Duke offers Tank Sugick: Film breakdown

Duke offered three-star defensive tackle Terion “Tank” Sugick earlier this week.

The 6-foot-2, 287-pounder from Fort Washington, Maryland’s National Christian Academy is ranked 568 in the class of 2021 and No. 35 at his position by 247Sports and No. 24 at defensive tackle by Rivals.

He has more than a dozen offers, including North Carolina, NC State, Florida, Boston College and Virginia.

Sugick is a powerful, nasty force in the middle of the defensive line. In the first clip from his highlight film from last season (below), he throws the offensive lineman blocking him to the ground, something he does two more times against hapless blockers in the mix tape.

Sugick is also stronger than the high-school linemen blocking him, consistently pushing them backward and controlling the battle, which allows him to shed blocks to tackle running backs.

He also never stops battling on a play, so even when blocked at the snap, he rarely stays blocked. Several of his highlight plays result from him simply wearing down his blocker before the play is over.

That perseverance is also serving him this year (below), when he’s seeing more double teams.

He also shows a shiftiness which allows him to slide, unblocked through the line to make tackles in the backfield. He also has some pass rushing moves. He uses a swim move in last year’s highlight film and a spin move to tackle a running back in this year’s highlights.

Sugick needs to improve his closing. There were several plays where he failed to bring down the ballcarrier on first contact or missed the initial tackle opportunity. Again, his ability to continue fighting until the whistle allows him to recover and still finish the play, but missed tackles will be something to improve at the next level.

Duke is pursuing Sugick and his teammate on the NCA defensive line, Monkell Goodwine. The Blue Devils have fewer blue bloods to beat for Sugick, but either or both would be a key addition to the Duke D.