Class Impact: CB Chance Tucker To Notre Dame
Notre Dame has added to its secondary class by landing Encino (Calif.) Crespi cornerback Chance Tucker. The talented 6-1, 170-pound cornerback joins a class that already contained two other talented cornerbacks, Philip Riley and Ryan Barnes.
Notre Dame beat out Washington and Jimmy Lake to land Tucker, which is quite the accomplishment when you consider how consistently Lake and the Huskies have defeated the Irish for West Coast defensive backs in recent seasons.
Tucker also had offers from Washington State, Northwestern, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon State, BYU and Boise State. An outstanding student, Tucker also earned offers from Columbia, Princeton, Penn, Dartmouth and Cornell.
Let’s take a look at what the commitment of Tucker means for Notre Dame.
CLASS IMPACT
Notre Dame didn’t necessarily have a need for numbers in this class, but with Tucker committing the class now has excellent numbers. Notre Dame landed three cornerbacks in the 2020 class and two more in the 2019 class. Those classes helped Notre Dame recover from the 2017 and 2018 classes, which now have just one corner left on the roster.
What the 2021 class does is add more impact talent. Barnes and Riley both graded out as four-star recruits on my board. Tucker isn’t quite at that level, but his ceiling is high and he has a lot of ability and potential. Notre Dame’s future cornerback depth chart looks much, much better with this trio now in the fold.
The three 2021 cornerbacks grade out much, much higher than the 2020 corners, especially once they lost Landen Bartleson.
The depth boost boost that comes with adding Tucker means Notre Dame is now working from a position of strength at cornerback from a numbers standpoint. That means should injuries or issues arise at safety the staff could move a cornerback over and still be in great shape numbers wise at safety.
That doesn’t mean I’m projecting Tucker to safety, but rather having him, Riley and Barnes means whoever would be the ideal safety fit could move and not hurt the cornerback numbers. I do, however, believe Tucker possesses enough versatility as a player from both a size and skill standpoint to move should the opportunity arise.
NOTRE DAME FIT
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea has always valued length, and if you look at the cornerbacks who have thrived under position coach Mike Mickens at both Bowling Green and Cincinnati, you’ll see he values it as well. Tucker is listed at 6-1 and he looks long on film, and that size is certainly something the Irish staff values.
Tucker plays a lot of press and man coverage for Crespi, and he uses his length to shine at the line. His footwork needs improvement and enhancement, but his length and strong hands allow him to consistently get a good jam. Once his footwork improves he should be able to translate his length and experience in press into college success in coverage.
At times Tucker’s transitions are on the slow side because he’ll lunge a bit too much or he gets a bit too flat footed when he jams. Both are correctable technical skills and can be improved. Once he gets cleaner with his transitions he’ll be far more productive when he opens and runs.
Tucker isn’t just incredibly smart in the classroom, he’s also an intelligent football player. He shows top-notch route recognition, he reads the movement of receivers extremely well and he plays the ball incredibly well. You can see it on film, he’ll be running vertically in coverage and break up a pass despite never looking back at the ball. He’s able to make those plays because he has his eyes locked in on receivers, and he reads their eyes and hands, and when they play the ball he plays the ball.
The Crespi standout is quite advanced with this part of his game.
Tucker is a quality tackler and is more than willing to throw his 170-pound body into the mix. He will wrap up effectively but also can explode his hips through contact. These traits combine with his length and instincts to project quite well to the field position for the Irish. But his physicality and ability at the line also projects him as a possible boundary player.
Even though he is mostly a press player in high school, his combination of length, football IQ and tackling ability should allow him to thrive playing off coverage as well.
My knock on Tucker is speed, and that is what keeps him from being a four-star prospect. His track times are solid, but I don’t see ideal speed on film. He has other traits (size, length, instincts, intelligence, toughness) to still be a quality player even if he never adds the necessary speed to dominate, but the speed keeps him from receiving a higher grade as a prep player.
What makes this an important pickup, however, is that if his speed catches up to the rest of his skills his game will explode and he will far, far outplay his three-star ranking.
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