Chris Perkins: Dolphins’ Brandon Pili has the right mindset for the opportunity he faces

MIAMI GARDENS — There are a lot of interesting things I could tell you about Dolphins defensive tackle Brandon Pili.

You probably already know that he’s 6 feet 3, 319 pounds, a second-year undrafted player from USC who hails from Alaska, and he grew up in Barrow, Alaska, America’s northernmost town, a town that’s north of the Arctic Circle. 

He got my attention in training camp when he talked about the joy he gets out of beating a double-team. 

As an old-school football guy, I love that mindset. I love that attitude. I love hearing an interior defensive lineman talk in that fashion.

Pili, who has played in all five games for the Dolphins this year but only has one tackle, is trying to emerge on a defensive front that badly needs someone to emerge. The Dolphins had plenty of options. They chose to believe in Pili.

“I’m grateful that they chose to rock with me,” he said.

They like his mindset, too.

When Pili tore his Achilles in college, doctors told him he might not have the same explosiveness. Pili, whose game thrives on athleticism and agility, doubted the doctors.

“It’s pretty special for a big dude to be moving like this,” he told himself. “I don’t think it can be lost so easily.”

Again, I love that mindset. 

But as far as interesting things about Pili, let’s see, you probably recall that last year Pili was infamously cut while the team was in Germany for the game against Kansas City. He opted to stay in Germany and fly home with the team rather than fly home alone on a crowded commercial flight.

And you probably know his sister, Alissa, the No. 8 pick in this year’s WNBA, is a reserve forward for the Minnesota Lynx, who are in the WNBA Finals against the New York Liberty.

So, let’s start here…

The first time Dolphins defensive tackle Brandon Pili met guard Liam Eichenberg, he punched him in the face.

That’s right. Punched him in the face.

It was the 2017 USC-Notre Dame game.

Pili was a third-team freshman at USC who, because of injuries to the starter and backup, was making his first career start.

Eichenberg was a sophomore reserve tackle at Notre Dame.

Eichenberg was playing on one of college football’s best offensive lines, alongside Indianapolis guard Quenton Nelson, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, and Denver tackle Mike McGlinchey.

“I think I shoved him late,” Eichenberg recalled about Pili, “and he punched me in the face.”

Eichenberg thought he recognized Pili last year in training camp. He asked him what his jersey number was at USC, and then told him, yeah, you’re the guy who punched me in the face.

Pili, one of many Dolphins players who often has a smile on his face and has an overall upbeat demeanor, brushes it off to the rivalry.

He doesn’t regard the incident as a big deal.

I think it’s hilarious.

It’s one of the humorous anecdotes I love to pass along from this locker room.

It’s one of the human stories wrapped inside a football story.

And it’s one of the many times the human story is better than the football story.

Here’s the football story:

Pili, who plays interior defensive line behind starters Zach Sieler and Calais Campbell, and alongside reserves Da’Shawn Hand and Benito Jones, has shown improvement this year.

The Dolphins, who have allowed every opponent at least 100 yards rushing, need to see more improvement from Pili.

Quickly.

The run defense needs immediate help.

We’ll see what happens after the bye week. 

The Dolphins, who are on a bye this week, are at Indianapolis next week.

Pili, who has only played 36 snaps (12.5%) this season, posted a season-low two snaps last week against New England. That was one game after a season-high 11 snaps against Tennessee.

Eichenberg, who often faces Pili in practice, said Pili got stronger and quicker in the offseason. He said Pili understands the playbook a lot better.

“I think if you guys ask Zach,” Eichenberg said about Sieler, “he’ll tell you that he’s a completely different player this year and he’s playing with a fire in him.”

I had, in fact, asked Sieler about Pili, and that’s basically what he said.

Defensive line coach Austin Clark said the same thing.

Again, we’ll see what happens after the bye week.

As far as Pili’s human story, this is a guy who, technically, grew up in a town formerly known as Barrow, Alaska. It’s now known as Utqiagvik, Alaska. It has roughly 4,000 residents.

Pili used to go salmon fishing at a nearby beach in about five feet of water with huge nets. Fishing from a boat was a fairly new experience for him during the summer at a Dolphins charity fishing tournament.

Pili started playing football in third grade.

“I was knocking kids back on their butts,” he said with pride. “I just loved being physical.”

His father, Billy, was his coach.

He emphasized to Brandon the physical side of the game.

“He definitely inspired me a lot,” Brandon said.

The season in Alaska started around July, when it’d be about 50 degrees.

He moved to Anchorage and eventually to Portland for his senior year of high school. He ended up getting about 25 Division I offers.

He chose USC.

“They were No. 1,” he said. “The Polynesian pipeline, you know, Junior Seau, Troy Polamalu, the great Polynesians of this game usually were from SC.”

Pili also met Clark at USC.

Clark was a young graduate assistant coach.

When Pili was trying to decide which NFL training camp to attend after being undrafted, his familiarity with Clark, and the fact he’d trained at Bommarito Performance Systems in Davie, helped him settle on the Dolphins.

Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson has known Pili since their days together at USC. They met on their recruiting trip. They were college teammates.

Jackson has seen Pili’s improvement on the field.

But the most interesting thing Jackson tells me about Pili is that Pili never beat him in 1-on-1 basketball.

Jackson said Pili has a nice game. But Jackson smiles and says he doubts that Pili can beat his sister, Alissa, the Minnesota Lynx player, in 1-on-1. That’s a humorous bit of shade.

Pili’s not worried about that right now.

He’s got to get his attitude and mindset focused on figuring out how to beat double-teams next week against Indianapolis.