Highlights: What Nitro Tuggle Brings to Georgia
Bryan McClendon's return to Georgia as the receiver's coach meant a few things for the Bulldogs. It meant the return of a Georgia man, McClendon is a guy that not only played a Georgia before his NFL career, but this is his second stint at his alma mater as a football coach. Though it also meant the return of the big-bodied receiver, and elite ones at that.
McClendon's history shows you his preference. AJ Greene, Malcolm Mitchell, Chis Conley, and Mohamed Massaqoui, are all names of players that had success under McClendon's tutelage at Georgia, and all of them share something in common. They are all 6'2 or taller.
McClendon's preference showed up in his first signing class with the addition of 6'3 Tyler Williams out of Lakeland, Florida and now, he's landed the commitment from current three-star Nitro Tuggle out of Indiana... a three-star that won't be one very much longer.
WR, Nitro Tuggle
The tape shows a star in the making.
WATCH: Nitro Tuggle's Highlights
Frame: At 6'3, nearly 200 pounds, Tuggle has tremendous length and range as a prospect. There's little to no required added weight to the frame here either.
Athleticism: This size receiver doesn't typically have the twitch and speed required to have such yards after the catch ability. Tuggle routinely takes screen passes the distance with the required twitch and short area burst required to do so, which is not something that is common for a man his length.
Instincts: His spatial awareness and body control are off the charts for someone his age. Multiple times on tape you can see him possess the body control to pirouette in flight to alter his body for the catch while simultaneously possessing the spatial awareness to drag his toes in bounds or place himself between the ball and the defender. He's a natural playmaker when the ball is in the air.
Polish: There's certainly not a lot of play design in the offense that Tuggle's running, he's not exactly being put through a west coast system of route tree concepts so there will be some refinement needed in the route running department. There's also a tendency to let the ball inward on his body as opposed to attacking the ball with his hands.
Bottom Line: A "What is the industry missing" type of evaluation for me. This is a 6'3, 200-pound kid that runs in the 4.4 range and has tremendous body control. It's a no-brainer type of greenlight for a football program in Georgia that despite having won two consecutive national titles, hasn't had a true No. 1 receiver. Tuggle is currently ranked 457th in his class on the 247 composite... he won't be much longer.
