By, Matt Alkire
Tristin Freeman was always a
player that stood out in high school, but he absolutely exploded onto the scene
on the biggest stage during his junior season – the state championship game.
West Catholic was playing South Fayette led by highly touted signal caller and
future Division I player Christian Brumbaugh and Freeman played a game for the
ages.
Ask anyone who watched the
2010 Class AA showdown between West Catholic and South Fayette and simply
mention No. 49 on the blue squad. Words like relentless, terrorizing and
unstoppable will be thrown around. Freeman may as well have been a Greek God
for those four quarters. He absolutely abused Fayette’s line, he pancaked their
backs in pass protection and he sent Brumbaugh running for his life and forced
so many errant throws that you started to feel sorry for the boys in green and
white. It was truly one of the most dominant one man performances you’ll ever
see in a high school game and while the Burrs rolled 50-14 to a championship,
Freeman burnt his name into every recruiter’s brain that got that film or was
at the game.
The hybrid pass rusher also
brought home West’s first state championship ever.
“Words can’t even describe it
because ever since I touched a football that was one of my goals,” Freeman
mentioned. “I remember sitting there at the end of the game being on my knees
crying I was so happy. It was just surreal. One of the biggest reasons I went
to West was because I saw them play in the 2008 State Championship game and to
get done what they fell a little bit short of felt great.”
Freeman ended his prolific
high school career with offers from Army, Navy, Buffalo and VMI. His plan was
to sign a letter of intent with the Naval Academy in February of 2011, but late
in the game he found that his grades were not high enough. The 3.1 GPA he had
been proud of only translated to a 2.5 core and his SAT was too low.
At that point, he scrambled
to find a prep school.
“I didn’t know that I needed
a 900 on my SAT to get into Navy until too late coming up to signing day, so I
was unable to attend the academy,” Freeman said. “I obviously started to panic
at that point and was just looking for a place to go so I could get my scores
up because I realized that was the most important part of the process at that
point.”
Freeman ended up at Valley
Forge Military Academy, a program that has undergone many coaching changes over
the past three years.
“When they approached me they
had hired a coach who quit two weeks later, then hired another who just didn’t
show up and finally the defensive coordinator Josh Sands was given the
position,” Freeman explained. “I didn’t really worry about it because I had a
school to go to and the coach isn’t why you go there, but obviously building a
relationship with someone I didn’t know was new.”
Playing in a new scheme was
also different. West Catholic mostly ran a 3-4 with Freeman mostly playing
inside linebacker or a hybrid outside ‘backer/defensive end. In their 4-3 set,
he always had his hand on the ground. At Valley Forge, the Trojans ran a
complicated 3-5-3. Then toward the middle of the season, they switched to a 4-3
with stand-up defensive ends, showing more of a 2-5 look.
This is where Freeman really
had to adjust, study the playbook and remain effective. He did just that,
finishing his season with 85 tackles, seven sacks, eight pass deflections and a
fumble recovery on defense while playing outside linebacker.
“It was definitely
challenging at first, but I picked up on the concepts quicker than most, so I
was able to help my teammates pretty quickly and help the unit get up to
speed,” Freeman stated. “The rush linebacker position really put me back where
I was in high school which is very natural for me, so I thought I fit best
there.”
That is one thing about
Freeman, while his 5-foot-11, 235-pound frame scare some coaches away period,
he is a deceivingly good pass rusher off the edge, especially in a 3-4 as an
outside linebacker. He also keeps a very low base, levels off well and is a
terror off the tackles. As ridiculous as it is to compare a high school player
to an NFL talent, his skill set isn’t far off from that of Elvis Dumerville. We’re
obviously not comparing the two players, but Freeman certainly could put on an
extra 20 pounds of muscle and that has been the first name that has come to
mind – especially from having scouted him from his days playing for Louisville
alongside Amobi Okoye and Montavious Stanley. He is short, but could definitely
put his hand on the ground at the collegiate level and play defensive end for
teams looking for a fierce pass rusher.
The North Philadelphia native
also got a chance on offense at running back this season where he put up an
impressive 520 yards and four touchdowns on only 95 carries, showing some extra
athleticism. While he won’t play offense in college, putting up that production
at a pretty elite prep school level is impressive in itself.
Freeman did talk about what
he is looking for in a school this time around. He also now has an SAT score of
860 and is awaiting results of his third attempt which he thinks will improve
on that.
“I want to go somewhere that
I know I fit into, get a very solid education and that has great coaches,”
Freeman offered. “Obviously I want to be put in a position to be very successful
and help my team win games immediately as well.”
“Sports Management is a major
I’d like to pursue, so an institution that offers that is definitely what I’m
looking for,” Freeman added. “I have so many things that intrigue me for life
after college and they just all come back to the game I love, so if that means
being a scout, an agent or coming back to coaching that’s fine.”
Over his final two seasons
for the West Catholic Burrs, Freeman registered 145 tackles, 60 tackles for
loss, 14.5 sacks, 13 pass deflections, two forced fumbles, three fumble
recoveries and intercepted two passes. He also returned one of the fumbles for
a touchdown.
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