Q&A with Antonio Pierce
As a former NFL player and head coach at Long Beach (Calif.) High School, it was fully expected that ASU’s linebackers coach Antonio Pierce would be a force to reckon with on the recruiting trail. Landing two four-star prospects and four total players in the 2018 class shows that he can and will fulfill the lofty expectations placed on him.
Pierce addressed the media after the school’s signing day press conference.
What was this like for you, going through this for the first time?
“It was fun. Obviously, coach had a plan, everybody sat down, Danny gave us a direction of where to go with defensive players. Obviously, my coaching in California, being from California, living in California, you know a lot of those guys, relationships. So just going out there, letting them know what the program was, the direction we’re heading, and the message that Herm Edwards presents to everyone.”
Were you sweating any of this out or were you pretty confident that everything was locked in the way you wanted it going into today?
“I was confident. Because at the end of the day, you’re dealing with kids and parents, and I think the biggest factor that you believe in other than playing time is trust. I looked at all those kids in their eyes, and they knew me personally, that I wasn’t lying to them about the things that were going to happen over the next month and then the next four years of their life.”
Is there any way to overstate the personal relationship you have with some of these players?
“Yeah, and I know that first hand by being a coach at Long Beach Poly and not really seeing this university, Arizona State, around. You have to make that point to them that it’s different, coach Herm Edwards has made a point in Southern California to get those guys here so we can beat the USC’s and UCLA’s. And that’s how you beat them, by getting those guys who understand their competition and played against them since they were little kids.”
Between the two players that you coached, what is ASU getting in them?
“They’re really good players. Jermayne Lole, I actually went to school with his mother so I’ve known him for a really long time. He’s an explosive player, reminds me of Joseph Wicker who I coached as well, I think he’s going to be a dynamic player in our system, he’s a guy that moves really well for an interior lineman, and he plays with what I call ill intent. He’s going to be a guy that when we go up against the big boys, we’re going to be okay. And Aashari Croswell, to be honest, he’s the best football player in my tenure. I coached a lot of players, I went to SEC and ACC and other Pac-12 teams but he was the best player on our football team last year. I blame myself for not winning enough games because I probably could’ve given him the ball to do different things with it. So we’re getting a dynamic player with Aashari.”
Why do you think he was the best player?
“Because there wasn’t a thing that you couldn’t tell him or do with him that he didn’t understand and was willing to do. He has a natural feel for the game, high football IQ, and his ability to make plays, he’s just one of those guys that when you see the ball, just track it and you’ll find him.”
What jumps at to you about Merlin Robertson?
“I’ve known Merlin since he was in eighth grade, tried to get him at Poly, he went to Sayre, so I was recruiting him back in the day. He’s a nasty individual, and I mean that in a very malicious way. He’s going to move some walls in this building, he’s going to move some chairs. He has an identity that we’d like our linebackers to have from this point forward, and I think he’ll come in and compete right away.”
Sounds like you back in the day…
“Coach has his DNA and I have my DNA with the linebackers. We’re going to be badasses.”
Were you surprised those three players were still available this late in the process?
“I was, it was shocking because, again, I was a coach for two of them and I was trying to get them to other schools, and those schools kind of played them late and slow and they tried to come in late once we got on board. It’s just kind of understanding them and seeing their role, understanding them and what their needs were and what we needed, it just matched up.”
What’s been the adjustment for you going from where you were to here now? Is it any change in your coaching mentality?
“No, because actually, I was kind of moonlighting as a consultant with the Giants last year, this past season with Ben McAdoo and Steve Spagnolo, obviously worked with ESPN and moonlighted at Long Beach Poly, I was doing a lot of things, it’s no different. Football’s football, right guys? Football’s football.”
What’s the difference between NFL players and high school players and coaching college players?
“You’re dealing with men, you’re dealing with kids and parents. Once we get them on the campus, there’s no more momma and daddy, I think that’s what coach Herm was talking about. It’s different from professionalism, in the NFL you’ve got those guys as long as you want, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., here you’ve got them four hours a day, so you’ve got to make the most out of their time.”
What’s your DNA? Coach talked about his DNA and the type of players he’s looking for, what’s yours and what do you want your linebackers to reflect?
“Fire, passion, high football IQ, read and react, ill-intent guys who play with a purpose. And where I know what their purpose is in life. When you’ve got those kind of guys and they love ball, because not a lot of guys love ball, they love what ball gives them. It’s hard to play linebacker. You hit a 300-pound lineman, you try to tackle a 200-pound running back with the quicks, and then you’ve got to run with a 4.4 wide receiver down the seam. There’s no other position that has to do that but linebacker, so that’s a special, special guy. It takes a special mindset to play linebacker and it’s going to be a special guy that plays for us this year.”
Do you ever turn on the tape of yourself and have to show them how you did things back in the day?
“No, actually, I’m going to do the drills with them so it’s going to be okay, they’re going to watch in person.”
But you can’t beat them right? Or are you going to beat them?
“Ask some of the guys what happened the other day with our half-gassers. I got with them.”
No concerns about an Achilles or anything like that?
“No, look, I’m not going to do it every day. I can get them once a week. That’s part of the thing, it’s hard, you’re still doing it with 18- and 20-year-old kids, and I think the best way to show them sometimes is doing it. Obviously, not being that far removed from playing which is seven years for myself, and being active, I can still do a lot of things. You go there and you talk, some guys need film study, some guys need chalk talk, some guys need reps, they need walk-throughs. So whatever they need, we’ll get it done, and treat everybody individually to make sure to get the message across.”
I know you hand-picked Darien (Butler), and you’re going to coach him also, what does he bring?
“Yeah, listen, I played against him four years in a row, him and Marlin Robertson, those are the guys I know first hand. Darien was about a pain in my butt. He’s a guy who’s a very physical individual. Every bit of 5’11”, weighed in here the other day at 232, but he’s one of those guys that, when I asked everybody around the area if I was right or wrong in my assessment, everybody thought he was one of the better linebackers in Southern California, I felt the same way. If he’s 6’2” he wouldn’t be available, he’d be a national recruit. Sometimes you get knocked down for your height, sadly enough I was when I came out, he’s 5’11” and I think he can play football.”
Do you bring up the school down south at all around these parts?
“No, it is what it is. I was an 18-year-old kid, 19, 20, 21 when I left, that was a part of my process of being a student-athlete, this is my professional process.”
You enjoy your time here so far?
“It’s been fun, I’ll tell you what. Obviously, I think with our coaching staff, I think coach has put a great group of guys together who love ball, who are young, who are energetic, who get what coach Herm is trying to do, and everybody’s bought into it, and that’s the best part about it. At the end of the day, we’re here to change the mindset that everybody has about coach Herm and this university and how we play defense. I’m fired up to prove everybody wrong.”
You mentioned Aashari, you wanted to do more stuff with him at Long Beach Poly, do you think he’s going to have that kind of extended offensive role here?
“Well, we’ll see as he grows, but I definitely think — and I talked to coach — I think he can be a return man, kickoff return, punt returner. I mean, I know it’s high school, but look, man, I think the kid touched the ball 10 or 12 times and he scored half of them. And other ones he was right at the end zone. He can do a lot of things with the ball in his hands, he’s faster than what people seem to think he looks like when he’s running because when he plays, his football speed is totally different. I just think he’s a special individual. There’s just something about certain guys, who just have a knack for making plays and doing things specially when the ball’s in the air or in their hands and he’s one of them.”
You were able to concentrate on a small amount of players for the 2018 class, but that also allowed you to lay the foundation for 2019 and 2020, talk about that process.
“Yeah, that’s been exciting. I know probably it worried Donnie a little bit when I first got here that I was already on them but I was recruiting those guys in eighth grade trying to get them to come to Poly. So it’s a lot of guys in the 2020 class especially that I know very, very well, that I touched at some point in their youth football leagues and I followed throughout the years. Same thing with the 2019 class, so I think we laid down a great foundation for us within a month and getting a great group of guys together to come in and compete right away, but I think the 2019 class is going to shock a lot of people.”
Note: Jeff Griffith assisted with this article