Getting to Know our New Recruits: LB Tyler Stargel

Prior stories in this series: ATH (QB) Dennis Andrews, ATH (QB) Justin Thomas, WR Michael Summers,ATH (RB) Marcus Allen, DE Francis Kallon, WR Travin Henry, DT Adam Gotsis, LB Beau Hankins, DT Pat Gamble, and DB Anthony Autry. Also, we've updated the sidebar with all of this class's commitments listed. Check it out!

via blogs.ajc.com

10 down, 7 to go. For the next guy we're going to profile, I'd like to introduce you to a kid that I'm excited about for his attitude just as much as I am for his skills, but who has quite a bit of potential for us at linebacker. Meet LB Tyler Stargel from Gulf Shores, AL. He stands 6'3", and weighs in at 250lb, giving him the exact size we're looking for from an inside linebacker. He committed back in June, and has been really excited about coming to the Flats ever since. He's been approached by a number of schools since the end of Bowl Season, and after being committed to Tech for 6 months, he pretty much just gave those other teams the finger. Not only that, but word had it that he was working on doing a little recruiting for some players we were targeting as a senior as well. He's in the second semester of his senior year (a typical time for a HS senior to nearly stop breathing, out of complete and total laziness), and is currently waking up at 5am every morning to work out and prepare himself for the morning workouts when he comes to Tech. Seriously, as much as we like to moan and complain about how we get guys who are lazy or who have Tech as their second or third choice, this kid is the antithesis of that. He's an incredibly driven young man with a great head on his shoulders who could not be more thrilled to be putting on White and Gold in the fall. But wait! There's more!

Since we recruited him to play football, I figured I'd say something about how good he is at that, too. The only problem with these summer commitments is that they don't need to make film of their senior year, so I had to judge his skillset from his junior film (basically, we should just stop taking June commitments altogether). Anyways, he seemed to spend time playing inside linebacker and defensive end in high school. He has good strength, especially in his arms; there were a number of times when he'd grab a ballcarrier with one arm (Kallon-style) and drag them down. His speed doesn't seem like anything to write home about, but this kid plays HARD, never quitting on a play until it's over, to the point where he'll run down a guy who has better speed but gets held up a little in traffic. I was really impressed also with his fundamentals. We have one or two guys on our defense who have this nasty habit of attempting to tackle by driving their shoulder into a guy (*cough* Isaiah Johnson *cough*). Stargel was awfully refreshing in how fundamental he is about tackling: he squares up to the ballcarrier, wraps up, and drives his legs until the guy's on the ground, just how they taught it from the beginning (I assume, I was never really an actual football player).

I want to make this clear. I don't think this kid quite jumps off the page as an all-star recruit, but I think that there's a lot to be excited about with him. He's a solid linebacker prospect who does a lot of things well on the field, as well as a guy who looks like one that will add an awful lot to the locker room chemistry. I'm excited for this kid to come to Tech, and am really interested to see just what he'll bring to our team. Welcome to Tech, Tyler!

Tyler Stargel 2010 Full Season Highlights #45 (via tdstargel)