On 4th and Goal, backed up against the UCLA endzone, freshman linebacker Eric Gentry stood tall, his 6-foot-6 frame looming over the other players around him. UCLA senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson took the snap, rushing to his left with an option man on his outside. Instead of pitching the ball, DTR kept it himself and ran into the broad wingspan of the freshman from Philadelphia.
“We knew when No. 2 is in the backfield, it was speed option, and we knew on the goal line, the quarterback liked to (keep) the ball in his hands,” Gentry reflected on Tuesday. “With me being tall, I was able to see that he pulled it (and kept it himself) and made a play from there. That’s the film study (paying off).”
As a standout early enrollee in the spring, Gentry has made a solid impression during his short time in maroon and gold. With his height and slender 200-pound frame, the young linebacker struggled initially with drills such as linebacker coach Chris Claiborne’s medicine ball drill, requiring him to keep his eyes up, shuffle and bat down the heavy object which was tossed his way.
As Gentry held back a Bruins offensive lineman on the edge to make the play, he recalled the medicine ball drill, giving the Sun Devil practice methods merit on Tuesday to media members.
“With the medicine ball drills, it was about knowing how to change your eyes. It started to become second nature,” Gentry recalled. “When we watch film just from practice, we’ve seen how it allows us to get off blocks and look at other stuff. The stuff we are doing in practice really helps.”
Gentry was one of many younger, more inexperienced players to log time in college football’s greatest cathedral, the Rose Bowl, as the Sun Devil defense dominated the second half. With senior linebacker Darien Butler cramping and graduate student linebacker Kyle Soelle ejected for targeting, Gentry’s name was called, and he delivered.
“Eric Gentry made a heck of a play on fourth down,” defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce said. “Next man up, we rotate linebackers, no different than when I coached them last year. We prepare them to play… Soelle, (senior linebacker) Merlin Robertson, Darien Butler, (redshirt freshmen linebackers) Will Shaffer, Connor Soelle; I feel really comfortable with those guys.”
“It gives me confidence with him putting me in,” Gentry added. “He’s not going to put you in if he doesn’t think you know what you’re doing… I don’t go in with nerves; I go in every time with confidence, knowing I can make a play.”
Asides from Gentry and his young running mates in the middle of the field, the Sun Devil defense also contains youthful players along the defensive line who received praise for their performances through five games this season. They all carry ambition associated with a message from the coaching staff.
Next man up.
Amongst those mentioned were freshman walk-on defensive tackle B.J. Green, freshman defensive end Gharin Stansbury, who earned the highest praise from Gentry as benefactors of that” mentality.
“Gharin and BJ (are the next men up) for sure,” he shared. “We lost (graduate transfer) Travez (Moore) and (senior defensive tackle) Jermayne (Lole). Those are two very good, veteran linemen, so for them to step up and make plays every time they go in, always looking for opportunities to make plays, that’s really cool.”
“I think we are suiting up 12 to 13 defensive linemen each and every week, and they’re all line,” Pierce affirmed. “They all get reps throughout the week, and we got certain packages for certain guys.”
Gentry also mentioned the likes of freshman cornerback Tommi Hill, a recent standout on special teams, as well as freshman linebacker Isiah Johnson, who hasn’t logged a snap yet, but Gentry insisted he was ready to go at any time.
Turning his attention to this Friday’s contest against Stanford, Gentry is prepared to assume a bigger role due to the impending absence of Soelle for the first half of the game due to his targeting penalty in Pasadena. As a young player with promise, the freshman wants to learn as much as he can, adapting to the MIKE and WILL linebacker positions beyond his regular post as the SAM linebacker. He’s also keen to learn whatever wisdom the veteran members of his position group are willing to impart upon him.
“I’m starting to learn the whole playbook, and I feel good with it,” Gentry asserted. “I love learning the playbook, I love playing football, so I’m there all the time always talking to Kyle, talking to (Butler), talking to Merlin every five seconds. When we are on the field together, we just talk. The biggest thing when we are out there is it’s not too loud, not too much going on around you, so we stay calm and talk to each other.”
“Nobody told me that I’m going to have a bigger role this week specifically; they just expect me to step up and keep doing what I’m doing.”
Gentry’s fourth-down stop against UCLA was possibly the biggest play made all season by the Sun Devils, for sure the biggest impact play on defense. The freshman is proud of his accomplishment but is ready to move on, riding the wave of confidence that stirred in Pasadena. For the young linebacker, his football mentality seems pretty straightforward but definitive: know what you’re doing and what’s expected of you; that way, the coaches can’t take you off the field.
“If you get in the game, you have to know what the starters are doing,” he said. “Maybe know more than the starters, so if you know it, you’re going to get in. If you don’t, you won’t be out there… We put the best players that we can out there. That’s what AP says all the time; we put the best 11 out there. If they think you know what you’re doing, you will play.”
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