2025 USC Football Roster
Roster
Eric Gentry
- Position:
- Linebacker
- Height:
- 6-6
- Weight:
- 225
- Class:
- Redshirt Senior
- Hometown:
- Philadelphia, Pa.
- High School:
- Saints Neumann Goretti HS / Arizona State
CAREER: In his four-year career (1 season at Arizona State and 3 seasons at USC), he has 195 tackles, including 19.5 for loss (with 6 sacks), 10 PBUs, 3 QB hurries, 3 forced fumbles, 2 INTs and 1 blocked kick while appearing in 39 games with 17 starts.
2025: Gentry, with his unique frame as a 6-6 inside linebacker, returns to compete in his final season in 2025. He is a candidate for the 2025 Butkus Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy.
2024: Gentry saw action in 5 games (LSU, Utah State, Michigan, Wisconsin and the Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M) and recorded 2 starts (Utah State and Michigan) at linebacker as a senior in 2024. He tallied 33 tackles, including 6.5 for loss of 17 yards (with 2 sacks for minus 11 yards). He also had 1 PBU and 1 fumble recovery. He was sidelined after the first 4 games of the season games due to injury, but was able to redshirt. He returned to play in the Las Vegas Bowl at the end of the season.
He had 7 tackles, including 2 for loss of 2 yards, against LSU. He also tallied 7 tackles, including 1.5 for loss of 7 yards (with a sack for minus 5 yards) against Utah State. Gentry recorded 12 tackles, including 3 for loss of 8 yards (with 1 sack for minus 6 yards), as well as a fumble recovery versus Michigan. He had 4 tackles against Wisconsin. Gentry recorded 3 tackles in the Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M.
2023: Gentry saw action in 11 games (all but Nevada and Oregon) and made 3 starts. He recorded 46 tackles, including 4 for loss of 16 yards (with 1 sack), 5 PBUs, 1 INT, 1 forced fumble and 1 blocked kick.
He collected 2 tackles against San Jose State. He racked up 2 tackles versus Stanford, including 1 for loss of 1 yard, and 1 PBU. He tallied 9 tackles, including 1 for loss of 4 yards against Arizona State. He blocked a kick against Colorado. Gentry had 5 tackles versus Arizona and 2 against Utah. He decorated his stat sheet with 7 tackles, including 1 for loss of 4 yards, 3 PBUs 1 forced fumble and 1 INT against California. He collected 8 tackles, including 1 for loss of 7 yards (with 1 sack for minus 7 yards) and 1 PBU against Washington. He recorded 5 tackles against UCLA and had 6 tackles in the Holiday Bowl versus Louisville.
2022: Gentry contributed heavily to USC’s defense in his first year with the Trojans playing in 11 games (all but Arizona, California and Colorado) and making 9 starts. He racked up 71 tackles (third on the team), including 4 for loss of 19 yards, (with 2 sacks for loss of 15 yards). He also had 3 QB hurries, 2 forced fumbles, 3 pass breakups and 1 INT.
He racked up 7 tackles, including 0.5 for loss (with 0.5 sacks) against Rice. He accumulated 10 tackles at Stanford. He had 7 tackles, 1 QB hurry and 1 pass breakup against Fresno State. He tallied 8 tackles, including 0.5 for loss, 1 INT, 1 QB hurry and 1 pass breakup at Oregon State. He had 6 tackles, including 1.5 for loss (with 0.5 sack) against Arizona State and had 5 tackles with 1 QB hurry against Washington State. He recorded 9 tackles and 1 forced fumble at Utah. He had 9 tackles and 1 forced fumble against Notre Dame. He tallied 8 tackles, including 1.5 for loss (with 1 sack) in the Pac-12 Championship against Utah. He had 2 tackles and 1 pass breakup in the Cotton Bowl against Tulane.
ARIZONA STATE: He was a 2021 consensus Freshman All-American first teamer (Football Writers, ESPN.com, Maxwell Football Club, Pro Football Focus, 24/7Sports.com. Pro Football Network) as a first-year freshman outside linebacker at Arizona State. Overall, in 2021, he had 45 tackles (sixth on the team), including 5 for losses of 18 yards (with a 12-yard sack), and 2 deflections while appearing in 12 games (and starting the final 3 games, versus Oregon State, Arizona and Wisconsin in the Las Vegas Bowl). He had 5 tackles versus UCLA and Arizona (with a sack), 4 tackles at Oregon State, 3 tackles against Colorado and Washington State, 2 tackles versus Wisconsin and 1 stop against Southern Utah, BYU, Stanford and Utah. He enrolled at Arizona State in January of 2021 after graduating a semester early from high school.
HIGH SCHOOL: He played linebacker and defensive end at Saints Neumann Goretti High in Philadelphia (Penn.). He did not play his senior season, which was held in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, instead graduating a semester early to enroll at Arizona State.
As a 2019 junior, he had 15 sacks, 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries on defense and 2 TD catches as a tight end on offense.
He also played basketball at Saints Neumann Goretti as a 2019 sophomore.
PERSONAL: He is majoring in American Popular Culture at USC.
