Previously: Last year’s profiles. S Damani Dent, S/Nk Zeke Berry, S/HSP Keon Sabb, CB Myles Pollard, CB/Nk Kody Jones, CB Will Johnson, LB Deuce Spurlock, LB Jimmy Rolder, DE/LB Micah Pollard, DE Derrick Moore, DT Mason Graham, DT Kenneth Grant, DT Cam Goode.

Littleton, CO (via Virginia) – 6'8”, 310
2020 RANKINGS:
EJ Holland/On3, via masfe.org		247: 6'8/310         4.34*	4*, 94, #147 overall #11 OT, #2 CO
		Rivals: 6'8/305         4.67*	4*, 6.0, #68 overall #8 OT, #1 CO
		ESPN: 6'8/310         4.51*	4*, 84, #20 Midlands, #78 ovr #12 OT, #1 CO
		On3:         n/a	did not exist
		Composite:         4.63*	4*, 0.9628, #88 overall #8 OT, #1 CO
		Other Suitors	UVa (transfer), BYU, Stanford, ND, OSU
		YMRMFSPA	Andrew Stueber
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post by Alex Drain.
Notes	All-Am, PolyBowl, 2019 Gold Helmet.
Film:
Hudl. Junior year pancake fest. Selections from that.

These posts are meant to be scouting-focused introductions to the players you're going to see on the field. What they do off of it, who they are, where they're from, how they experienced events that you experienced that have nothing to do with football…they're only relevant if they're going to affect the football player. Right? That's what we're doing here?

That's certainly possible to do with Andrew Gentry, who spent so much of the 2020 recruiting cycle both uncommitted, and in spitting distance of five stars, a perfect recipe for scouting and attention. Also a 6'8"/310 teenager who's crushing top Colorado competition for a run-obsessed high school you've heard of kind of sticks out. The content is there to set the sliders with reasonable accuracy.

Football, however, is a game designed to be a crucible for human capability, not a sim, and this is a man wrapped in his faith, which is the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Like many LDS players, including my age-ish Michigan alumni Tyler Ecker and Spencer Brinton, Gentry put off football for two years to serve as a missionary. That faith was why his brother was already at BYU, and his father was an alum, and he was expected to follow them, when Michigan and Notre Dame were competing just as hard for his services, and Ohio State and Alabama wanted them. It was, according to Gentry, how he pulled straight A's (Hudl claims a 4.3 GPA and 1420 SAT) in an honors curriculum while honing his body and skills to become elite at football. It was why he trusted LDS member Bronco Mendenhall, and surprised everyone by pledging there weeks before his mission was supposed to start, and the pandemic did instead.

Plans for a trip to Mexico City for training and Spanish immersion, followed by serving in Argentina, were scrapped. He learned Spanish online, and was dispatched for missionary work in the Hispanic community in Utah. As things relaxed he had a chance to go to Argentina, but turned it down. When Michigan beat Ohio State, Gentry was completely unaware. When Bronco Mendenhall was let go and his staff broken up at Virginia, Gentry didn't know that happened either. Michigan's re-recruitment of their top OT target in 2020 was its own adventure worth reading in detail from any other site that told the story better than I can summate, but the gist is football wasn't allowed to interrupt.

Gentry's missionary life ended this month, and a very different life as a humongous one-eleventh of an football organism commences this week. The transition will be jarring. Also jarring, if you'll forgive me, would have been going right into what this man is before talking about who, since it's evidently a huge part of his makeup.

---------------------

Big Man

Like center in basketball, "big" in an offensive tackle has its own quality. It's literally the first thing you notice on film, before they pause it and superfluously circle the guy whose shoulders are where everyone else's head's at.

Daniel Brunner/The Denver Post

Harbaugh introduced Gentry to reporters with "talk about physical, physical presence" and explained on the Jansen podcast they were getting a guy already big for a pro:

"Andrew Gentry is somebody that we recruited a couple of years ago and he was top of the class," Harbaugh said Wednesday on Michigan's In the Trenches podcast. "I mean, (Zak) Zinter, Gentry, Reece Atteberry, Jeff Persi — that class, and Genry was right there at the top. I remember him, real high four-star guy, 96.28, right up there at the top. About 6-feet-8-inches tall. Serious, serious length, and big, and strong. I know he’s well above 300 — like in the 310s, 315s, 320s, but doesn’t look like it. There are some guys that could be 320-pounds and look like a bowl of jello. This guy is 300-pounds and looks like is carved out of marble. So he’s a tremendous player.

24/7's Blair Angulo led his eval with "broad shouldered frame with thick lower half." At Rivals, Mike Farrell had an article comparing recruits in Gentry's class to players about to go near the top of the draft. #3 Walker Little's comp was Gentry, because "Gentry has a very similar build at the same level and impressive length." Little's draft measurements:

Says Farrell, "you simply won’t find many tackles with his combination of size and talent."

Those of you with 24/7 accounts who remember 2019 recruiting already know, but one of the true pleasures of winning a battle with Notre Dame was (Tom Loy rationalizing his crystal ball flip and) the Irish Illustrated staff actually watch film on their school's targets. Tim Prister called Gentry "as close to the quintessential right tackle as you’re going to see," and Kevin Sinclair saw exactly what you want to.

Passing the eye test with the most impact, you have to start with Andrew Gentry’s NFL measurables at 6-foot-8, 310-pounds. You simply won’t find many tackles with his combination of size and talent.

A profile emerges.

Man 'o War

Prister was evocative concerning "a massive presence on the right side where he seals the edge like a snowplow discarding precipitation to the shoulder of the highway." The physics Gentry could generate off the snap was a big selling point:

Starting from a wide, low three-point stance and very quick off the snap -- which belies his great size -- Gentry is a knee-bending, low-pad-level right tackle who quickly gets into the body of a defensive lineman and makes himself extremely difficult for an opponent to disentangle.

Sinclair described a consistent "penchant for punishment." Angulo praised, of all things, pad level, and Gentry's quickness off the snap. EJ Holland got out to see Gentry in Colorado and reported he "was a force in the trenches" versus ND's Aidan Keanaaina:

2020 Michigan OL target Andrew Gentry (@a_gentry75) puts his man in the dirt #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/ITPh8w7WZj

— "EJ Holland" (@EJHollandOn3) October 5, 2019

Tanner Wooten from Rivals compared Gentry to Andrew Stueber…

….both in stature and play style. Both are road-graders in the run game and are nimble enough to be good pass blockers. It took nearly six minutes during Gentry’s senior highlights before a play that didn’t end with a poor defender on his back.

Stueber as a comp says a lot too—we'll get to the pass pro questions everyone has—because Stuebs was an ideal gap-blocking tackle for his ability to pin heavy DL inside to create the inside of the gap.

Bear in mind Power running was the bread and butter of the Columbine offense when Gentry played, probably because it had Gentry:

“Something I really pride myself on is being a great run blocker,” he said. “And I know in college you have to change, and that’s why I work on pass protection a lot too. But I like to be nasty and finish blocks, that’s honestly something I really like to do and probably the best part of my game. It’s just a great feeling, I definitely love finishing run blocks.

The pancakes were fun, Prister started to wonder if maybe there was maybe too much breakfast, not enough linemen lunch:

Gentry is so aggressive that sometimes his upper body gets out in front of his lower body, although it’s not like he’s engaged in a block and then falls forward into air. If Gentry goes to the ground, he’s taking a defender with him pancake-style. That means he knows how to maintain leverage with a forward lean and a never-ceasing lower-body drive.

I suspect Prister my sentiment that pancakes < donkeying < putting a guy on the ground and hunting for more.

Man on the Run

Hunting linebackers when loosed to the second level was no problem for Gentry, and an opportunity to show off his quick feet and athleticism. The first time Gorney scouted this kid Gentry was already 6'8"/285: "He moves well and completely obliterates his competition." This featured on Gentry's junior film, which produced the bulk of his scouting. Angulo stressed that Gentry was:

"impressively agile for his size. Repeatedly reaches the second level to open running lanes. Quick off the snap and maintains pad level through contact. Top-notch run blocker who seals his gaps.

And Sinclar was less recalcitrant than his IrishIllustrated compatriot when it came to clapping for all the times that huge body was generating "big-impact blocks" with how well he moved in space. Not that Prister was at all dissatisfied with this aspect of Gentry's game:

If his path is unimpeded at the line of scrimmage off the snap of the football, Gentry seamlessly attacks the next level with a wide base, bent knees and his weight underneath him. He does not arrive at the linebacker out of control, but rather, with leverage, active feet and a firm base.

Wooten also enjoyed the "ever-desired mean streak" after the junior film revealed a parade of pancakes.

MaxPreps named him an All-American at the end of his senior season, crediting the downfield, impact blocks that generated 3,500 yards and 51 TDs for the Columbine offense.

Man on the Edge

You'll note a distinct lack of pass protection talk in there. That's unfortunately an issue with the school's (and uh, Michigan's) offense, and left the scouts having to guess. Sinclair:

What his film doesn’t show is a wealth of pass blocking reps, operating in a three-back system where his run blocking acumen has been shaped into something special. Much like Quinn Carroll’s high school film, his pass blocking talent is left somewhat to the imagination simply due to a lack of evidence.

Touch the Banner also put "??????" here, though noted the athleticism should translate:

Aside from physical shape, the biggest question is how Gentry will work out in pass protection. He certainly has the athleticism to be a plus pass blocker, but playing for a team that was largely run-oriented, he doesn’t have much experience with pro-style pass sets, playing with his hand off the ground, etc.

Angulo was harsher, exclaiming that Gentry has "room to improve as a pass blocker and with regard to his overall athleticism." (Emphasis mine). That evaluation seemed to soften

Prister was on the positive end of "I dunno, maybe?":

Just exactly how Gentry would do with off-the-edge speed rushers on the next level is a little less clear because the Rebels’ appear to rely heavily on the ground game. But again, Gentry is fundamentally sound with knees bent, active feet and his weight squarely underneath his lower body. He also understands pass-blocking angles and adjusts the setup of his body accordingly.

Gentry said he'd learn it while on his two-year mission—"I didn’t work on a lot of pass pro at Columbine, so it will be good to work on that”—which is hardly encouraging.

Man Amongst Boys

A lack of film on half of the job he's projected for was just one issue when trying to grade Gentry. Another was the best Colorado has to offer isn't the best. Adam Gorney named Gentry his hardest guy to rank in the cycle:

Is he bullying weaker Colorado competition? Could he dominate like that against elite California, Florida and Texas talent? Level of competition is always something to consider in rankings but I think Gentry could be special and so I moved him one step away from being a five-star prospect."

Grown Man

On the the other hand, maturity level, normally a big unknown in recruiting, isn't at all an X-factor with Gentry. Harbaugh didn't just praise Gentry's intelligence; he called a "pretty darn mature guy" and "one of the smartest to come through here." Columbine HC Andy Lowry marveled that the best prospect he'd ever coached wasn't at all how you'd imagine:

“He’s meant as much off the field as he has on the field,” Lowry said. “He’s an incredible human being who wants to the best as a person, the best as a student and if he’s missing two percent on a grade, he wants to figure out why.”… “He’s the hardest working kid we have in the weight room and on the field,” Lowry said. “His goal is to be the best.”

Prister noted Gentry never lacked effort, and thought this showed superb conditioning for a kid that age as well as focus. The attitude came through too from the director of the mission Gentry was at the last two years.

“He’s a great leader,” Evanson said. “He’s extremely responsible. You give him a task, and it gets done. I never have to ask Elder Gentry to do something twice. He’s a self-starter. He comes up with great ideas. A lot of times I’ll be thinking of something that needs to be done, and he’ll already have done it.

When the Man Comes Around

Two years completely removed from football has its own dangers, unfortunately. This worried Rivals' Mike Farrell when they were considering (and ultimately decided against a) 5th star. Michigan was always for it, and—via my source—had put together a detailed plan to stay in playing shape, but never got to implement it because Gentry signed with Virginia then went off the grid.

This was also Ferrell's and Touch the Banner's concern, dude:

Gentry’s skills and physical development are somewhat of a wild card at this point. Having been on a church mission for two years, how much did he work out? How strong is he? Has he been running, working on footwork, etc.? When he was in high school, he looked a bit like Andrew Stueber – huge and powerful. He’s got light feet and can bend at the knees to get under defensive linemen.

And even Harbaugh—effusive on the podcast with Jansen—sounded a bit worried what they'd get back:

I mean, he’s all a 6-8 and 333, 310 right now, he probably hasn’t stepped on the scale for a while, but he’s probably at least 310 and hasn’t been working out on a daily basis. So I mean, he’s there there, in terms of physical growth and everything and getting back into playing football, knocking some of that rust off. I think it’ll be the big thing, but definitely mature as a person.

Via 24/7's reporting, Gentry had his own regimen:

"Andrew does about 30 minutes of workouts every day, but he's not in football football shape, of course, having been away from the game for two years," Todd Gentry said. "He does have to firm up to football weight and it's tough right now on the lower body without doing heavy-duty squatting, but he's been able to maintain decent amount of weight."

…and Virginia implemented their own plan. But it's hard to overstate what state football players' bodies are in when they're playing, and the amount of weight work it takes to get to what qualifies as "in shape" for that level.

Heading into his mission, Gentry suggested having two years on the other freshmen was its own advantage, but admitted:

“I’ll probably lose a little bit of weight, but I’ll work on footwork and stuff, maybe do some different things.

I tend to think two years of doing the best you can with a small set of weights matters more than being the same age as Zak Zinter, and agree it will take some time to catch up.

Etc. Yes, That Columbine; the massacre happened two years before Gentry was born. Twenty more like it have occurred since, including two last month. If you have public policy suggestions for preventing this, or thoughts about public policy responses to this, I ask that you take it to Twitter.

Why Andrew Stueber? They all say it; I might as well. A verifiably huge dude that people were trying to tell us to make a guard because they only ever saw him crumpling the competition. Stueber debuted against Ohio State as a redshirt freshman and survived that and Florida, then mostly stuck at right tackle. Last year he was a more than effective tackle who did fine against the Penn State elites but met his match finally when Georgia's cascade of first rounders started flying around him. He measured out well at the combine, though nobody ever called him 6'8", and was taken at the tail end of the draft. You could also go with Jansen, who was a larger version of Stueber as a player and was ranked a bit higher than the Northeasterner, but if scouts had seen Stuebs in high school they might have thought differently. He was also a popular comp among the sites, which settled it.

Other comps: Blair Angulo chose Michael Schofield, which I do not agree with (Scho was a pass blocker first). Prister went with Quinn Carroll, but bigger and more athletic:

In terms of pad level, proactive approach, aggressiveness and desire for contact, Gentry is similar to Notre Dame mid-year freshman entry Quinn Carroll. But Gentry is a bigger, bulkier body without giving away anything athletically or quickness-wise.

He must have realized Fred Jackson is back.

Guru Reliability: Low. Well-scouted, but most of the scouting is 4 years old. They're talking about what Warinner likes in an OL because he was the new guy<----that's how old! After two years…who knows? They also didn't get to see him pass protect because his team just ran off his butt all day.

Variance: Kenneth Grant-ian. Gentry could be Taylor Lewan—remember we've never seen him pass protect—or he could struggle to get back into playing shape and give up after a couple of years.

Ceiling: Vast. Nobody could find a weakness, just a lot of things they couldn't scout against the competition, without him ever in pass sets, before a two-year Mormon mission.

General Excitement Level: High. I think it's going to work out.

Projection: Lock for a redshirt, and maybe give him another year on top of that. Just getting back to where he was out of high school is going to be a challenge, there's a whole, very important piece to his game that he admits he doesn't really know yet. Unwrap all that in two years and maybe Michigan stole a 5-star out of Zinter's class who could stick around until he's in his mid-20s. Gentry is an unexpectedly great addition to this class that needed another tackle prospect, and a great program fit in that they want to run what he's best at.