Forged in Philly, Southern Cal linebacker Eric Gentry breaks the mold at East-West Shrine Bowl workouts

FRISCO, Texas — If there were any doubts about whether Eric Gentry belonged in the NFL with size that is often compared to an NBA wing player, he quelled those concerns by the second practice of East-West Shrine Bowl workouts, which are composed of the best draft-eligible players from across the country.

Gentry, who recently finished his college career at Southern California, sprinted downhill from his linebacker spot during the 11-on-11 period, hit the breaks two yards from the line of scrimmage when the offense ran play-action, and elevated to nearly intercept a Mark Gronowski pass over the middle of the field. The next play looked identical: Gentry flowed toward the line of scrimmage on a play-action pass, sank back a few feet, and elevated to again deflect a pass thrown his direction.

The Philadelphia native and Neumann Goretti alum used every bit of his 6-foot-6, 221-pound frame and long arms. His height and more than 35-inch arms are in the 99th percentile, while his weight is in the first percentile among linebackers. He’s a unique player who has intrigued nearly every NFL scout and media member during Shrine Bowl practices.

“We have a lot of value in guys that are really unique, and if their character matches their uniqueness on the field, those guys almost always hit the NFL,” Eric Galko, the Shrine Bowl director, told The Inquirer. “For Eric, we always saw that. He was one of our first invites at linebacker — we had no doubt he’ll play in the NFL. And I think what he’s showing this week in practice is that you can use him in a couple different ways. He can have a huge, huge impact because of how uniquely built he is.”

Gentry is used to the doubts by now, having experienced the criticism throughout his football career. Most think he’s too tall and too thin to play linebacker. Others question his durability playing such a physical position.

But through it all, he was focused on proving that the production and versatility he showed in college will follow him to the NFL. In one year at Arizona State and four at USC, he had nine forced fumbles, 26½ tackles for losses, nine sacks, and two interceptions.

» READ MORE: Downingtown’s Drew Shelton prepares for draft in Texas, joining an academy of sorts for NFL offensive linemen

“I think of just making these [scouts] come get at me, making these teams come get at me — I feel more like I am going to be in the moment and make it all happen,” Gentry said before practices began. “I feel so happy to be able to be out here and do what I’ve got to do. Every 10 years, it’s a new generation of athletes, type of athletes that come around. I know I’m one of them. So every day, just showing it, every day, having that intuition, knowing that can’t nobody tell me no but me. I’m always telling myself, ‘Yes, I can do it.’”

Football has been at the forefront for Gentry since he was 5 years old, but the journey to this weekend’s All-Star Game in Texas hasn’t been without its ups and downs.

Recently, Quan Luck, Gentry’s mother, was going through some old Pop Warner pictures from her son’s early playing days. Many of the players in those pictures with Gentry, she said, are either no longer alive or in prison.

The adversity that Gentry overcame to follow his dream of making the NFL still resonates with his mother.

“It’s always magical watching my son, because the things that he’s able to do, most football players are not able to do, but it’s hard,“ she said. ”He just has [faced] a lot of adversity because of his build. … Because of so many coaching changes, he’s had to prove himself over again. But every single coach that he ever played for always spoke very highly of him and stated how he was a unicorn."

His mother also noticed how Gentry was “a different character” on the football field over the years. She was a college basketball player at Rutgers-Camden and thought her son might follow in her footsteps on the court.

But Gentry wanted to be “something that nobody had ever seen” on the football field. Luck said Dwayne Thomas, Gentry’s former high school defensive coordinator, described his playing style as “playing basketball on the football field.”

» READ MORE: Philly’s Eric Gentry caused chaos in the middle of USC’s defense

“Sometimes it’s like he’s the underdog for whatever reason. I don’t know why, but he just always proves them wrong,” Luck said. “People have so many questions about him. Is he too thin? Will he not make it? Is he too weak? Is he going to get pushed back? And he just proved to them that anything he wants to do, he does his best.

“You can ask anybody from his team, they will always speak highly of him, that [football] is what he does every day.”

Before winter storms ravaged most of the country, Luck, Gentry’s father, Eric Sr., and Thomas were set to make the trip to Frisco to watch him compete at the Shrine Bowl.

During his three days of participation in Shrine Bowl practices, Gentry was one of the standouts among all players. He consistently made plays in one-on-one coverage and in pass-rushing reps during the team periods.

An NFC scout, while watching Gentry, remarked that the Philly native “can be a good one” and would ideally want the linebacker to “get up to 240 pounds.” Another appreciated the “use of those long arms.”

“I think Eric Gentry is kind of a choose-your-own-adventure player, like whatever he does in the draft process, whatever you care about as a team, you’re going to find value in as well,” Galko said. “I always tell NFL teams and guys, when you’re that big and long, you can make mistakes and still win the rep.

“And I think with a player like Gentry, he can make mistakes and still make that play on the running back in the B-gap, or he can make that mistake and still bat the pass down. I think his length, wingspan, his mental aptitude, can make him a guy that early on in the NFL can contribute before he’s even reached his full potential.”

One of Gentry’s agents is Chafie Fields, also a Philadelphia native, who has a close connection with his mother. Luck and Fields ran track and field together since they were 5 years old and the former Penn State and NFL wide receiver turned agent works for the Wasserman agency, which represents more than 100 NFL players.

The journey is coming full circle for Gentry, one that is coming closer to reality in a few short months. Wherever he ends up, Philly will be at the forefront of his identity.

“To be away and have my journey go on and just hearing people support me from back home — like a mythic legend, in a sense, because nobody sees me anymore — but just hearing everything that’s going on with me,” Gentry said. “My homie texted me not that long ago, actually, and he was like, ‘You don’t [get] on social media a lot, you don’t do a lot, but you don’t realize how much you are motivation to the people in the city.’

“I never knew the true understanding of it, until you see, you hear people from back home. There’s so many people that know you back home and are talking about you. … I feel so great to be able to put on for the city and tell everybody and show everybody that Philly’s got it.”

Added his mother: “The city made him. Part of his aggression is because he was raised in the city of Philadelphia. It’s not easy. People don’t understand to make it out of Philly is an accomplishment by itself.”