Junior linebacker Tegray Scales’ energy bucket is full. At least that’s what IU linebackers coach William Inge said.
Inge and Scales’ teammates agree that it’s his preparation that fills that energy bucket and fuels him to games like IU’s upset win against then-No. 17 Michigan State, when the junior linebacker recorded a team-high 14 tackles.
“When it comes to his film study — the little details that he’s doing on his own — that is night and day,” Inge said. “I think it’s because he’s really maturing and seeing, ‘You know what? If I prepare, I can have a lot of success.’ That’s really put a lot of stuff in his energy bucket.”
The junior linebacker that came onto the scene in 2014 as a true freshman has finally found a consistent starting spot in defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s 4-2-5 scheme.
And the linebacker is thriving. Scales leads IU in tackles (35), tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (2). He also has a forced fumble against Ball State and returned an interception for a touchdown against Florida International in the season opener.
Inge credits the success to Scales making plays he’s supposed to make and translating the confidence into bigger plays.
“Now when you have the confidence that’s he’s got, now not only can you make the play, he’s making a game-changing play,” Inge said. “Not only is he making a tackle, we’re making a tackle and he’s getting to the pile to strip the football.”
It’s a testament to how much he has bought into what the defense has wanted to do during his three years at IU, Inge and Allen said.
Scales made a splash in 2014 with athleticism that is rarely seen in an IU linebacker — the size, the speed, the ability to cover and get in the backfield.
He had 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, but the number that stood out to the Hoosier fan base was his three interceptions.
In 2015, he was suspended for the first two games of the season but still finished fourth on the team in tackles with 64, and also added 5.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, two interceptions and four passes defended.
Now with the defense resting on his and junior linebacker Marcus Oliver’s broad shoulders, their play-making abilities are more evident than ever before. Together, they own 25 percent of IU’s tackles and three of its four forced fumbles.
Last year, it was Oliver who stole the show on defense, leading the team in tackles with 112 and forcing a team-high four fumbles. He’s now tied for the IU career record in forced fumbles with nine.
But now it’s Scales making his presence felt once again. And his teammate junior Chris Covington gives the credit to Scales’ preparation.
“Just look at the film,” Covington said. “He knows where the ball is. He may know where the ball is going before the ball is even snapped. He prepares to the best of his ability and we take that to the heart — our preparation.”
Covington, who saw the field the most of his career against Michigan State, has recorded 10 tackles and a tackle for loss this season, and Inge said he will likely see the field more as the Big Ten season progresses.
Covington said as he continues to play, he will be taking the same steps as Scales and Oliver, in preparation, in practice, on the field.
“I’m trying to follow their lead because obviously they’re good players,” Covington said, “So I want to do everything they do because I want to be good too.”
Covington said that the linebackers take the performance of the defense to their credit — in good and in bad. For now, the group can take in positive credit as it comes off IU’s first win against a ranked Big Ten opponent since 2006.
But with No. 2 Ohio State looming Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, IU’s defense will need the leadership that Scales and Oliver can provide in the heart of the field. And maybe some game changing plays along the way.
“We want their performance to become a feeding frenzy — with the defensive line, with the secondary — because everyone’s hungry when we hit the field,” Inge said of the linebacking corps. “And I think that’s one of the good things that our guys have been able to do thus far.”
