Junior safety Tanner Ingle’s hard-hitting ways have been well-documented.
Ingle may be listed at 5-foot-10, 182 pounds, small for a typical major college football safety, but he overcomes that with a mentality that appears to be almost genetic.
“I literally begged my mom to go play tackle football because I wanted to go hit somebody … Growing up I just always been like that,” Ingle said.
That fearless mentally is coupled with an uncompromising desire to do everything all-out. His avatar on social media is a Tasmanian devil, which Ingle noted to him meant, “Full speed, all the time.”
“It’s just how I live my life,” Ingle said. “I just try to do everything I can with 100 percent effort. Whether it’s at practice, whether it’s in a game, whether it’s at home and I’m making my bed.
"I try to do my best in everything I do.”
Ingle’s best on the football field is a very good safety for NC State. He would likely have been the team’s leading tackler in 2019 had he not missed the season finale with an injury. Ingle was voted team captain in 2020 and this summer was fourth-team All-ACC preseason by Phil Steele.
But beyond the stats, honors and accolades, his impact is best measured by one simple note: NC State went 7-0 in the games he played last season, and it was 1-4 when he missed a contest.
Hence why keeping Ingle on the field might be vital for NC State, which leads to Ingle’s focus this preseason: avoiding targeting penalties.
Ingle’s aggressive playing style, the type that will see him challenge a 300-pound offensive lineman if necessary, is hard for him to explain, but Ingle has a theory.
“Maybe it’s a little bit of a little man syndrome,” he guessed. “I feel like I got to prove myself to people. ... That’s just how I am.”
How, and specifically where, Ingle is using his aggressiveness though was an issue in 2020. Three times, in wins over Virginia, Liberty and Georgia Tech, Ingle missed the second half because of a targeting penalty. The third strike that came against the Yellow Jackets meant that Ingle was suspended for the next game, which happened to be the Wolfpack’s bowl loss to Kentucky.
“It’s been a focus for me during fall camp working on my strike zone and channeling my passion, my intensity,” Ingle admitted. “Overall, I feel like I’ve been doing a really good job.”
If Ingle can carry that forward into the season, NC State will be far better for it.
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