Merlin Robertson and Antonio Pierce

Merlin Robertson finished the 2018 season with stats and accolades spilling from his pockets. The Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, Robertson led Arizona State in tackles, tackles-for-loss and sacks in his first college season.

As impressive as he was, football was not always on Robertson's mind. He was distracted.

Physically, Robertson was always present with the Sun Devils — except for the Las Vegas Bowl, which he missed due to family issues. His mind, however, was often transported 400 miles away to the Los Angeles area where his two children lived at the time with their mother.

“When my kids weren’t here, I wouldn’t be all the way here,” Robertson said. “I always had them on the back of my mind. I was wondering if they were good, how they’re doing. I just wanted to be a father.”

ASU linebackers coach Antonio Pierce watched Robertson's successful but distracted campaign as though he was looking at a near-mirror image of his past self reflected from the football field. Pierce, like Robertson, was a young father at 18, with two children by the time he was 21. The diversions, the football, life, they were all similar between the player and his coach.

Like he would for any of his players, Pierce made it his goal to help Robertson's NFL dreams become a reality, something he thought was reasonable for the 6-foot-3 linebacker since he saw him for the first time as an eighth-grader. With Robertson, the connection was easier to make than with most players as the advice from the Sun Devils' linebacker coach was more applicable, as it came from another Southern California native who'd already walked in his footsteps.

“Like I told [Robertson] when I recruited him, there wasn’t much he could do, besides win Freshman Player of the Year in the Pac-12, that I hadn’t already done,” Pierce said. “I never won Freshman of the Year, but the life experiences we’ve been through, being a 17 or 18-year-old father and having two kids by the time I was 21.”

Robertson did, however, set himself apart from his mentor in the awards category after leading the Sun Devils in tackles (77), tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (5.0) as a true freshman. The accolades came in waves after the big season and are still building. He was named the team’s defensive MVP, the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, a Freshman All-American by three outlets including 247Sports and was named to the 2019 preseason watch lists for both the Bednarik Award and the Bronko Nagurski Award.

“Great instincts,” head coach Herm Edwards said last season. “Coaches cannot teach instincts. His ability to make plays, some unannounced plays that you can’t coach. He’s a smart guy too. He gets everyone to line up. That’s pretty impressive.”

As a sophomore, Robertson has shifted to the inside linebacker spot and also thinned out while adding strength to his 245-pound frame. He's able to be focused on football without distraction now that his children are with him in Tempe.

“I’m relaxed now, know what I mean,” Robertson said. “I’m just cool. I ain’t got nothin’ to worry about. I ain’t got no worries. I’m in the house with the kids, they’re right there with me and I have nothing to worry about. I see them, play with them and when I gotta go I gotta go.

“It’s just good to have the support system,” he later added.

While his kids wait for Robertson at home, Pierce pushes the linebacker to be his best self and to refine his football skills so that he can provide for them in the same way Pierce was able to as a nine-year NFL player, including a Pro Bowl in 2006.

“I’m so blessed to work with [Pierce],” Robertson said. “To have someone that knows and has been through what I’ve been through, just to help me out and give me guidelines, it’s just good, you know? It helps me out a lot because I’m pretty sure if he wasn’t here, and I didn’t have anyone to tell me and give me advice on what I’ve been going through, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done so far. It’s such a blessing.”

Pierce expects Robertson to be a leader. The “alpha dog,” as he calls it. Edwards expects the same.

Last season, before a Las Vegas Bowl practice, Edwards pulled aside four of his freshmen, including Robertson, to deliver an important message.

“He told us, before [the bowl] game, everything’s on us,” Robertson said. “Whenever everyone leaves, this defense is ours. We’ve got to step up and take control now and make sure everyone’s on point.”

But, Robertson prefers not to use the word leader. He just wants to be known “as a good teammate.”

“If one of my teammates needs my help then I’ll help them,” Robertson said. “That’s what it’s about for me.”

Pierce believes his reflection will step up into a top role on the defense for the second straight campaign. On top of simply building on last year’s performance, Robertson is expected to contribute to the Sun Devils’ 20-interception goal this season.

“Now, Merlin, what he gives you, he’s 6-foot-3," ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. "You don’t teach that. You don’t coach that. (Sophomore linebacker) Darien (Butler) is 5-foot-11, maybe 6-foot. There’s going to be some balls that go over his head that Merlin might intercept.”

There will be pressures that come with the season. Robertson said he knows that and is ready for them. But now that his children are with him, he believes he'll be strengthened by any adversity instead of distracted by it, especially because of what he has in Pierce. More than just a football coach, in Pierce, Robertson has a life coach.

“I look up to [Pierce] a lot," Robertson said. "All the linebackers, man, we all look up to [Pierce]. You know he takes care of us on and off the field. He knows what we’ve been through and he knows where we come from. We all kind of got the same background. He knows what environment we’ve been through and the surroundings. The steps he took he tells us and we know how to be successful in life because of it. Money-wise, family-wise and stuff like that. We all look up to him. He’s a great man. I love him. We all love him.”