A Diamond in the Rough

When judging how talented a player is...well, sometimes 'Stars' or 'Rankings' don't mean anything. When you watch Linebacker Nate Irving on Saturdays, you know that you are watching a young man who will get paid to do what he does best on Sundays. You know that you are witnessing something unique, when his name continually comes out of the PA system like a broken record. In all reality, you feel like you are watching the best player on the field. You begin to wonder...wasn't this guy a 3 Star recruit according to Scout and a 2 Star recruit according to Rivals. Yes he was, and yes, you can laugh now.

Let's jump into an area of Nate's career that we might not be all that familiar with. Nate played his high school ball at Wallac-Rose Hill High School, in Teachey, North Carolina. In his Senior campaign, his squad never tasted defeat, going 10-0 on the year. He managed to accumulate 110 tackles, 6 forced fumbles, 3 sacks and 1 interception. After watching Nate last year make 4 interceptions, a couple of them being worthy of SportsCenter, you began to wonder how a young man with hand like that ended up on the defensive side of the ball. Well, maybe it is Irving's Tight End instincts coming back to him from his glory days back on the high school field on Friday nights. You see, Nate played Tight End in high school when he wasn't playing linebacker, reeling in 12 all-purpose TD's his Senior season. Nate was dubbed with All-Conference honors that year and also competed in the annual Shrine Bowl between North and South Carolina.

Even in High School Nate screamed 'athletic freak.' He stood 6'1 and weighed in at 217 pounds. He also greased a 4.4 40 time and threw up 185 pounds on the bench press 24 times.

Nate's stats so far in college really don't do justice for what he does on the field. After redshirting his first year, Nate came on and played in limited action his Freshmen season. But it was nearly impossible for Coach O'Brien to keep him off the field. By the end of his Freshmen year, he had woven his way into the starting lineup, starting 4 out of the last 5 games (The game he didn't start he missed due to sickness). It's hard for a coaching staff not to notice a Freshmen make 5 tackles for loss in the final five games of the season.

Injuries plagued Nate last season, his first season claiming the starting role outright. He missed three games due to injury and didn't play at full strength or complete games in numerous others. With that being said Nate still managed to rack up 80 tackles on the year (4 games of double-digit tackles) and 4 interceptions. Judging from this past weekends Spring Red/White game, it looks like Nate is primed for action. He led the first team defense with 5 tackles. While his performance earned him All-ACC Honorable Mention last season, if healthy in 2009, 1st Team All-ACC only seems logical. I'm hard pressed to remember a linebacker that has the instincts, athleticism and passion that he has. When I look back upon all the great linebackers that have ever played the game...I think the #56 is the perfect number for Nate Irving.