Northwestern coach David Braun was prepared to take it easy on his stud left tackle in the run-up to the latter’s participation in the NFL draft process, but Caleb Tiernan wasn’t having it.
And that mentality is part of what made the Detroit Country Day product attractive to potential employers, as much as his pass-blocking prowess.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Tiernan in the third round Friday at No. 97.
“A lot of people would say, ‘Is Caleb going to play in the bowl game?’” Braun said leading up to the GameAbove Sports Bowl in December at Ford Field. “And we’re trying to manage Caleb’s reps early on in practice, before we even knew who we were going to be playing in our bowl game or where we were going to be playing
“Caleb, Day 2 of practice, gets done with (individual work and) comes over to (offensive line) coach (Bill) O’Boyle and says: ‘Hey, you’re not managing my reps today. I showed up to practice today to get better.’ And that’s from a senior captain that’s got an NFL future, a long NFL career ahead of (him). That embodies who our team is, what we’re about and how much this bowl opportunity means to this team.”
The 6-foot-7, 323-pound Tiernan was the second Oakland County (Mich.) player the Vikings selected after they grabbed Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks from Southfield A&T in Thursday’s first round.
In Tiernan, the Vikings got an experienced veteran who started 38 games at left tackle — every game of his final three seasons — after five starts in 11 games at right tackle in 2022.
Here’s NFL analyst Lance Zierlein’s breakdown of Tiernan on NFL.com:
“Highly experienced college tackle who is likely to kick inside due to a lack of length that affects his protection projection. Tiernan is tall but carries the denseness of frame and core strength of a guard. Feet feature good initial quickness and he takes excellent angles on the move. He often finds early positioning advantages as a base blocker but lacks the anchor and play strength to consistently fortify/sustain. Leaky edges in pass pro will be less concerning with smaller spaces to patrol, while his punch timing and lateral quickness provide advantages. ‘Solid’ feels like the ceiling for Tiernan as a guard/swing tackle who can eventually elevate into a starting role.”
Tiernan earned second-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior, posting an 84.3 PFF pass-blocking grade, which ranked third in the Big Ten and ninth nationally among offensive tackles. He allowed zero sacks in eight of nine conference games as a senior, one sack over the final six games of his junior season and one all season as a sophomore.
