Inside The Huskies

UW Gets in Line With Offer for Indiana Receiver Named Nitro

Elusive NiTareon Tuggle now has 30 schools bidding for him.

Dan Raley

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The play begins with a lob pass to the left flat and the waiting hands of NiTareon "Nitro" Tuggle. Then all the fun begins.

Hemmed in by multiple defenders and the sideline, the wide receiver from NorthWood High School in Nappanee, Indiana, breaks a tackle, gets spun around, seems to hop in the air and changes direction on a dime. 

Initially 25 yards from the end zone, the elusive 6-foot-3, 190-pound Tuggle probably runs twice that much as he completely traverses the field and goes into the end zone standing up.

That's Nitro, catch him if you can.

This week, University of Washington football recruiters joined the chase by offering a scholarship to this Midwest marvel, who now has 30 schools offering to pay his way through school and appears to deserve more than his current 3.-star rating.

For this guy named Nitro who played for an 11-1 NorthWood Panthers team, his junior year was, yes, really explosive.

He caught 40 passes for 792 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging 19.8 yards per reception.

He rushed 17 times for 185 yards and 2 scores, covering 15.4 yards per carry.

He scored twice more on kick returns and even threw a pair of touchdown passes.

Tuggle, not surprisingly, plays with a lot of confidence. On his Twitter account, he offered this post: "I can't fit in because I stand out."

Tuggle hails from a small Indiana town with a 7,000 population that's 28 miles southeast of South Bend and Notre Dame and 108 miles northeast of West Lafayette and Purdue. 

Considering the Indiana geography involved, there's a good chance Nitro was previously acquainted with UW receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, who came to Montlake straight from Purdue.

Either way, the Huskies face a lot of stern competition in trying to sign a Hoosier state pass-catcher who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and was named as a 4A All-State selection. His suitors also include Georgia, Florida, Miami, Wisconsin, Auburn, Michigan State, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue and countless others.

Yet consider the luck the UW coach Kalen DeBoer has had pulling key football pieces out of Indiana to support his program — quarterback Michael Penix Jr., tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan and Shephard come to mind — there's probably no reason the Huskies can't land the kid christened Nitro.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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