With a black binder that bulged like the yellow pages tucked under his left arm, Amiri Johnson’s 6-foot-6, 225-pound frame strolled down the hallway. Just finishing up a conversation, his position coach stopped him. He offered a hug and a message.

“Hey, I was just texting Danielle about you,” Robert Rodriguez said.

Johnson’s face shined as if he had just been named prom king. Arizona State’s new defensive line coach told the young Sun Devils about the players he used to coach, the ones with great form and great technique and pockets overflowing with bills.

The ones he taught as the assistant defensive line coach with the Minnesota Vikings. And chief among the names mentioned was defensive end Danielle Hunter, the fastest player in NFL history to reach 50 sacks.

To Hunter, Rodriguez mentioned that he’s coaching another No. 99 in Tempe that is a lot like him -- another big-bodied defensive end with a great length, speed and, most importantly, impeccable character.

“Coach him up good,” Hunter responded, according to Rodriguez.

Johnson lit up.

“Thanks, coach,” Johnson replied, not holding back an effervescent grin and glow as he parted ways.

Robert Rodriguez has been on the job for less than a month. It feels like a decade. He’s embraced and enhanced ASU’s pro model -- using his NFL experience to teach arguably more than any coach.

And his players -- who, again, have worked with him for two weeks -- are handing out reviews of Rodriguez that seem like such hyperbole. They assure you it isn’t.

“He’s honestly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” defensive lineman Stanley Lambert said.

“He’s up there with one of the greatest coaches to teach me the technique properly,” Stephon Wright added. “He’s amazing.”

Watch practice for two seconds and you’ll see why.

****

As Rodriguez is quickly learning, there are some changes from the NFL to college football -- at least at ASU. For one, there are outsiders at practice -- and they have cameras. Trained to keep any information in the building, he was nervous when he saw one of his drills on Twitter.

It was an exercise that focused on defensive linemen using their length to get a hand on the quarterback. Before the practice, he had shown the Sun Devils a video of the Vikings doing the same drill.

The only difference was he made the pads wider to create a more forgiving rush angle, something he assured them would get tighter and tighter as camp went on. Eventually, his mentor, Vikings’ co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson, watched the video, a tad angry that Rodriguez had messed up the drill.

“He’s like, ‘Hey, I saw the rush angle on Twitter,’ and I was like, ‘Ooo, Ok. Hey Coach, what did you think?’” Rodriguez said he told Patterson. “He goes, ‘The bags are too wide.’ I go, “Yes, Sir, I’m going to tighten them up next time … their angles were so wide that I had to kind of mid-point it.”

Perhaps that sums up Rodriguez and his coaching philosophy. He’s intent on details and technique -- and, right now, the Sun Devils are lacking in both areas. He was well aware when he took a job in college, he would have to break down bad habits then build up proper technique through muscle memory.

“We build from the ground up,” he said.

For a lot of his early drills, he needed only a small patch of land. There’s no need to run when you can’t walk. So he used boxing gloves to teach them how to use their hands. He made them all put towels on the ground so they’d have a guide where to place their feet when coming off the ball. (The towels were removed after a week).

“He’s more technically demanding than any coach I’ve ever had,” lineman Michael Matus said of Rodriguez. “He’s not so much focused on all the flashy stuff. He’s focused on detail-oriented (drills), focused on your technique and (wants you) to become a master at your position.”

Added Lambert: “Off the edge, he wants us to be a technician. Honestly, without technique you’re just a wasted body. If you can’t use technique in your stances, you won’t be able to do anything.”

Said Johnson: “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing. I love practicing every day because I wake up every morning and I’m like, ‘Yes, I get to be coached by this great guy.’”

Rodriguez mentioned that he was texting with a friend from Minnesota the other day. They told him how much he was missed up north. He appreciated that. But he loves his new role. There’s something refreshing about teaching those who are grateful for your wisdom.

He feels that in Tempe.

Perhaps there’s more satisfaction gained when ASU’s defensive linemen see they’re doing the same drill as the Vikings; or telling a college-aged Amiri Johnson that a Pro Bowler knows his name; or preparing kids for success at the next level.

“We were running a drill today and were having some success. And you could just feel the energy rise up,” Rodriguez said. “The energy was really high and these guys were all amped up. That’s when you know you’re doing good. That energy is why you coach.”

****

On the practice field, Rodriguez’s voice booms. He yells with a stern and demanding cadence. More than that, though, he wants his words to resonate. Even as he answers questions, he can’t help but slip in a metaphor or simile or an image to help his thought get through.

To explain that Johnson is not a finesse player, he said: “Someone, somewhere along the line, taught him to be a Ferrari. But he’s a tank. He’s a great, physical -- or he’s like an apache helicopter, he’s more power with a little bit of speed.”

Here are a few other gems he’s voiced this spring:

“Are you guys ready to stop doggy paddling and start swimming.”

“You can’t give me this 'Somebody said.' Somebody is the worst (person) in the world. He’s responsible for everything.”

"You got to get so damn good at this that you work on it in the summertime. You got to take pride in that (stuff).”

The favorite of junior defensive lineman Jermayne Lole is: “The lone wolf dies and the pack survives.” Lambert quickly thought back to a saying Rodriguez used trying to teach his guys to keep their hands up.

“He said, ‘If you get into a fight, you’re not going to have your hands like this (at your side) and just wait for someone to hit you. You have to keep your hands up.’”

Rodriguez credits it to his grandmother, who helped raise him in El Paso. She was a phenomenal story-teller, he said, a master at using her hands to convey messages.

“Unfortunately at an older age, she had a stroke and couldn’t speak. But she could still communicate because of her hand gestures,” he said. “It’s like we were programmed to understand what she was meaning. I guess I picked it up from her.

“I speak in pictures because that’s how we see the world -- and those things stick sometimes.”

So far in his new role, they have.

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