There's a solid chance you never heard of Ethan Tucky prior to this weekend. But when he committed to Boston College on Sunday, regardless of your opinion, regardless of your thoughts, he became something of an example for the foundation of the Steve Addazio construction project that began when The Head Dude took over after the 2-10 campaign in 2012.
In all fairness, Tucky may not pan out the way we're hoping. There's no guarantees anywhere, and there's certainly no guarantee that the kid could turn into the next Luke Kuechly or Mark Herzlich. A four-star recruit, he projects to be an immediate impact, the type of recruit who makes his presence known on day one.
His recruiting profile describes a "relentless motor." He has incredible length at 6'2", 215 pounds, and he has the potential to add more strength and speed to that size. He's a solid tackler, capable of closing on ball carriers from any angle. While not quick immediately off the ball, he has an incredible next gear, and his effort on every play echoes the names of the past. He has the potential, right off the bat, to be an impact player from the beginning with room for improvement in areas BC excels at extending. He's the type of guy who can be the Next One in a long line of incredible linebackers we've seen pass through The Heights.
All of that exists in the abstract, however. Whether or not he turns into that is a totally different story. We may look back and think about how he was a case of a guy who had great tools but never really turned into what we thought he could be. But that's for 2020 or 2021, not for 2015.
Think about the situation in 2012. Frank Spaziani lost Akeel Lynch to Penn State and Donovan Henry to Northeastern's track team. He lost Maurice Hurst, Jr. to Michigan, after which Hurst, the son of a former New England Patriots player, said, "All of us are from this area and none of us are going to BC."
Think about the recruiting classes in the immediate aftermath of Spaz. The 2013 class had under 20 recruits, none of which were four-star prospects. They found some diamonds in the rough, guys like Kevin Kavalec and Tyler Rouse or Myles Willis, but they weren't in the running for any of the big name recruits.
Think about Steve Addazio's been able to do with that situation. Now think about the guys Addazio's already brought in. He's recruited four-star recruits like Jonathan Hilliman, Harold Landry, and Connor Strachan. Think about their immediate impacts. Now think about the fact that these guys had that impact with only one year of raw talent under their helmets.
We talk more than enough about how the recruiting of three or four star athletes can be deceiving. We talk about how a three-star athlete becomes a four-star athlete almost immediately after committing to a particular program. We talk about how a three-star athlete is never considered for a fourth star (see also: Brown, Anthony) regardless of what his performance states. Every now and then, however, there's a recruiting coup where a universally-recognized athlete is worthy of his four-star rating and has the potential, with the right refinement, to live up to his billing. We saw that with Hilliman last year, and now, we may be able to see it with Tucky.
This is the second time Steve Addazio's outfoxed Wisconsin for an athlete. He's developed a strategy where he's fenced off New England in order to get the best local talent. He's further enhanced pipelines into his regions in Florida and New Jersey. He's extended his reach into the fertile proving grounds of Texas, where good recruits are lost in the shuffle of higher-profile names. That he's now running with Wisconsin and competing against Penn State is a long way from losing kids to Northeastern track and field. It's made BC a player in the Mid-Atlantic and the Steel Belt, areas where it used to just kind of hang out with the MACs of the world.
Getting that big time style recruit doesn't get BC over the eight-win hump or into the ACC Championship Game. It might not mean anything towards the kid's future, his chances at hardware, or an NFL draft choice. Instead, it reinvigorates the trust in Addazio, his coaches, and their strategy. And that's something that has always and will always feel pretty darn good, getting us excited for the next step of Boston College football.