ASU Football: Gentry, Henderson in a good place with not-so-new defense

(Photo: Dominic Contini/WCSN)

“[Our] backs are against the walls, people don’t believe in us that we’re the same team as last year.

“They’ll find out during the season.”

During Saturday’s press conference, sophomore linebacker Eric Gentry discussed the mentality that Arizona State Football’s new defense is harnessing in spring ball this year. After the whirlwind offseason that saw many starters and five assistant coaches leave, Gentry describes that now that the dust has settled, the Sun Devils are all business and ready to work on maintaining the high expectations that former teammates have set.

After finishing his freshman campaign, Gentry has noticed that the team has matured in practice and in the weight room, and noted that he has gained 12-13 pounds since the end of January. He cited how over half the team will be at the practice facility even on their days off because they have learned that being a football player is a full-time job. Gentry cites former ASU linebacker Darien Butler as a huge inspiration for that realization.

“2-0, my favorite player,” Gentry said. “He’s the epitome for me, the highest he could be for me as a football player.”

Gentry stays in constant contact with Butler, trying to “pick his brain” at any chance that he can get in an attempt to apply his learnings to ASU’s current squad, which is going through a rebranding. Coaches have told the freshman linebacker that he is a leader for the Sun Devils’ defense in 2022, which lost vital pieces in Butler, cornerback Jack Jones, cornerback Chase Lucas and more. Gentry says he is ready for the challenge.

“If you see in practice, I get the defense together and get them hype and motivated,” Gentry said. “Last year, I wasn’t realizing [leadership] at the beginning, but more this year, [the] defense is back in my place, and that’s all I can ask for.”

On Tuesday, ASU head coach Herm Edwards talked about how the lack of clarity among Week 1 starters has made practices more energetic and lively for the team, something that Gentry noticed as well.

“Oh, they’re working,” Gentry said of ASU’s roster overall. “[There’s] a lot of opportunities, there’s no solidified spot. No matter who you are, you have someone breathing down your neck.”

The “hunger” that Gentry described from the team has made the environment competitive and closer.

Gentry expressed a brotherhood between teammates. He detailed times where over half the defense would be over at one of the player’s houses bonding with one another. The Philadelphia-native says that the team feels “way closer” than last year’s team, which seems like a distant memory with the wild offseason.

Gentry will likely be the head of the linebackers’ core for new coordinator Donnie Henderson’s defense, who says he’s looking to keep the continuity from last year.

“As far as schematically, I haven’t changed anything,” Henderson said. “I think I changed maybe one word as far as terminology.”

With the many moving pieces of players leaving and coming in, the newly appointed defensive coordinator knows that keeping the system “vanilla” early on will be the most effective way to get the defense on the right track out the gates. Henderson’s 30 years of experience has taught him to let the players go, calling ASU “their team,” and he would make the corrections afterward.

Henderson went over the first team starters who took the field for Saturday’s practice, starting with the secondary highlighted by the returning Markham brothers, Kejaun and Keon. He finished off the DBs with senior Timarcus Davis before highlighting junior Alijah Gammage as an option for one of the safety spots, with the other one up in the air.

“You look at the safety group right now, and you got three or four new guys back there participating now, and I think the biggest thing for them now is communication,” Henderson said. “I said this to the safeties the other day: ‘The guys that are going to play are the guys that clearly communicate and get lined up.'”

The defensive line left some uncertainty about who’ll get the start for ASU. As Henderson noted, it’s been a rotation of guys so far in spring practice. However, he narrowed it down to sophomore Joe Moore and junior Anthonie Cooper, who are both returning for perhaps a more significant role. On the outside, Henderson mentioned senior Tautaula Pesefea Jr. and an enthusiastic senior in Michael Matus, who sees a lot of talent down in the trenches.

“One thing is the depth we have now, and not only that, but the skill gap in the depth is completely reduced,” Matus said. “That’s one of things I’ve harped on over the years, is being able to put the ‘twos’ in, and everyone thinks that they are the ‘ones.’

“That can take you a long way.”

According to Matus, the quality depth on the line is a great way to keep guys fresh and on the attack constantly. It was a struggle last year, especially with former defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce’s defense, which liked to “blitz heavy,” tiring out the front and making them less effective with the lack of depth.

“Overall, they’re both phenomenal coaches,” Matus said of Pierce and Henderson. “Their attention to details is astronomical. I like to say that I pay attention to the details, but they pay attention to the details like it’s pretty hardcore.”

Matus touched on how players have been willing to step up even with the changes and veteran teammates leaving. Butler, Jones, and Pierce’s absence haven’t stopped the team from the desire to grow into a dominant force on the defensive end, Matus believes.

To round out the defensive starters, Henderson praised the veteran leadership that the starting linebackers have shown with Gentry and senior linebacker Merlin Roberston. However, the big name and one of the anchors for the Sun Devils defense is senior linebacker Kyle Soelle, who led the team in tackles with 88 in 2022 and has caught the eyes of Henderson early.

“Kyle is definitely the guy,” Henderson said. “He’s been around here a long time.”

That type of veteran leadership could help Henderson make a smooth transition from defensive backs coach to the mastermind behind the entire ASU defense – a change that he didn’t even think was a possibility.

“I started as a consultant, then all of a sudden I became a DB coach, and now all of a sudden I’m a coordinator,” Henderson chuckled. “The biggest factor for me was I wanted to keep continuity with the team, and I felt that if I stayed in that position that was offered to me, I could keep the continuity [and] we could use the same terminology.”

Henderson believes that if Edwards brought in someone else, a move that he could’ve done, it would’ve thrown off the whole team’s gameplan. When Edwards initially asked Henderson if he wanted the job, he was shocked, replying with a surprised “What?” The 64-year-old said the proposal tossed around his other plans: retirement.

“I actually had some other plans, to be honest with you,” Henderson said. “I was getting up in that age group where you start thinking about the beach, that little hut someplace. Come to find out I couldn’t get that money yet, so I gotta stay a little longer.”

The joking aside, Henderson is ready for the opportunity to coach along with Edwards, who he has known since NFL training camp with Philadelphia Eagles in the 1980s. The two have garnered a bond through the years on different teams and coaching staffs, most famously with the New York Jets in 2004.

It’s certainly a bond that Edwards and ASU is hoping will pay off in 2022.

“We have a lot of fun together, I know that,” Henderson said of Edwards. “I can play off of him, and once he gets going, he can play off of me.”