This linebacker class in this region of North Carolina is very DEEP in terms of overall talent, and it was difficult to pick the order of these next players. So I leaned on what I’ve seen in person and production over the past couple of years, and Tanner won the best of those areas for me. He’s been involved in a lot of winning in the Blue Devils program, and he’s a tackling machine from the linebacker spot. He’s a two-time All-Conference player who had 100 tackles, 18 and a half tackles for loss, and 40 quarterback hurries last season. He’ll be expected to be a defensive leader for a Mooresville team that lost a good bit of talent to graduation this past season. Tanner has college football interest from a number of programs, and I expect that to continue as we head into camp season.

Tanner Finnerty Tanner Finnerty 5'11" | 185 lbs | LB Mooresville | 2027 State NC is a true sideline-to-sideline maniac at linebacker for Mooresville. He finished last season with 83 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks, constantly living in the backfield and around the football. Finnerty plays with high energy and urgency, flowing quickly to the ball and finishing with physicality. His ability to scrape over the top, shoot gaps, and create negative plays makes him a disruptive presence every snap. When you turn on the film, No. ___ is always around the action — the kind of linebacker offenses have to account for before the ball is even snapped.

Already one of our favorite linebackers in the state, Finnerty continues to impress this spring. He has size, speed, and production that have impressed us enough to continue to inch him up our rankings. We’re still waiting to see if he can blow up on the recruiting trail this summer, but he’s a guy we like more than his consensus recruiting interest.

Tanner played a good game as one of the linebackers in the middle of the field. Tanner played a key role in shutting down the running game of Providence, as they could never get anything really established at all. I also thought Tanner did a good job of playing pass coverage from his linebacker spot as well.

Finnerty has been everywhere for Mooresville against some strong offenses. He’s played sideline to sideline and has delivered hard hits all year. Finnerty has done well both in coverage and in the running game, where he’s been able to sort through trash on the inside to pick out ball-carriers, despite not being the biggest linebacker you’ll find.

I have seen Tanner play in person, and I’m impressed with his fundamentals first and foremost as a linebacker. Tanner does a good job with reading the play as a middle linebacker, scraping to the football, and making tackles in slowing down the interior run game. Reviewing his Twitter profile, Tanner is an extremely strong and hard working prospect. I’m excited to see how he progresses this season.