Tegray Scales Dances his Way to Success, Fun
10/4/2017 2:00:00 PM | Football
By: Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Forget, for just a second, that Tegray Scales is Indiana's All-American linebacker for the 21st Century, that he's all 225 lean-muscled pounds, run-the-field athleticism and Brian Urlacher tackle-anything-that-moves intensity.
Instead, consider the question that has unexpectedly surfaced at Memorial Stadium like an M.C. Hammer video:
Can Scales dance?
Granted this question lacks the Hoosier significance of, say, will this be the defining break-through season the program hasn't seen since Bill Mallory and Anthony Thompson combined to make years of football magic, but that misses the point, which is …
Can Scales dance?
Consider the facts.
Senior safety Tony Fields has played with Scales for four years. He says, without question, that "He can't dance. When he tries, we always get a kick out of it.
"He does it in the locker room or anywhere. If you turn on music, he'll start that funny dance. That's his thing."
Scales has a dancer's grace. OK, he has a wrestler's grace, which he honed during a state-medal-winning high school wrestling run in Ohio, which is among the reasons why he's able to tackle Penn State tailback superstar Saquon Barkley, which is about as easy to do as tight-rope-walking the Grand Canyon or getting Yankees slugger Aaron Judge to bunt.
But we digress.
Junior safety Jonathan Crawford has seen Scales at his dancing best. In his view, Scales "is terrible."
Crawford laughs.
"Really, he is. But he loves what he does, so he doesn't care what anybody else thinks. As long as he thinks he's a good dancer, he's a good dancer.
"He'll dance to whatever comes on. He's got a special dance. I don't know what it is. It doesn't have rhythm to the beat or anything."
Still, Crawford won't challenge Scales to a dance-off.
"I make fun of him, but I don't dance. I stick to my thing. I don't do what I can't do."
Wise advice.
Anyway, the quest for truth takes us to linebackers coach William Inge. We ask him about Scales' dancing ability and, after he's done laughing, says, "Let's just say I don't see him winning Dancing with the Stars anytime soon."
Finally, we turn to Scales himself. He's coming off another memorable performance in a season and a career full of them, totaling a career-best three sacks against Penn State along with a team-leading 11 tackles.
Still, inquiring minds have to know:
Can he dance?
We catch Scales eating lunch in the Hoosier Room beneath Memorial Stadium. Here is the shocking revelation:
US: Tegray, your teammates say you can't dance. Is that true?
TEGRAY: I can dance. I can't verbalize it. I can show you.
US: OK, let's see it.
TEGRAY: Not now.
US: Fine. But can you dance?
TEGRAY: I can dance. I think so. It depends. I'm not the best dancer, but I can dance. That's all that matters, right? As long as I think I can dance, it's good."
So there you go.
This reflects a let's-have-fun nature that balances Scales' fierce competitiveness and fosters team camaraderie.
"I joke around whenever I'm around teammates," he says. "It's always fun. I try to create memories as much as possible. Having fun with them as much as I can all the time. Make as many memories as possible because it will all come to an end soon."
Scales builds for a big ending. Since the start of the 2016 season, he's reached double figures in tackles 11 times, which ranks second nationally. His 117 solo tackles during that stretch are the most in the nation. He ranks second nationally with 29.0 tackles for loss in that same stretch.
"He's so good because he's accountable," Fields says. "You can always count on him, whether it's a game or a workout or being a teammate. Anything he does, he's focused on the details. That causes you to focus on your details. Trust is the biggest thing with him."
Coach Tom Allen praises Scales' efficiency.
"He's quick and athletic, but he isn't necessarily a burner," Allen says. "He's not an exceptionally fast guy. So how is he effective? There's no wasted motion. His footwork is clean. He doesn't take false steps.
"He's flourished in the system we have. His skill set fits it. We read the backfield and he's really good at it. He's able to anticipate."
Allen runs a 4-2-5 defense, which means just two linebackers, which means a lot of plays get funneled to the linebackers, which means Scales gets a lot of chances to make plays.
He delivers -- without ego.
"Most of the plays I do make, I'm supposed to make," he says. "So it's not like, 'Oh, good job. It's what I'm supposed to do. Coach puts me in position to make those plays. My job is to make them. I did what I'm supposed to."
It goes beyond that, Allen says.
"He studies film. He cares so much about being prepared and making sure the team is prepared. He understands where his eyes are supposed to be, and he gets there very efficiently."
Allen remembers a play against Penn State. Quarterback Trace McSorley got loose and Scales went to work.
"It was just an unbelievable effort," Allen says. "He absolutely willed himself to get there on a key third down. He knocked him out of bounds and got credit for a sack. That just epitomized him. He knew exactly where he needed to be, took a great angle and busted his tail to get there all the way across the field. He's a really good one."
Good play comes from good preparation, Scales says.
"It's film study and knowing the scheme," he says. "It's no wasted steps. If you know what the offense is going to do before they do it, you're one step ahead of them. Knowing tendencies is huge in today's game."
Scales could have been just as good at wrestling. As a high school senior at Cincinnati Colerain he was ranked No. 13 nationally at 195 pounds (he had a career prep record of 154-29), but decided to focus on football in college.
"I love football. I would have wrestled in college if they had a weight class between 197 and heavyweight.
"I'm 225. I'm not wrestling heavyweight. If they had a 230- or 225-pound class, I'd do it. That gap is too big for me. I'm not dropping to 197 and I don't feel like wrestling 285."
Scales passed on entering the NFL draft last spring to have a season to remember, as much for the Hoosiers as for himself. IU is 2-2 entering Saturday's home game against Charleston Southern (2-2).
"You've got to maximize," Scales says. "Every week we go into it knowing we can beat the team we're playing.
"We know we can play with any team in the conference. We just have to capitalize on the opportunity."
As Scales approaches the end of one of the greatest careers an Indiana linebacker has ever had -- he rates with Ken Kaczmarek and Joe Norman as the best in school history -- he reflects on a talk former IU standout Antwaan Randle El gave where he said the team is "a brotherhood that won't get broken."
And then Scales goes deeper, the serious side superseding the joking one.
"I'm good at preparing myself for what the future holds. I know it will come to an end. You won't ever see me down. Take one day at a time, live for today."
Scales often does that away from the spotlight.
"I keep to myself a lot. If I have a problem I don't show it.
"I don't want to come off hurt. I keep everything in. I don't know if that's good or bad, but that's how I am. That's what I do."
Scales has NFL aspirations (he's a top-100 draft prospect for next spring) and a realist's pragmatism (the average NFL career lasts 3.3 years). The MMA (that's mixed martial arts, a combination of boxing and wrestling) could be an option.
But that's for later. For now, it's about games to win, plays to make and, because Scales won't ever ignore his fun-loving nature, relationship advice to give.
Yes, relationship advice.
"I'm not in a relationship. When I see somebody in a relationship, I think, what would I do in this situation? I give him my 2 cents."
If it comes without dancing, all the better.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Forget, for just a second, that Tegray Scales is Indiana's All-American linebacker for the 21st Century, that he's all 225 lean-muscled pounds, run-the-field athleticism and Brian Urlacher tackle-anything-that-moves intensity.
Instead, consider the question that has unexpectedly surfaced at Memorial Stadium like an M.C. Hammer video:
Can Scales dance?
Granted this question lacks the Hoosier significance of, say, will this be the defining break-through season the program hasn't seen since Bill Mallory and Anthony Thompson combined to make years of football magic, but that misses the point, which is …
Can Scales dance?
Consider the facts.
Senior safety Tony Fields has played with Scales for four years. He says, without question, that "He can't dance. When he tries, we always get a kick out of it.
"He does it in the locker room or anywhere. If you turn on music, he'll start that funny dance. That's his thing."
Scales has a dancer's grace. OK, he has a wrestler's grace, which he honed during a state-medal-winning high school wrestling run in Ohio, which is among the reasons why he's able to tackle Penn State tailback superstar Saquon Barkley, which is about as easy to do as tight-rope-walking the Grand Canyon or getting Yankees slugger Aaron Judge to bunt.
But we digress.
Junior safety Jonathan Crawford has seen Scales at his dancing best. In his view, Scales "is terrible."
Crawford laughs.
"Really, he is. But he loves what he does, so he doesn't care what anybody else thinks. As long as he thinks he's a good dancer, he's a good dancer.
"He'll dance to whatever comes on. He's got a special dance. I don't know what it is. It doesn't have rhythm to the beat or anything."
Still, Crawford won't challenge Scales to a dance-off.
"I make fun of him, but I don't dance. I stick to my thing. I don't do what I can't do."
Wise advice.
Anyway, the quest for truth takes us to linebackers coach William Inge. We ask him about Scales' dancing ability and, after he's done laughing, says, "Let's just say I don't see him winning Dancing with the Stars anytime soon."
Finally, we turn to Scales himself. He's coming off another memorable performance in a season and a career full of them, totaling a career-best three sacks against Penn State along with a team-leading 11 tackles.
Still, inquiring minds have to know:
Can he dance?
We catch Scales eating lunch in the Hoosier Room beneath Memorial Stadium. Here is the shocking revelation:
US: Tegray, your teammates say you can't dance. Is that true?
TEGRAY: I can dance. I can't verbalize it. I can show you.
US: OK, let's see it.
TEGRAY: Not now.
US: Fine. But can you dance?
TEGRAY: I can dance. I think so. It depends. I'm not the best dancer, but I can dance. That's all that matters, right? As long as I think I can dance, it's good."
So there you go.
This reflects a let's-have-fun nature that balances Scales' fierce competitiveness and fosters team camaraderie.
"I joke around whenever I'm around teammates," he says. "It's always fun. I try to create memories as much as possible. Having fun with them as much as I can all the time. Make as many memories as possible because it will all come to an end soon."
Scales builds for a big ending. Since the start of the 2016 season, he's reached double figures in tackles 11 times, which ranks second nationally. His 117 solo tackles during that stretch are the most in the nation. He ranks second nationally with 29.0 tackles for loss in that same stretch.
"He's so good because he's accountable," Fields says. "You can always count on him, whether it's a game or a workout or being a teammate. Anything he does, he's focused on the details. That causes you to focus on your details. Trust is the biggest thing with him."
Coach Tom Allen praises Scales' efficiency.
"He's quick and athletic, but he isn't necessarily a burner," Allen says. "He's not an exceptionally fast guy. So how is he effective? There's no wasted motion. His footwork is clean. He doesn't take false steps.
"He's flourished in the system we have. His skill set fits it. We read the backfield and he's really good at it. He's able to anticipate."
Allen runs a 4-2-5 defense, which means just two linebackers, which means a lot of plays get funneled to the linebackers, which means Scales gets a lot of chances to make plays.
He delivers -- without ego.
"Most of the plays I do make, I'm supposed to make," he says. "So it's not like, 'Oh, good job. It's what I'm supposed to do. Coach puts me in position to make those plays. My job is to make them. I did what I'm supposed to."
It goes beyond that, Allen says.
"He studies film. He cares so much about being prepared and making sure the team is prepared. He understands where his eyes are supposed to be, and he gets there very efficiently."
Allen remembers a play against Penn State. Quarterback Trace McSorley got loose and Scales went to work.
"It was just an unbelievable effort," Allen says. "He absolutely willed himself to get there on a key third down. He knocked him out of bounds and got credit for a sack. That just epitomized him. He knew exactly where he needed to be, took a great angle and busted his tail to get there all the way across the field. He's a really good one."
Good play comes from good preparation, Scales says.
"It's film study and knowing the scheme," he says. "It's no wasted steps. If you know what the offense is going to do before they do it, you're one step ahead of them. Knowing tendencies is huge in today's game."
Scales could have been just as good at wrestling. As a high school senior at Cincinnati Colerain he was ranked No. 13 nationally at 195 pounds (he had a career prep record of 154-29), but decided to focus on football in college.
"I love football. I would have wrestled in college if they had a weight class between 197 and heavyweight.
"I'm 225. I'm not wrestling heavyweight. If they had a 230- or 225-pound class, I'd do it. That gap is too big for me. I'm not dropping to 197 and I don't feel like wrestling 285."
Scales passed on entering the NFL draft last spring to have a season to remember, as much for the Hoosiers as for himself. IU is 2-2 entering Saturday's home game against Charleston Southern (2-2).
"You've got to maximize," Scales says. "Every week we go into it knowing we can beat the team we're playing.
"We know we can play with any team in the conference. We just have to capitalize on the opportunity."
As Scales approaches the end of one of the greatest careers an Indiana linebacker has ever had -- he rates with Ken Kaczmarek and Joe Norman as the best in school history -- he reflects on a talk former IU standout Antwaan Randle El gave where he said the team is "a brotherhood that won't get broken."
And then Scales goes deeper, the serious side superseding the joking one.
"I'm good at preparing myself for what the future holds. I know it will come to an end. You won't ever see me down. Take one day at a time, live for today."
Scales often does that away from the spotlight.
"I keep to myself a lot. If I have a problem I don't show it.
"I don't want to come off hurt. I keep everything in. I don't know if that's good or bad, but that's how I am. That's what I do."
Scales has NFL aspirations (he's a top-100 draft prospect for next spring) and a realist's pragmatism (the average NFL career lasts 3.3 years). The MMA (that's mixed martial arts, a combination of boxing and wrestling) could be an option.
But that's for later. For now, it's about games to win, plays to make and, because Scales won't ever ignore his fun-loving nature, relationship advice to give.
Yes, relationship advice.
"I'm not in a relationship. When I see somebody in a relationship, I think, what would I do in this situation? I give him my 2 cents."
If it comes without dancing, all the better.
Players Mentioned
FB: Week 3 (Indiana State) - Curt Cignetti Press Conference
Monday, September 08
FB: Elijah Sarratt - KSU Postgame Press Conference (09/06/25)
Saturday, September 06
FB: Kellan Wyatt - KSU Postgame Press Conference (09/06/25)
Saturday, September 06
FB: Fernando Mendoza - KSU Postgame Press Conference (09/06/25)
Saturday, September 06