Amongst the wolfpack, the lone wolf dies, and the only pack survives.

The Game of Thrones reference is much more than just another quote from the show, it’s the mentality of ASU defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez, who brings a star-studded unit to the table after a strong showing in the shortened 2020 season, returning all four starters and a plethora of options up and down the depth chart.

Rodriguez’s return to Tempe marks the first time a defensive line coach has maintained the title since Jackie Shipp in 2014 and 2015 under Todd Graham, and if you ask his players, they understand why, and they’re grateful to have him back.

“It’s a blessing to have him again,” graduate defensive tackle Shannon Forman said. The fifth-year player has seen four different coaches in his time in maroon and gold, but Rodriguez’s work is something that’s taken his attention over the past season. “He decided to stay and keep this group as a unit we will focus on. The defensive line has progressed tremendously. Honestly, that’s one thing he’s focused on – trying to build us up from the ground up.”

Rodriguez’s focus is not on a singular pass rusher, an individual who captures the spotlight and shines but takes away from the rest of the unit. The second-year ASU coach is focused on the “collective good” as he aims to improve the entire unit comprehensively.

“With my group, it’s all about you understanding your role within the scheme, like anything else,” he explained. “Pass rush is like run fits; it’s like blitzes. You have to know where you fit and then execute your job. When they do, they start to work off each other… Always understand the grand scheme of things, and it makes everybody better.”

For Rodriguez and his defensive linemen to achieve their goals of bettering the entire unit, they must rely on two essential facades of life in the trenches: discipline and technique. For the enforcement of those tactics, the position coach looks to one of his smartest players, redshirt junior defensive end Michael Matus, who embodies the technical spirit his coach lives and breaths.

“Coach Rod is a technician at heart; he’s always about discipline and always about the technique,” Matus repeated. “We are trying to make these ideals our own, so we can have fun with it and just ball out. (Last year) everybody was tiptoeing around with the coaching change and the whole scheme changes.”

Matus may have described last year’s efforts as “tiptoeing” at first, but it certainly didn’t seem that way as the season progressed. Arizona State fielded one of the best defensive lines in the Pac-12 despite a smaller sample size of games than most. The front four of Matus, graduate nose tackle D.J. Davidson, senior defensive tackle Jermayne Lole and graduate defensive end Tyler Johnson were responsible for all of ASU’s nine sacks on the season, with Johnson accounting for five of his own.

Matus’ partner on the other side of the line, Johnson, who earned second-team All-conference recognition last week in Los Angeles at Pac-12 Media Day is particularly confident and comfortable under Rodriguez for a second-year and even more so working alongside Davidson, Lole, and Matus for another year.

“It’s great (to be working with the same starting unit again) because we’ve been playing together for the past two-three plus years, and we know how everybody clicks, and we know our strengths and weaknesses,” Johnson listed. “We just work well with each other, and we aren’t strangers, so we don’t have to teach each other things. We might help each other when one of us has a brain fart, but other than that, it’s a great feeling to have everyone back you’ve been battling with for years now.”

Johnson’s running mate in the trenches, Lole, is also poised for another strong season. The senior is a Pro Football Focus Preseason All-American, a first-team All-conference preseason selection and is on the watch lists for both the Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award. Johnson, Matus and Davidson all mentioned their excitement about working with the Pac-12’s highest-graded defensive interior player from 2020.

“I know Jermayne is always going to do his job,” Johnson mentioned. “He's strong. He knows how to anchor, and I know my inside help is going to be there. I just know if I do my part, he does his part, our side of the line will work out it will pan out.”

“Jermayne is always going to be a baller,” Matus said. “I’m gonna let Jermayne do his thing and let him eat, and I’ll cover for him. He’s going to be very, very good.”

“I love working with Jermayne,” Davidson said. “We’ve played with each other the last few years, and we really have this chemistry; that’s like a natural thing. We can just look at each other and know what the play is or what we have to do. We work together, not against each other. I’m really comfortable with him.”

Rodriguez’s mission goes beyond the front four though, his goal is to field an entire room of players who understand how to play and how to execute properly up and down the depth chart.

Players that are aiming to aid the depth of the unit include the likes of graduate transfer Travez Moore and redshirt junior Stanley Lambert who light up the edge with their speed. Redshirt junior T.J. Pesefea and redshirt freshman Omarr Norman-Lott are a pair of interior players with experience that bring depth to the whole unit. On the younger side, freshman walk-on B.J. Green has earned a massive amount of praise from his peers for his work through the first several practices, as have freshman Gharin Stansbury and redshirt sophomore Amiri Johnson, who has battled injuries over the past few seasons.

For this defensive line, it’s not about stealing the show or gaining all the fame, it’s about doing the work correctly and doing it as a group, rather than a bunch of individuals.

“This year, we are trying to bridge that gap from the first group and the second,” Matus said. “We don't see it as ones, twos, and threes; we just see it as a big group. It doesn't matter if you're a two on the depth chart doesn't matter if you're a three. If you're on the field, you are the starter and the one playing at that moment.”

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