Rivals100 OT Tucker picks Stanford
Four-star offensive lineman Casey Tucker chose Stanford on Thursday night and, as has become customary, sent news of his decision out into the world via social media. A tweet went out and things were official.
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The end result wasn't surprising. Tucker, a member of the Rivals100 presented by Under-Armour, had narrowed his list to include only the Cardinal and Arizona State, but most figured the Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton standout was California bound.
His high school coach was a little more surprised that most, though. He thought that, all along, the race to land Tucker was closer than it was made to seem.
"I really thought it was a tossup between ASU and Stanford until now," said Hamilton head coach Steve Belles. "His dad went to ASU, and being close to home, I thought even ASU had a little edge. But I guess the Stanford education kind of won out. You can't go wrong there."
As for what the Cardinal are getting in Belles' star tackle, that's an easy question for the veteran coach to answer. Tucker's size and skill have never been in doubt -there's a reason he's ranked as the No. 74 high school player in his class.
"He's a kid who is just kind of relentless," Belles said. "He could have sat out the rest of this year with an ankle injury, but he fought to come back and play the last five games for us. He's just a hard-nosed kid. That's what people don't realize - he has extremely good work ethic.
"He's gonna be a great fit at Stanford. He'll do whatever it takes to play there."
Tucker, who committed to USC as a junior before breaking that pledge this offseason, is ranked as No. 5 high school tackle in America. He helped lead Hamilton to a state title as a junior and was part of a state runner-up team as a senior. He chose Stanford over more than 18 other scholarship offers.
Tucker was not available for immediate comment following his commitment announcement.
Rob Cassidy is a West Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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