Prospect Watch – Tyler King
For our next edition of Prospect Watch, we head up to the north hills for a young gun from Pine Richland. Tyler King is a sophomore Inside Linebacker and fullback for the Rams. Don’t let his youth fool you, he is already a pretty big time prospect.
Plenty of coaches have already had him on campus, or have at least been to Pine-Richland Stadium. Aside from Pitt, King is already being recruited by Penn State, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame. But since it’s early in the recruiting process, he is open to whoever else is interested.
There will be a lot of coaches interested.
If I had to best describe King as a player, I’d want to call him a field general. The thing is, when you hear a player dubbed as a “field general” or a “game manager” usually its given to someone who may not be the most talented, but grinds out games and ultimately gets the team a win.
King is so much more than that. He is very young and already has so much control over a stout Pine Richland defense, which has allowed the least points in all of 6A (Pennsylvania’s highest classification) through 8 games. King has the special gift of being able to read the offense and react accordingly. Watching the film, his vision allows his physicality to really show, as he flies to attack ball carriers all over the field.
Tyler loves being right in the middle of all the plays. He is always tracking down receivers, and stuffing backs at the line of scrimmage. When asked why he loves being an inside linebacker, “I’m the leader of the defense and can make game-changing plays from [the] position. Also, it allows me to be all over the field and most of the time right in the action.”
That attitude is one that Pitt wants on their team.
Pitt has a tradition of bringing some of the best talent around the WPIAL to Heinz Field. Sadly it seems that every year a big time recruit chooses to leave as well. It makes a player seem more special when a big reason they want to play for Pitt, is because they want to represent their hometown. King is one of those rare studs that wants to show out for his city, “Pitt is one of my top schools because it is my hometown and who wouldn’t want to be a hometown hero?” he would go on to add, “The environment and fan base are awesome”
Keeping recruits at home is very important if you want to have success. The WPIAL is rich with talent but the Panthers can’t always keep them here. Coach Narduzzi has been quoted as saying that he thinks its important he keeps the best players here. Well coach, I present a guy you don’t want to miss: Tyler King. He has the size (6’1 220 as a sophomore), the speed (around a 4.8 forty yard dash), and the playmaking ability (1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 5.5 tackles for loss, and a 6A Section 1 leading 64 tackles) to play for the Panthers on Saturday.
On one Saturday in early September, King made an unofficial visit to Heinz Field to watch Pitt take on Villanova, and see James Conner’s return to the football field. To watch what Conner went through, and still come back and run people over, had to have stuck with King. I say this because King himself is running over people on offense too. Even though defense will be his calling, take a look at this clip of him delivering an absolutely crushing pancake block:
http://www.hudl.com/video/3/5153644/580964645caa591fa0e42d6d – Ouch
Tyler’s work ethic is a big reason he has achieved this level of early success. From his freshman to his sophomore year, King has gained 25 pounds of muscle. King’s offseason dedication and help from Outer Limits Sports, has made him a physical specimen that opposing players fear.
His inspiration to put in all that hard work comes from two sources: his family, and his favorite football player.
King’s grandmother has overcome cancer and a stroke, and still holds “a positive attitude about life”. That kind of personal battle could easily break you down, and make you want to quit. But not this granny. She pushed through and is a continuing source of inspiration for Tyler. Truly an awesome story, and a big reason why she is King’s role model.
Then there’s his gridiron role model. I mentioned in a prior article about how great Luke Kuechly is, and why he should be what every young linebacker strives to be. Well King knew that before I had to say it. A linebacker himself, King can appreciate just how hard it is to do what Kuechly does. That’s why King watches his film, and models his techniques off of what he sees the All-Pro do. Impersonation is the greatest form of flattery, and you can see glimpses of what he’s taken from Kuechly and made his own.
Pine Richland has had a lot of success in recent years, and that is mostly contributed to strong quarterback play. Ben DiNucci led Pine Richland to a WPIAL title as well as a State Title game. Phil Jurkovec is a Notre Dame recruit, and just last year had Pine Richland in contention for another WPIAL crown. Something that doesn’t get enough credit was the amazing defensive talent they had in the past three seasons. On last years team, Tyler King started 5 games, including 3 playoff games as a FRESHMAN. Goes to show you how much faith Coach Kasperowicz – a former Pitt football player – has in the young linebacker.
King was blessed with a great mind for football, and a body to put the brain to use. He had a chance to put that on display to the world when he and the Pine Richland Rams played St. Edward’s of Ohio on ESPN. King told me, “Even though we lost, it was crazy to see myself on national TV, and it motivates me to grind even harder so I can hopefully be on ESPN again in the future at the college level.”
Hopefully the next time we see Tyler King on national TV, he will be in a Panther uniform.
Check out Tyler’s Hudl film here:
