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Tyre McCants, USF's brawny bruiser of a receiver

 
USF wide receiver Tyre McCants (8) runs the ball for a touchdown in the fourth against at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, September 2, 2017. The USF Bulls defeated the Stony Brook 31-17. (Octavio Jones, Times)
USF wide receiver Tyre McCants (8) runs the ball for a touchdown in the fourth against at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, September 2, 2017. The USF Bulls defeated the Stony Brook 31-17. (Octavio Jones, Times)
Published Dec. 12, 2017

TAMPA — Having spent 11 games watching Tyre McCants in the flesh — all 236 pounds of it — USF coach Charlie Strong seems convinced his team's leading receiver down the stretch could be someone's leading rusher down the road.

"I think he can do a whole lot (at the next level)," Strong said recently. "And he can play a lot of different positions, too. I think he's a guy that can play running back."

Niceville High coach John Hicks sure thought so, and his hunch helped the Eagles to a historic season in 2013.

Needing a victory against Tate High in a one-quarter district shootout to earn a playoff berth, Hicks took his burly senior slot receiver and inserted him as a tailback in the I-formation. On the Eagles' first scoring drive, McCants ran for 48 yards on four carries. Niceville won the shootout, 14-0, and ultimately advanced to the Class 7A state title game.

"Ran power every play and they could do nothing about it," said Niceville running backs coach Adron Robinson, a close family friend whom McCants refers to as his uncle. "He told me in the locker room, 'Feed me and we'll get this win.' After the first handoff, you could tell they were in trouble."

Four autumns later, McCants was brandishing his dual threats — an ability to run downfield and downhill — to a national TV audience against UCF.

On the third play from scrimmage, he took a screen pass from Quinton Flowers at midfield, broke a tackle and raced up the right sideline for a 47-yard touchdown. The indelible image is McCants dragging 230-pound linebacker Chequan Burkett, who had a handful of McCants' jersey, the last 15 yards.

"When he gets the ball and it's one-on-one," Strong said, "I'm gonna say he's gonna win it most of the time."

Meet the most physically distinctive offensive weapon you're likely to see in the upcoming Birmingham Bowl. At 5-foot-11, 235 pounds, McCants — who will line up as a slot receiver — will be as big or bigger than three of the four linebackers on the two-deep Texas Tech depth chart.

Yet Hicks confirms McCants ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds as a high school junior.

"That's where he gets you at, 'cause he's got great speed," Bulls senior nickelback Deatrick Nichols said.

He's coming off the game of his life. In his nine-catch, 227-yard performance at UCF, McCants broke the Bulls' single-game receiving yardage record in the first half (six receptions, 210 yards). Four of his catches went for 33 or more yards.

And while he had established himself as a viable downfield threat long before that game, he was more noted for being arguably the best blocker on a receiving unit that takes immense pride in it. In the season opener at San Jose State, McCants had two critical blocks on the same D'Ernest Johnson 50-yard touchdown run.

"A lot of times when you're a little guy, you just run through 'em and you're gonna knock them back," Strong said. "But he's got a base where can sit down, he can put his hands on you. If he gets his hands on you then he can move you out of the way because of his size."

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The robust frame made McCants a fledgling force of nature in Niceville, where he was an only child raised by a single mom and grandmother. Robinson remembers seeing him at age 3 in his front yard playing football against himself.

"I mean, he's throwing balls, he's running down and catching 'em, he's juking his imaginary self," Robinson said. "And then he comes in crying and I said, 'Tyre what's wrong?' And he said, 'I lost.' That's when I knew I had something, if it mattered to him that much to where he wasn't letting himself win."

At Niceville High, Hicks employed him at running back, receiver, cornerback, safety, linebacker and kick returner. Though robust even then (200 pounds as a senior), he finished his prep career with more than 3,200 all-purpose yards and evolved into a three-star recruit.

"USF actually did recruit me as a running back at first," said McCants, who had 818 receiving yards and 560 rushing yards as a senior. "And then when Marlon (Mack) and D'Ernest (signed), they said, 'Oh, we're gonna move you to receiver.' "

He really beefed up after tearing his left ACL in 2014, when he redshirted. He had only seven catches the following season, but three went for 34 or more yards.

The breakthrough occurred in 2016, when he caught 25 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 15.4 yards per catch.

It has been all downhill — in the dominant sense — ever since. McCants enters the Birmingham Bowl with 30 catches, 598 yards and a team best 19.9 yards per reception.

"If you get him in the open field one-on-one, and you … get him on the safety, I'm gonna say he's gonna win it 90 percent of the time," Strong said.

"And it's got to be one of those tackles where they've got to hit him before he gets started, because he can catch it and if he can get his pads squared up, he's gonna win it and he's gonna take the ball the distance."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.

Birmingham Bowl

Texas Tech (6-6) vs. USF (9-2)

Where/when: Legion Field, Birmingham, Ala., Dec. 23, noon

TV/radio: ESPN; 820-AM