Pwn The Portal: Grad Transfer DT Derrick Tangelo

Oh look! It’s a Duke Defender Capable of Shutting Down Offenses Without Slapping The Floor First. How Refreshing.

As your phonetics/pronunciation Blog of Record, let’s clear up any confusion: it’s Tangelo like Michelangelo – say it fast, don’t pause –not Tangelo as in Pauly D’s favorite pastime/goopy dessert.

For those of you who are better auditory learners vs. visual learners, go to Duke’s official 2020 roster, scroll down, and click the little ear icon. Got it? Cool.

So now that we’ve moved beyond how to properly say his name, why don’t we figure out what to make of this under-the-radar high school recruit turned productive Power 5 starting defensive tackle. To do that, we scouted the 2020 Duke-Syracuse game (Tangelo’s best game according to PFF) and the 2020 Duke-Notre Dame opener (Tangelo’s lowest-graded game according to PFF).

Not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but James Franklin seems to have a ‘type’ when it comes to Transfer Portal pickups – wooing overachievers who outplay their recruiting ranking instead of former high school BMOC’s waiting to live up to their lofty prep billing. Tangelo DEFINITELY fits that type. 

According to 247 Sports, Tangelo was the 1,375th best national prospect – 86th best defensive tackle – in the high school Class of 2017. Duke and Wake Forest were the only Power 5 schools to offer him a scholarship. Tangelo didn’t play in heralded high school showcases like the Under Armor All-Star Game, or the Army All-American Game, but he did earn an invite to something called the Maryland Crab Bowl…which sounds delicious. 

Despite Tangelo’s ho-hum high school accolades and offer list, the Maryland native played meaningful snaps as a freshman, notching his first career sack in Duke’s bowl game. In total, Tangelo started 29 games and lined up for 1,454 career snaps in Durham – a deep reservoir of experience that makes Tangelo the leader in the clubhouse to inherit the starting DT spot left vacant when Antonio Shelton entered the Transfer Portal. 

But Tangelo isn’t Antonio Shelton. 

No, if you’re looking for a Penn State player comp, Tangelo reminds us a lot of another overachieving 3-star DT: Kevin Givens. 

Like Givens, Tangelo a squatty, low-to-the-ground, bottom-heavy DT. Tangelo is listed at 6-foot-2, 310 pounds, but in reality he’s probably closer to Givens’ measurables….an inch shorter, and sub-300 pounds following a good sweat.  

Like Givens, Tangelo entered college undersized but soon added 40 “good” pounds without compromising pre-existing agility, burst, or athleticism. Why Givens worked out at Penn State – and why he’s sticking in the NFL despite being undrafted – is that he’s an Interior Lineman who moves like a 245-pound linebacker. 

Same thing with Tangelo:

Wow. Go ahead and rerun that clip 2 or 3 times. Because it takes a few viewings to fully appreciate/comprehend the insane amount of athleticism Tangelo displays before sacking Syracuse QB 13-Tommy DeVito. 

RPO. Syracuse slants the line left as DeVito decides to pull the ball and attempts to hit the boundary receiver on a slant. Bad read by DeVito, but his poor decision is inconsequential to why we’re looking at the play.

The H-Back pulls to block the non-rushing DE. Both Syracuse guards climb to the linebackers. Center blocks Tangelo’s neighbor. This scheme leaves Tangelo 1-on-1 with Orange RT 68-Airon Servais. Not sure if Servais’ choice to cut Tangelo was by design, or if it was a Plan B reaction to Tangelo’s quick penetration. Regardless, Servais gets a good chunk of Tangelo during the chop. 80-90 percent of linemen are done in this situation…but not Tangelo.

Before Tangelo tumbles, he sticks his left hand in the plastic grass and somehow keeps his balance. From there, he INSTANTLY springs back to his feet and corrals DeVito for the loss. There’s no real “re-gathering” process, which is mind-blogging. Incredibly high degree of difficulty on this sack – from UP to DOWN to UP without missing a beat. Impressive.

Dino Babers’ offense is designed to get the ball out of the QB’s hands in less than 2.5 seconds,  yet Tangelo managed to rush DeVito several instances this game. Here’s a two-play montage illustrating Tangelo’s sneaky strength as he bullrushes the Syracuse Center and Right Guard, respectively, into DeVito’s kitchen. 

PFF credited Tangelo with 4 QB Pressures vs. Syracuse – tied for a personal season best. We THINK this next clip represents one of the four pressures, but even if it doesn’t it’s still worth a look. Instead of squaring up (as seen in Tangelo’s bullrush package above) the then-Duke DT attacks the Orange center’s left shoulder pad – playing half-a-man – and wins the initial handfight.  The Syracuse center opens his hips, thus opening the gate for Tangelo to harass DeVito. He’s about a millisecond/millimeter away from stripping the ball. 

Final Syracuse clip. 

Ridiculously quick off the ball here. If you can, pause this play mid-snap. Tangelo’s helmet is a full yard further upfield than any other Blue Devil.  Syracuse lineman 56-Darius Tisdale is pretty much screwed from the start. Tangelo gets the Big Man off balance by getting his right hand underneath Tisdale’s left shoulder – all while never losing sight of DeVito, who we guess is running a QB draw since Tangelo didn’t get credit for a sack on this.

Despite being blatantly held – the 54 on Tangelo’s jersey looks  Salvador Dali painted it – the true senior releases and makes the TFL.

Sure, Tangelo looks decent vs. Syracuse’s sieve O-Line. But what about when the competition levels up?

Good question imaginary reader who often helps us transition mid-article…Duke lucked out by avoiding Clemson, but the Blue Devils did get stuck facing Notre Dame on Sept. 12. More specifically, Tangelo spent the majority of his 41 snaps lined up across from 1st Team All-ACC guard 78-Tommy Kraemer. Current 2021 mock NFL Draft’s project Kraemer as an early Day Three pick – 4th or 5th Round. 

So decent test for Tangelo.

Here, Tangelo – No. 54 — is the second DL from the top. 

A lot more resistance, obviously, but tip-of-the-hat to Tangelo for continuing to fight and eventually pushing 12-Ian Book up in the pocket and into a sack. According to PFF, what you saw above was Tangelo’s lone QB Pressure vs. Notre Dame. Still, Tangelo was a major factor why Duke held Notre Dame’s offense to just 13 yards in the 1st Quarter as the four-touchdown-underdog Blue Devils found themselves in a tight, winnable 4-point game entering the 4th Quarter. 

NBC color commentator Tony Dungy gushed more than once about Tangelo’s ability to get “controlled push and penetration” when defending the run. Tangelo is the second DL from the bottom in the next two clips.

Masterful job of using 78-Kraemer’s momentum against him and disengaging just as 23-Kyren Williams puts his foot in the ground. Same situation below….initial push resetting the LOS…then disengage. 

By the latter stages of the 3rd Quarter, though, Tangelo (and really the entire Blue Devils defense) was completely SPENT. Not sure how “normal” Duke’s Fall Camp was, but the Blue Devils probably weren’t properly conditioned to handle four quarters vs. an eventual CFP squad. Not this early in the season, for sure. On this next play – again late in the 3rd Quarter after a bunch of 3-and-Outs from the Duke offense – Tangelo is rudely escorted all the way to the invisible yellow 1st down marker by an Fighting Irish double-team

Tangelo helmet-tapped out at least twice mid-drive in the 4th Quarter. As you’ll see in this montage – especially the final pass play to the tight end where he doesn’t bother to chase – 54-Tangelo’s tank was on E late in South Bend and undoubtedly contributed to his low PFF grade…because for more than half the game, Tangelo really flashed on one of college football’s grandest stages.  

In 2020, Tangelo played 50+ snaps in two games – NC State (53) and Charlotte (63). Antonio Shelton never reached 50 snaps in a game last season. His high came against Ohio State (47).

CONCLUSION: The fact that all four transfers are enrolling in January should solidify Tangelo’s spot in the starting lineup barring injury…especially when factoring the untraditional non-easing-in 3-game start to 2021. Tangelo is a reasonable-ceiling/highest-floor, “safe” plug-and-play solution when James Franklin and Co. travel to (packed?) Camp Randall Stadium in Week 1. As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see if Tangelo can keep talented youngsters like Hakeem Beamon, D’von Ellies and Coziah Izzard from eating into his snaps.