Domowitch: Word is Eagles are intrigued by LB Tavarres

MYKE TAVARRES has a tattoo on his arm that reads: "If you do not try, then you do not do. And if you do not do, then why are you here?''

His high school wrestling coach in Lake Oswego, Ore., used to recite the line before big matches. Tavarres was inspired enough by it to inscribe it on his body. I probably would've just written it on a Post-It note, but that's me.

"This quote has gotten me through everything,'' he said.

There's not much Tavarres has been reluctant to try, and very little he's failed at. He was a three-sport star in high school (football, wrestling, track). He was a decathlete and hurdler in junior college in addition to being a two-time all-conference linebacker.

The one year he spent at Arkansas, when he barely got on the field, didn't turn out too well. But he transferred to Incarnate Word, which, contrary to popular opinion, is a Division I FCS school in San Antonio, Texas, not an order of nuns, and caught the eye of NFL scouts with his impressive athleticism in his one season there.

As a standup defensive end/linebacker, he had 110 tackles, 22 1/2 for losses, and 8 1/2 sacks. For those who flunked math, that means one out of every five tackles he made last year was on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Even at an FCS school, that's pretty damn impressive.

"I never thought I'd use (the words) Incarnate Word at a press conference,'' Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz joked this spring when asked about Tavarres, who signed with the Birds after the draft as a priority free agent.

"I don't know a whole lot about college football, but they actually played a pretty good schedule last year. They played UTEP. They played Stephen F. Austin. They played Sam Houston State. They played teams that I'm familiar with.

"You were able to see him (against good competition). But he played at the line of scrimmage. He was 235 pounds. He's not that guy (here). He's going through the transition of moving back (to a 4-3 outside linebacker) and being more coverage-oriented. I think that's going to best fit his skill set. He can run.''

The transition from a standup rusher to an outside linebacker in Schwartz's defensive scheme isn't exactly a piece of cake. Tavarres has had his ups and downs the first two weeks of training camp. But Schwartz is intrigued by his athleticism. So is special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.

"My goal on every special team is to be the first one down there,'' Tavarres said. "And not just get down there, but get down there and make the play and make the tackle.''

He'll get an opportunity to do that Thursday when the Eagles play their first preseason game against the Tampa Bay Bucs at the Linc.

The Eagles were one of four teams that wanted to sign Tavarres as a free agent after the draft. The other three were San Francisco, Detroit and Seattle.

He said the 49ers wanted to use him in a similar role to the one he had at Incarnate Word - as a standup edge rusher. The Lions and Seahawks viewed him as a linebacker/safety hybrid, similar to the way Arizona uses Deone Bucannon.

But Tavrarres ended up signing with the Eagles for several reasons, including the fact that they offered slightly more money than the other three teams.

"(The extra money) was nice, but I'm not really focused on the money,'' he said. "I just wanted the opportunity to come here. I know I'm going to have to work hard regardless.''

The Eagles have just one backup linebacker with more than one year of NFL experience - Najee Goode. So Tavarres knows there are job opportunities here if he plays well this summer. He also was attracted to Schwartz's attack-minded defense.

"It was in my best interest to come here, especially with the depth chart at linebacker,'' Tavarres said. "The opportunity to play in this scheme (was appealing). For a linebacker like me, I can play sideline to sideline, which plays to my strengths.

"But also knowing I could come in and possibly get some playing time on special teams was also a big factor."

The 6-1 Tavarres, who has bulked up to 240 pounds since signing with the Eagles, had precious little experience at dropping into coverage. It has shown at times in practice. But Schwartz clearly thinks he can learn. Tavarres went to a junior college after high school - the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, Calif., then transferred to Arkansas.

"It just didn't work out there,'' he said of his one year. "I went in with the mindset to focus on football and get my degree. But things didn't pan out the way I thought they would.

"I'm not going to point blame on anyone. It was what it was. I'm not real upset about it. I enjoyed my time at Incarnate Word and ended up with a great organization.''

Tavarres had never heard of Incarnate Word until he was watching a documentary on former NFL running back Ricky Williams and it was mentioned that Williams was working as an assistant coach at Incarnate Word.

About the same time, one of Tavarres' former junior college teammates, who was playing for Incarnate Word, called him and told him he should check out the school.

"He said I'd love it there,'' Tavarres said. "He said the coaches are pretty relaxed and it would give me a chance to just have fun and play the game. That was the second time I had heard about it. I figured it was a sign. So I went and checked it out and things turned out phenomenally.''

Tavarres hopes he eventually can say the same thing about signing with the Eagles.

@Pdomo