First of all, allow us to wish you a Merry Christmas from both Independence Bank and Kentucky Prep Gridiron. As is our custom, it is the first day of the week, and time to designate, this week’s, Independence Bank Player of the Week. Independence Bank is proud to sponsor a weekly article highlighting players in the areas where Independence Bank flourishes who embody the same type of revolutionary service to their respective football teams which has made Independence Bank unique and special in the banking industry. Independence Bank has a goal of achieving everyday excellence and this week we are focusing on a player whose performance exceeded both the Purples’, and the Bowling Green community’s, expectations. We are focusing on a defensive back/running back who seemed to both strive for and achieve excellence every single day he walked on either a practice or playing field. That player is Class of 2020, DeVito Tisdale.
All around the commonwealth of Kentucky he is referred to simply as Vito. He is the 2nd highest ranked prospect in Kentucky’s Class of 2020 according to 247Sports.com’s composite ratings and is ranked 109th nationally. He is a 4 star, rated recruit in his class according to 247Sports.com and is presently holding scholarship offers from APSU, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville, and Purdue. He projects as a safety, in college, though he made our AFI-KPG Sophomore All-State Football team as a corner which is one of the positions at which he has been deployed by the Purples of Bowling Green High School, in addition to RB, OLB, and safety. I first featured him back on June 9, 2017 in an article entitled Bowling Green’s DeVito Tisdale. In that article, I related that Vito is…widely considered the number 1 player in Kentucky in both football and basketball in his class. Two statistics which most football talent evaluators will tell you directly correlate are vertical jumping ability and running speed. As for verticality, we feel it would be appropriate to insert that Vito dunked a basketball in a state playoff game, while a 7th grader, in traffic. Vito was a RB in middle school and carried BGMS to a Division I, State Championship, with slightly more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 34 TDs as an 8th grader. What we didn’t realize, at the time, but appears now to have been a bit of foreshadowing, is we should have noticed his over 100 tackles he made on defense that year. Notwithstanding his bodacious accomplishments carrying the football in Middle School, Vito has transitioned nicely in to the Purples’ defensive back 7, playing at BGHS as a safety/OLB hybrid at times and slipping over and playing some corner too. Vito has a wingspan of 6’4″ and a forty time of 4.6 flat, and with his 6’2″ height and 185 pounds of substance, colleges are recruiting Tisdale as a safety, or so I am told. The fact that Vito plays so much linebacker should give you an idea about his willingness to come up and get involved in the run game. Now, Vito’s tackle numbers are not going to really describe how great his play was this year because the first two levels of Purple defenders are tackling people before they reach Vito. Just as a for instance, one of the top players in this year’s senior class, Justice Dingle, had 109 tackles from his linebacker post with 80 being solo tackles, for the 10-3 Purple squad who lost to South Warren in the 2nd round of this year’s KHSAA playoffs. On the year, Vito had 28 tackles with 18 being solo. Vito picked off 3 passes, recovered a fumble, caught 13 passes out of the backfield, while running the ball 59 times for 414 yards from scrimmage.
Congratulations to Vito Tisdale for his Revolutionary Play which has earned him this week’s recognition from the fastest growing bank in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, your friends at Independence Bank. This is Fletcher Long reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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