Jalen Carter. Jordan Davis. Travon Walker. Julian Rochester. Tyre West.
That last name might be unfamiliar to Georgia fans at this time, but it won’t be for long. The 4-star Down South Georgia boy from Tifton made his college decision on Wednesday.
He chose to be a Georgia Bulldog. West’s name now belongs in that grouping of names that rank among the most impressive interior defensive line prospects who have committed to play for Kirby Smart at Georgia.
This was no fickle choice as he has long been planning to do it on this day. He chose this day to celebrate and honor his mother Savina Bathell with his commitment.
“My mom has meant everything to me,” he said earlier this year. “She took care of me and us through thick and then. My Mom is really my rock. My Mom and my Dad.”
Recruits just know sometimes. He did here.
“It feels like I am ready to just go home and have a place that I can call home,” he said back in late October.
What was he looking for in a school?
“Somewhere that I feel like I am at home,” West said at that time. “Somewhere that I feel like I belong. I can go change, change everything in my life, and grow up as a man.”
He said that Georgia, Auburn, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Florida make him feel that way.
“Georgia is really who hooks me up the most with all of that,” he added.
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound junior ranks as the nation’s No. 4 DT and No. 43 overall recruit or the 2022 cycle on the 247Sports Composite rankings.
That 2020 junior stat line looked like this: 31 solo tackles, 17 assists, 16 QB hurries, 12.5 sacks, 8 TFL and two forced fumbles.
The B-student is already massively strong. He said earlier this season that his power clean was already right at the 350 or 360-pound mark.
His full junior year tape is not yet available, but check out this play where he hot-knifed-through-buttered a very good state championship contending Crisp County offensive line at the beginning of his junior year.
Why was Georgia the move for Tyre West?
The three-year starter in Georgia’s largest high school classification will fit the classic archetype of a South Georgia recruit: Determined. Humble. Physical. Tough.
He’s also very straight to the point. When DawgNation visited with him in late October, he was feeling a certain type of way about the Bulldogs.
That was largely due to defensive line coach Tray Scott. West said Scott told him that current Georgia senior DE Malik Herring was a good player parallel for his skill set.
Herring, who rated as a DE, was the nation’s No. 154 overall prospect out of Mary Persons in 2017.
“It is like when I talk to coach Scott I am hype,” West said. “Every time I talk to him. He makes me excited like to one day play for Georgia or be on one of his defensive lines or to be coached by him.”
What’s the best thing West likes about UGA?
“The big thing for me is like the program,” West said. “I just like that program. That program is going to get you set for college and then after college.”
He also shared a firm belief back in late October that he would be ready to make his commitment in December. And here we are today. There has always been a high degree of simplicity and honesty to his recruitment. That is not the norm these days.
West has never been one to seek attention or to keep rival fan bases frothing at the mouth.
“He’s as humble of a kid as we have,” Tift County coach Ashley Anders said.
West moves Georgia to the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class for the 2022 cycle (247Sports Team Composite rankings) with his decision. The four Bulldog commits are all homegrown Peach State prospects. They all rank among the nation’s top 125 overall recruits.
He’s now the second-highest-rated recruit for UGA in the 2022 class. Deyon Bouie, the 5-star ATH, still ranks as the top UGA commit. West joined Bouie and several other key Georgia commits or 2022 targets on at least one trip up to Athens for an independent visit this season.
Georgia now only trails Ohio State (nine commits), LSU (seven commits) and Penn State (seven commits), respectively, in the 2022 class rankings. The Buckeyes have six pledges who rank among the nation’s top 125 recruits. LSU also has four that meet that criteria.
Check out what West did earlier this year against Perry.
The good stuff about Tyre West
There’s a script of letters inscribed around his wrist. It reads like this: We > Me
“It is like I will always think of my team before I think of myself,” Tyre West said. “It is just there so I can look at it every day.”
Anders shared another gem of a story regarding Tifton’s prized “5” tech. When listening to him and every who knows him well, these three words sum up a likely college “3” technique best.
Strong. Fast. Dangerous.
Kirby Smart’s first interaction with this young man also likely surpassed his wildest expectations, too.
“Coach Smart asked Tyre what his favorite thing about playing defensive end was,” Anders said.
“Squeeze and spilling,” West replied.
That’s where the edge defender squeezes the gap by diving inside of a kick-out block on a power run play. They screw up blocking assignments through gap exchange and force the ball to the outside where a now-unblocked defender can make the play. Jimmy Johnson’s defenses made that technique famous.
According to the story, Smart kind of looked at West funny when he said that.
“Coach Smart said that you know I don’t think I’ve ever had a defensive end answer the question like that,” Anders said. “He said that most of them will say pass rush, sacking the quarterback and things like that. But Tyree knows that our defense is designed around doing that. He’s very selfless.”
His highlight films do show a little bit more there, though.
“With him, a lot of times he will spill the ball and then make the tackle, though.”
The scouting report on Tyre West
Anders, his head coach, knows what a college player already looks like in high school. He was the defensive coordinator for multiple years at Georgia Southern, Murray State and Valdosta State.
There’s a certain edge that South Georgia guys with the major SEC offers seem to play with. West has that. He is an engine for his team.
Make sure to catch that play on his sophomore tape where he hawks a 150-pound receiver down some 20 yards down the field. He did what he was coached to do on a bubble pass. Then the effort took over.
It was not by accident.
“Tyre is a go-getter,” Anders said. “He’s one of those guys that you can say has had all these accolades He’s young. People might get the misconception that he’s a prima donna or something like that. All I can say is come watch him practice. The speed that he practices at is just like a game. We’ll be practicing and I will look up and see him chasing the ball 30 yards downfield on a pass play.”
“We always live by the old Chinese proverb around here. As you practice, you will play. He always practices the way he will play.”
How does he play? Anders came up with a fitting visual.
“A lot of times with your defensive player’s as coaches you wind up comparing the athleticism of your great defensive players to an animal,” Anders said. “Tyre would be a rhino.”
The sophomore highlight film embedded below for West has a lot of those “Rhino” plays, too.
(the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
