Charger delivers strong message to Team USA

Sunday, Mar 16, 2008
By Tom, Chargers.com

Jyles Tucker offered a message for the Team USA Under-19 All-Stars practicing at the University of San Diego that the young Chargers’ outside linebacker was well qualified to deliver.

He told the 40-player roster bound for Japan to play in the GE Global Challenge Bowl that no matter how successful you feel as an all-star today, know that someone out there is working harder to take your job tomorrow.

Tucker’s rookie season in 2007 is a prime example. Despite not being invited to college all-star games coming out of Wake Forest, he ultimately took a job from players that did participate in all-star games but failed to earn an NFL job.

“If you take a day off, you might have talent to stay ahead of that guy for the next day,” Tucker said. “But there’s no telling how fast that guy is going to keep coming back at you. You’ve got to continue to hone your skills. If you don’t, they’ll go down the drain, and then they’ll be no use to anyone .“

The 6-foot-3, 258-pounder made the Chargers’ practice squad as an undrafted free agent and was later promoted to the active roster. In the Bolts’ regular-season finale, a win at the Oakland Raiders, he recorded three sacks and recovered a fumble for a touchdown to earn AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Team USA head coach Jeff Scurran of Santa Rita High in Tucson, Ariz., took a break from the team’s practice on March 15 at USD’s Manchester Field to gather his players around Tucker at midfield.

“You’ve got to work hard and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t go where you want to go,” Tucker said. “Don’t be playing video games when you can be doing your school work or practicing. If you don’t take care of school, you can’t play in high school and college.”

The Team USA all-stars, representing players from 12 states and 27 high schools, practiced two days at USD before leaving for Japan. The Americans will face a Japan All-Star team on March 22 in Kawasaki. Team USA and the Global Challenge were invited by the Japanese football federation to play in the bowl game.

Tucker also told Team USA he has used not making college all-star games as motivation to ultimately play in a bigger all-star game -- the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

“Hopefully I’ll get to the big one,” Tucker said. “Hopefully I’ll have a long enough career to get there at least once. But I’ve got to keep working hard.”