ROANOKE, Va. – He had just one division one school offer coming out of Covington High School and now Tyler Dressler could possibly make history this weekend-- becoming the first Covington native to be drafted to the NFL.
“It means a lot to myself, to my friends, to my family and also the community,” Dressler said in a recent interview with 10 Sports.
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Dressler, who’s dad walked-on for Virginia Tech, was a standout at Covington High School where he was a multi-sport athlete. He played four years of football, basketball and baseball where he earned All-Conference, All-Region and All-State honors.
“I have that inner ‘Why’ that motivates me,” Dressler said. He had to opportunity to play alongside his older brother during his freshman and sophomore years with the Cougars.
When thinking of the next level, Dressler was originally committed to VMI. “That was my only division one offer and I was fully convinced I was going to be a Keydet. But the linebacker coach actually went to Richmond.” Richmond then had a scholarship open up after that move and offered Dressler just days before his signing ceremony. That’s when he quickly had a change in direction and signed on with the Spiders.
Dressler appeared in 43 games, making 25 starts, for the Spiders. At middle linebacker, he became a three-time First Team All-CAA selection--finishing his career with 249 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.
Dressler has been training in northern Virginia since returning from the combine and will continue to do so this week before returning to Covington on Saturday to be with friends and family--awaiting that dream call. He’s expecting be a late 7th round pick or a high priority free agent if he goes undrafted.
“If I can impact just a few individuals, a few kids growing up, it’s a job accomplished,” said Dressler. “Just to show that it doesn’t matter where you’re from--Covington or God’s Country USA--you can still go out there and make a global impact.”