Signee Breakdown: DL Tyre West

In this series, the Volunteer Country on Sports Illustrated staff share their full breakdown of each 2022 signee, complete with bio, former Tennessee player and current NFL player comparisons, and what the Tennessee coaches had to say about each respective signee. Please keep in mind the NFL player comparisons are just a fun look at the potential upsides of each player and are not meant to set unlofty expectations or indicate a career trajectory. 

Bio

Tyre West

Defensive Lineman

Tifton County HS (GA)

6’3 280lbs

Volunteer Country’s Take:

Everyone seemed to be waiting for that big recruiting day moment from Rodney Garner over the offseason, and it finally came the morning of the early signing period when Tyre West made a surprise commitment to Tennessee. Many had thought the longtime Georgia commit was headed to Florida State, but coach Garner showed yet again why he’s one of the best in the country by locking up this commitment. There’s a reason Tyre was ranked as a consensus top 150 player by every site in the country, and you can see that when you turn on the tape. West is light on his feet and does a great job of disrupting each play he’s in on. He’s not the tallest defensive lineman but uses that lower center of gravity to his advantage, shooting through gaps and being disruptive. Probably one of the best run stoppers in the class, but is very underrated as a pass rusher. He can play all across the defensive front, and should start out as a 5 tech for this Tennessee team.

What the Coaches Said:

Josh Heupel: "It was (Wednesday) morning that we got final word that he'd be with us as we move forward. So excited to have him inside of our program. Great young man that's battled through adversity throughout the course of his life. The people down there at Tifton High School have just been so fantastic in the recruiting process with him. A long, explosive, dynamic playmaker on the front line. Has the ability to play on the edge, can play inside with his frame. He's going to continue to mature and develop, but the explosiveness and first two steps and ability to bend is really rare and unique from him. A dynamic inside pass-rusher, something that we wanted to add in this class. His future's extremely bright. A young man that we really feel like has an opportunity, because of the early enrollee, to really change his body, continue to grow, get a ton of experience inside of our defensive philosophy and understand the verbiage and then be ready to go compete next fall. Excited about his future here. Really rare and unique that you have somebody at that level of football down there in South Georgia being able to play for four years. A great program historically that's turned out a lot of high-level players. He's got the opportunity, just because of his experience, to transition into the college game really quickly.

Current NFL Player Comparison: Marlon Davidson

Coach Garner may have got a sense of Deja Vu when watching Tyre West for the first time, because frame wise and skill wise he is very similar to a defensive end he coached at Auburn not too long ago. Davidson was always overshadowed during his Auburn career playing alongside Derrick Brown, arguably one of the best SEC defensive linemen ever. But during his time there he showed that he was a very good all around player who could do a lot of things despite not being the tallest man on the front. Tyre is similar in that regard, with the only difference being that in Tennessee’s defense there may be a need at some point for West to shift inside. Regardless of where he plays, Tyre West will be one of the better players in this class after he develops over the next couple of years.