It’s well known that the Georgia defense is stocked to the brim with NFL talent. But even past the top names like Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Travon Walker, and Derion Kendrick, there are other high-upside players to know. One such player is Georgia ILB Channing Tindall, whose scouting report will undoubtedly appeal to evaluators on the 2022 NFL Draft circuit.
Channing Tindall NFL Draft Profile
- Position: Linebacker
- School: Georgia
- Current Year: Senior
- Height: 6’1 5/8″
- Weight: 223 pounds
- Wingspan: 77 1/4
- Length: 32 3/8
- Hand: 10 1/4
Channing Tindall Scouting Report
The Georgia Bulldogs linebacker group could legitimately have three top 75 prospects. Nakobe Dean is the best of the bunch and ILB1 on many analysts’ boards (including yours truly). Quay Walker, meanwhile, is a versatile defender with rare athleticism for his size and exciting hybrid potential at the next level.
Dean and Walker bring a lot of appeal, but Tindall completes the puzzle for the Bulldogs. Dean is the man under center on defense. Walker is the long, rangy chess piece, and Tindall is the attacker, whose physical profile and hot motor make him a constant disruptor. How does the latest Georgia ILB translate to the NFL?
Channing Tindall’s athletic profile
Tindall has a 39.6-inch vertical on record from high school, so it comes as no surprise that athleticism is one of his defining traits.
The Georgia ILB has a low-cut athletic frame with fluid hips. With this frame, he can change directions and explode fairly easily. Tindall has excellent short-area burst, which he can use to adjust his tackling angles and surge into the contact point. He can also sift through congestion and stack quick movements with his twitchy athleticism.
Tindall is a spry lateral athlete who can manipulate his leverage and maintain positioning on a given play. He can also hit a rare second gear when closing in on plays. He flashes excellent range, and his pursuit speed allows him to run down players from behind. Tindall carries violent burst into contact, and his dense 6’2″, 230-pound frame can stop runners in their tracks. Additionally, with speed and explosiveness, Tindall can spy QBs and close in an instant when passers look to scramble.
Moreover, Tindall has underrated play strength for his size. He occupies blockers for teammates and keeps his balance when clogging gaps and taking on double-teams. He’s a physical player who’s willing to lower his shoulder and engage blockers with force.
Execution beyond the physical traits
Notably, Tindall is a superb tackler — one of the more important defining traits at his position. He consistently squares up in open space and uses his wingspan to wrap up ball carriers. More often than not, the Georgia ILB takes good angles to the ball, and he’s able to carry those angles while accelerating in open space.
Going further, Tindall shows flashes of operational promise at the second level. He maintains good discipline on split zone and inside runs. He has the awareness to hold his positioning while the play develops, then explode forward when he has a lane.
He’s shown to process and read option plays quickly, then trigger on the ball and secure solo tackles. While on the move, Tindall has a good sense of timing when attacking blocks.
Tindall is still a work in progress in pass defense, but he shows definite potential here as well. As a blitzer, Tindall can shrink through gaps and explode into the backfield. And in coverage, the Georgia ILB is fairly patient letting routes come to him. He keeps his feet active at all times and sticks to tight ends in the short and intermediate ranges with his burst and length.
Areas for improvement
While Tindall has tantalizing upside, there are still plenty of ways he can keep building his game. First off, Tindall’s eyes aren’t quite as consistent as those of his teammates. The Georgia ILB is sometimes late to diagnose play fakes and get proper depth, and he can do a better job following the quarterback’s eyes in coverage.
Expanding on his coverage, Tindall sometimes lacks spatial awareness. He can obstruct his teammates’ paths and free up space for receivers. Additionally, Tindall can get tugged off routes by misdirections at times, and he can give up too much cushion as well. In a similar vein, Tindall can be late to trigger to in-breaking routes and can be indecisive when met with two-on-one looks. Moreover, he has room to improve as a playmaker in coverage, as there aren’t many examples of functioning NFL ball skills.
As good as Tindall’s angles are, he sometimes presses too far forward on outside runs. He can also do a better job leveraging angles at times. There are times where he gives up too much surface area on blocks. Furthermore, the Georgia ILB can be over-aggressive attacking the backfield. He doesn’t always recognize screens right away and could do better keying in on the blocking scheme.
Among other things, Tindall doesn’t always play to his full explosive capacity. Yet, he seemed to play faster as he became more comfortable and confident down the stretch. He does come out of his stance a bit upright at times, which saps at momentum. Additionally, the Georgia defender can better use his hands to deconstruct blocks. He’s physical, but that physicality can be channeled more efficiently.
Channing Tindall’s 2022 NFL Draft scouting report overview
Tindall isn’t quite as consistent from an operational standpoint as his fellow Georgia ILBs. Nevertheless, he shows definite flashes of the necessary processing and reaction quickness, and his athleticism affords him a high ceiling. Especially in the box, Tindall is explosive, physical, and can erase space for ball carriers on short notice.
Tindall is still developing in coverage, and he doesn’t have a ton of experience calling signals at the MIKE position. Nevertheless, Tindall projects well to the SAM role in a 4-3 defense or as an ILB in a 3-4 scheme.
His strength and physicality, combined with his ability to shoot gaps, close ground in pursuit, and navigate congestion with his twitch and agility, give him a strong projection as a run defender. Moreover, he has the athleticism to incubate further development in coverage.
At the very least, with his strong athleticism and tackling ability, Tindall can be a special-teams standout on Day 1. Still, he has legitimate three-down potential if he can keep honing the finer points of his game. The mix of short-area explosiveness, range, physicality, and reliability as a tackler gives him starting upside. He’s a player well worth the investment on Day 2.
Channing Tindall’s Player Profile
Sometimes you just know a player is going to be a good linebacker. They have that linebacker name. Brian Urlacher. Zach Thomas. London Fletcher. These just feel like linebacker names, and after a quick study, we can confirm that Channing Tindall is a top-tier linebacker name as well.
Tindall was born to play the LB position. It’s why he logged 190 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, and 9 sacks as a high school senior at Spring Valley, finishing as USA Today’s runner-up for National Defensive Player of the Year. And it’s why Georgia offered the four-star recruit and 220th-ranked prospect a scholarship. Tindall accepted Georgia’s offer, over offers from Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame, and others.
Tindall’s career at Georgia
Strangely enough, despite his high school production, Tindall has never been a complete full-time starter at Georgia. He takes the third-most reps out of himself, Dean, and Walker. Nevertheless, Tindall’s role has steadily increased over four years. His patience has paid off, and this year, he’s made his biggest impact yet.
After totaling just 41 tackles in his first three seasons with the Bulldogs, Tindall has broken out as a legitimate defensive playmaker in 2021. In 14 games ahead of the national championship, Tindall amassed 59 tackles, 6 TFL, 4.5 sacks, and a forced fumble, earning career highs in all of those categories.
Channing Tindall’s NFL Draft ascension
Tindall was a relative unknown coming into the year, on account of his middling production. But he’s gotten his name onto the map with his 2021 season. There’s still more work to be done for the Georgia ILB, however.
The offseason will be especially important for a player like Tindall, who had a late breakout. An impending Senior Bowl showing gives him a chance to showcase his skills in front of NFL evaluators. Tindall can further win over scouts with his athletic testing later on.
He’s not quite a finished product on the field, but the upside is tantalizing. If he sells it well enough in the offseason, Tindall could go early-to-mid Day 2.
Tony Pauline’s scouting report for Channing Tindall
Positives: Explosive, hard-charging linebacker coming off a tremendous season. Fast and forceful. Displays outstanding speed in pursuit, quickly gets out to the flanks, and gets depth on pass drops. Breaks down well and holds his ground against blocks or defeats them altogether. Fires up the field and squares into ball handlers to make the tackle in space. Sells out defending the run and on the blitz. Remains disciplined with assignments and plays under control.
Negatives: Does not always take proper angles to the action. Must polish his ball skills. Slow to locate the ball handler on occasion.
Analysis: Tindall is a tremendous pursuit linebacker who flies around the action to make plays. He possesses a three-down game, though there is room for improvement.