Alva linebacker commits to Marshall
Zach West
zwest@oklahoman.com
Tyson Gale, an honorable mention All-State linebacker from Alva, has committed to play football for Marshall next season.
Tyson made his decision Sunday night after a weekend visit to the school. He picked the Thundering Herd over New Mexico, his only other Division-I offer.
Tyson is the twin brother of Alva quarterback Mitchell Gale and son of Alva head coach Steve Gale. While Steve’s brother, Mark Gale, is the Marshall assistant athletic director for football operations and is the longest serving member of the Marshall coaching staff, the connection was initially just a helpful recruiting tool. Steve would send the videos to Mark, looking for his professional opinion.
“Then they started looking at the videos,” Steve said. “I was just sending it out just to get an idea, but they really liked what they saw. There was a need for them at middle linebacker, and (that connection) did nothing but help.”
Last season, Tyson had 157 tackles (16 for a loss) and five interceptions to go along with 448 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Tyson had 174 tackles and three picks his junior season.
Steve said Tyson was attracted to Marshall in part because of the impressive weight room and head coach Mark Snyder. Snyder, who visited Alva last week to watch Tyson play basketball, was a defensive coach at Ohio State from 2001-04, and coached future-NFL linebackers such as A.J. Hawk (Green Bay) and Bobby Carpenter (Dallas)
“That’s the type of player (Tyson)’d like to be,” Steve said.
Tyson will sign tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Alva, along with Mitchell (Abilene Christian,
Tex.) and free safety Derek Lohman (Emporia State, Kan.)
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment