This Sentell’s Intel rep has the latest with 4-star WR signee Nitro Tuggle. “Showtime” ranks as the nation’s No. 17 WR and the No. 84 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the nation’s No. 19 WR and the No. 90 overall recruit.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - The All-American receiver that Georgia football signed last month was once known as NiTareon Tuggle.
That was until he reached high school and started flashing his 4.4 speed speed on explosive plays. Then his mother and uncle put their thinking caps on in his freshman year of high school.
They got clever with a brand that should be linked with Tuggle throughout his career.
Goodbye, NiTareon. Hello “Nitro.”
“They had come up with it,” Nitro Tuggle told DawgNation out in Texas. “It is really in the name. They had come up with it. I didn’t really like it at first, but I stuck with it.”
When everyone started calling him “Nitro” after big plays, it stuck. He has a message for Georgia football fans as he starts school this week.
“I’m going to come in and do my part,” he said. “I am going to come in and work. That’s what I do. I am a workhorse and I’m going to do what I can to get on the field so that’s really it and ‘Go ‘Dawgs’ and that’s it.”
What’s his favorite part about being a ‘Dawg?
“That’s just a winning team,” he said. “That’s my favorite part. That’s just a winning team. A winning program. When people say ‘Oh you are committed to Georgia” they get scared a little bit. I can see it. It is just great being a Bulldog.”
He has a few goals in mind for his freshman year.
“My goal is just to get on the field and make the best impact I can,” he said. “Just do what I can to help my teammates out and help myself out. That’s just my plan. Just do what I can and control what I can control.”
Tuggle comes across as a quiet yet confident athlete and didn’t flash an outgoing “star” personal during All-American week. Part of that might have to do with the fact he couldn’t practice every day and was limited by a few small things, including an issue with his hip.
He was proud to be there with the nation’s top talent.
“It means a lot to be labeled as one of the best in the country,” he said. “That’s a big accomplishment for me and my family and my city.”
He’s right about that. His home city of Napanee in Indiana has less than 7,000 residents. There is a big Amish community in his area.
Tuggle played football for Northwood High and helped lead the Panthers to a 12-3 record and an appearance in the state championship game his senior year.
That “workhorse” comment makes sense given he caught almost 100 passes his senior year.
Tuggle caught 95 balls for 1,449 yards (15.3 yards per catch) and 19 touchdowns in 15 games. He also ran for 129 yards on 16 yards per carry and scored once on the ground. He also averaged 37.9 yards on his eight kickoff returns in 2023. He took one of those kickoffs back for another touchdown.
Add in another four two-point conversions. Plays like that show why his game is so explosive he has picked up not one, but two nicknames.
It’s not like “Nitro” isn’t an all-time great football first name, but he’s known to many as “Showtime” as well.
What does a kid from Indiana have to do to earn two nicknames like that?
“I would say what I [can] do when the ball is in my hands,” he said. “Creating space. Separation and stuff like that. Just my body control I would say. Just my twitchiness and stuff like that. Just the impact I have on the game. I can do anything so that’s just how I feel. I’m tall. I can run the ball. I can do everything.”
Tuggle appreciates the way former ‘Dawg George Pickens plays the game plus one other superstar NFL receiver who came out of the SEC.
“I like ‘GP’ but I want to say Jamarr Chase and guys like that,” he said. “That’s who I pattern my game after.”
But he didn’t get to show a lot out in Texas. The one target he got came while he was in the slot. That ball shouldn’t have been thrown to him. He was swallowed up for a loss of yardage on the play.
He weighed in at 184 pounds. The 4-star WR also measured about an inch smaller than expected at six feet. He was on a team with a lot of bigger outside receivers and that’s what he will have to deal with in Athens.
Tuggle is not used to playing in the slot, but he will have to get comfortable there to maximize his chances of getting out on the field. Those big-time SEC talents that live playing outside have about two or three inches on Tuggle.
The All-American wideout plays the game to help his family and to inspire others.
“To make my family have a better name,” he said. “Because I didn’t come from a good environment. I just want to show my little brothers and sisters a better way and a better path. Just to make my Mom and my Dad happy.”
Nitro Tuggle: A big reason why the All-American chose Georgia
Tuggle was in Athens for the bowl practices. He got a very good look at Georgia football.
When asked about what it was like to be a part of Georgia’s No. 1 nationally-rated signing class, he pointed to a core Georgia DNA trait.
That’s that good on good and iron on iron.
“Just seeing I will go against them every day,” he told 247Sports. “I feel like if I’m going against the best of the best the best DBs [in the country] every day I can play against anybody on Saturday. That was really the biggest thing that came to me about committing was just I’d get to play against Ellis [Robinson] or KJ [Bolden] or Demello [Jones] or Ondre [Evans] every day.”
That was impressive to hear him rattle off all four members of Georgia’s secondary class. Those four ‘Dawg signees are all ranked among the nation’s top 100 overall prospects in the 2024 cycle.
When he was walking out of the Alamodome on Saturday afternoon, he had a clear focus in mind for his transition to SEC football this week.
He was asked what was going through his mind now that he was through with high school ball and on his way to Athens.
“Nothing, really” he said. “Just work hard. If I work hard then everything is going to fall in place. That’s all I am going to do.”
Tuggle committed to UGA over interest from Auburn, Cincinnati, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Penn State and Texas AM. There was some late strong interest from schools like LSU, Notre Dame and Michigan.
Some online reports had Tuggle considering an 11th-hour official visit to LSU, but that never materialized.
His recruitment was a great early evaluation for Georgia and receivers coach Bryan McClendon. When the ‘Dawgs landed his commitment back in April of 2023, he was rated as a 3-star recruit.
The 247Sports Composite had him as the nation’s No. 67 WR and the No. 457 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.
That was after a downright gaudy junior year where he turned his 38 catches into an average of 21.6 yards per play. The jaw-dropping figure here is that he turned 22 of those 38 catches into touchdowns. That was 57 percent of all the balls he caught as a junior.
He is now rated as the nation’s No. 17 WR and the No. 84 overall prospect.
“I felt I was going to blow up either way, but they did jump on me early,” he said. “That’s why I stuck with them. Because they got me before everybody else could. That’s one of the reasons why I stuck with them, too. They didn’t care what everybody else thought. They came [in] and swooped in on me.”
That’s quite the rankings climb at a position that is overcooked with nationally rated players. There are 33 receivers, not including prospects ranked as athletes, rated among the country’s top 200 recruits this year.
That’s way too many pass catchers ranked among the nation’s top 200 overall prospects.
Tuggle is just the second high school receiver Georgia has signed since 2020 who ranked among the nation’s top 100 overall prospects in their class. Tyler Williams was also a top 100 overall prospect at receiver in the 2023 class.
Check out Tuggle’s HUDL senior films below. The embed that follows is a curation of his state playoff highlights and then his regular season.
It is worthwhile to note the first play here is not one of his many touchdowns, but a play similar to what Pickens was known for in Athens coming off the line as a blocker.
DawgNation Conversation: All-American WR Nitro “ShowTime” Tuggle”
DawgNation had a chance to link up with Tuggle out in Texas at the All-American Bowl. Check out the “DawgNation Conversation” with Tuggle below.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
