Darien Butler is comfortable.
You can see it when Butler flows through his drills, all of the exercises he has long mastered. You can see it in how flawlessly he moves to reroute receivers before letting shoulders relax, and his eyes flick forward to analyze the quarterback. You can see it in his physique, in a slimmed-down Butler that said he feels lighter, faster, stronger over the first three days of fall camp.
Darien Butler is comfortable because nothing surprises him anymore. His fellow linebackers, Merlin Robertson and Kyle Soelle have been beside him for multiple years. The trio has been through numerous changes to the defensive formation and scheme, and yet they have continued to produce. When all three players decided to come back for one final season, it stamped the message home that there would be no gaps in chemistry and leadership to fill on Arizona State’s defense.
Instead, a strength of unmatched trust and loyalty that only years of camaraderie in the harsh elements of the Tempe heat can build.
“Those are veterans,” Butler said of his teammates. “I look to my left and right; I trust them. I don’t have any worries. We’re ready to go.”
“You can’t substitute the experience and unity we have together,” said Soelle. “With us three on the field, anything can happen.”
It’s something that has made the transition to coaching this group much easier for Chris Claiborne, who is coaching the position for the first time at the collegiate level. Having three proven and dependable guys that already have such an unbreakable bond means Claiborne doesn’t have to worry about developing their game as much. With that reassurance, Claiborne can focus on building depth at the position and getting the younger guys up to speed.
“The ones are a really good bunch,” Claiborne said. “The thing we’re really trying to develop is depth. “We have a lot of great minds in our defensive room, so I’m soaking up as much as I can every day and trying to get it to the players so that they can play at a high level.”
The key to developing that depth appears to be the film room. While Soelle talked about the importance of watching tape to grow as a player, Butler was echoing those same thoughts along similar lines in the hallway just outside. Will Shaffer, who was the first player that came to Claiborne’s mind when he was asked about improvement, seems to know already the work he puts in off the field is integral to his success and maturity. That after-hours grind mentality set forth by the three veterans has been contagious across the entire unit.
“Everybody is willing to learn, and everybody's alert at all times,” Shaffer said, “because if you get caught lacking, it's gonna show up on the field. Everybody wants to play. Nobody wants to just watch their teammates play; they want to make an impact on the field. So everybody's dialed, and everybody's tuned in.”
The newcomers are embracing the shift from high school to the Sun Devil way of preparation. Through his experience in the spring and the first few days of August, Caleb McCullough has already noticed substantial differences between the two and made changes to his playstyle to have a greater impact on the field.
The biggest takeaway? The process at the same speed that you react.
“In high school, you could just run,” McCullough mused. “Plays were easy. Here, you got to actually think and run. So it kind of makes the game a little different because you're not used to doing that.”
One player that has already demonstrated his dominance in that area is freshman linebacker, Eric Gentry. Gentry stands out among the group due to his 6’5” frame and grapevines for arms that will sprout into the air and swat away anything that comes into his airspace. But Gentry is more than his measurements may suggest. Gentry is also light on his feet and the perfect shadow for tight ends and wide receivers bursting up the seam, a strength he attributes to getting out of his comfort zone during workouts in the thick of the pandemic.
“During quarantine, I didn't have a weight room or anything else, so we used to just climb over gates to get on the field,” Gentry said, “and all I had to do was cover slots, and I couldn't do anything else. So I was getting a lot of fieldwork in, and that's where I think my confidence came in with coverage.”
But Gentry’s biggest trait is his commitment to the film grind. Not only does Gentry take inspiration from NFL players like Micah Parsons (his former 7-on-7 teammate back in Pennsylvania), Fred Warner, and Grant Delpit, but he admitted he watched how Butler and Robertson played in their high school tape as well. Gentry took note of the aggression his predecessors took the field with back in the day and emulated it when he arrived on campus last spring. His effort did not go unnoticed.
“That dude, he comes to work,” Butler said. “I like Eric Gentry, man. He’s a baller, and he’s got a nose for the ball, too. You see him bat down passes at the line of scrimmage all the time.”
Butler gave each member of the group their props, but after every statement, he repeated his firm belief that the young talent will be ready. It’s hard to imagine the road to get the depth ready for game action will be free of its setbacks and obstacles. But the standard has been set, and nobody will ask for expectations to be lowered for them.
“Not everything is going to be perfect,” Shaffer said. “But that's what we shoot for in our linebacker room. We shoot for perfection every day.”
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