“I’m ready to finally play,” Gentry admitted. “Sports helps with all the things that are stressing you in life. Everything goes away when you practice football and play football. So much stuff has been going on this year, and not being able to go out there and play on a field with the people that I wanted to play with one last time, it's just frustrating.
“But I will say that graduating early was the best opportunity for not only me but my teammates too. If I stayed (to play his senior season), I have a couple of teammates that would not get as much time as they should because of the fact that I'm playing. My coach never wants to take me off the field. So, I'm happy about that. Whenever something positive happens, there's usually a negative, and sometimes when there's a negative, there are positives coming out of it. So, it’s a big day now going over to Arizona State, but it was also hard not being able to play (senior year).”
Gentry feels that this adversity that he has been dealing with during the ongoing pandemic had forced him to hone his skills in methods that he usually didn’t utilize all that often in the past.
“It was hard to improve my game physically,” Gentry explained, “but I became more of a student of the game. I’ve been watching so much film on a different number of players, and it is just crazy how much I was able to learn. So that was pretty much instead of playing the game. I love watching (San Francisco 49ers linebacker) Fred Warner and how he is able to hit his high motor and take over a game. I've always felt that he's a really complete linebacker. I know a player like him who watches film a lot is able to read plays so easily and know the routes of the offense and the ways to attack it. I like watching pass rushers like (Washington Football Team defensive end) Chase Young. He’s young, just a rookie, but he came in trying to dominate and making the best of all his opportunities.”
Needless to say, that Gentry viewing isn’t limited to just NFL players’ game film, and he has been just as impressed watching his future teammates in Tempe who even during an unusual four-game season has left a significant impression on him.
“I know that we are a really, really talented team,” Gentry commented. “I feel as if this is a tight-knit group. It seemed like every time that someone makes a play, everyone's out there to celebrate with them. Those are things I like to see. I feel as though we were better than every team that we played against…all the teams. There was never a time where I felt as though we couldn't have won the game. The players are just extremely athletically gifted. They're smart. And they've got a lot of experience playing with each other.
The fact that that he has been recruited in earnest by both ASU’s linebackers’ coach, Antonio Pierce, and defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez is naturally a testament to Gentry’s versatility to play both positions, a trait that clearly stood out to Rivals’ recruiting analyst Alec Simpson.
“The Sun Devils have recruited Gentry as a linebacker, but with his size and frame, he could really transition well to the defensive end position,” Simpson commented. “With some time in a Pac-12 weight room setting, Gentry will surely develop well and fill out his wide frame. This commit brings a solid level of athleticism to the table for his size. As we can see on the first play on tape, he runs with a receiver and snags an interception out of the air. At 6-6, he’s surely able to bring that coverage ability, which proves he’s a solid athlete.
“Gentry also does a great job of seeing the play develop in front of him and being able to instinctually sniff out where the ball is to make a play on the football. Why he fits better at the defensive end position is with his unique skill set, he’s able to get skinny and use his athleticism to get to the quarterback, so Sun Devil fans may see him on the outside edge in the future.”
Gentry isn't concerned as to where he will first line up, at linebacker or defensive end, when Arizona State’s first spring practice session in March takes place. It simply comes down to making the most of all the opportunities the true freshman will be presented. And Gentry can probably draw from the limited opportunities he had simply working out for the last several months and what he did to handle those obstacles.
“I couldn’t really lift a lot of weights because Philadelphia was on and off on a lockdown period,” Gentry remarked. “So, during a lockdown, we couldn't even work out in the gym. I had to travel out of state, drive one hour each way to Delaware to get my body stronger. But on the way there, I was watching Devils Digest; that's what I watch all the time to keep up. I subscribe to it and all that, so I up with ASU and watching the videos on the way to my workouts.
“When it started becoming overwhelming with doing that (driving to Delaware) then trying to keep up with school. I just stayed in the house and just stayed with my school work. I also know that no workout I was doing back home can ever get you prepared for college because it's always going to be a new workout (routine). You're never going to be prepared for the college conditioning and the speed of the game; it's going to be a big change. I was trying my best, so I could be ready when I get there. But it's obviously gonna be hard for that first couple of weeks just adjusting to the new workouts.”
At 220 lbs. Gentry is fully aware that he will need to further fill in his 6-6 frame with additional muscle weight. This is one reason why he’s thankful that as a spring enrollee, he’s able to now be in a full year strength and conditioning cycle to better prepare him physically to the increased level of competition.
“I know they can send me some of the workouts and everything for me to do at home,” Gentry said, “but I also know that I'm not gonna be able to push myself as hard as the coaches will push me in college to get those improvements, so I was ready to get to college early. I also wanted more time to be able to study the playbook when I get there and learn more things about it. So, that was another positive thing about graduating early.”
Gentry knows that newcomers arriving in the spring may have a higher plane of expectations placed on them to be immediate impact players than his fellow summer arrival freshmen. However, Gentry is pragmatic in how he approaches any potential pressure that he may feel once spring practices commence.
“To be successful, I have to be motivated all the time,” Gentry noted. “I need to give my everything, put out all of my energy on the field, in the workouts, studying the playbook and trying to win. The biggest thing for me is not even really on the field; it's what I do off the field, learn the playbook, and have the game slow down for me.
“Some high school players can be more athletic than some college players. But the mode and tempo of the college game are going to make players right out of high school get wide-eyed because of the fact that everything's moving so fast, and not knowing what to do. I need to just work hard enough, so I’m able just to breathe and just let the game come to me.”
(Mac Friday contributed to this article)
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