25 college football records that will never be broken
No one in the history of college football has been credited with more tackles than Tim McGarigle, who amassed 545 stops across four seasons as a linebacker at Northwestern – an average of 136.3 per season, and 11.9 per game.
McGarigle played in ten games for the Wildcats as a freshman in 2002, and didn’t move into the starting lineup until the final five games of the season. However, he still accumulated 98 total tackles (50 solo) as a weak-side linebacker. The following season, the Chicago native moved to middle linebacker and tallied 140 total tackles (82 solos) and was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten. As a junior, McGarigle passed the century mark in solo tackles with 102, which led the nation, and he ranked third in the country with 151 total stops. Finally, as a senior, McGarigle racked up 156 total tackles (81 solo) and was named a Third-Team All-American, and passed Southern Miss’ record of 526.
When he left Northwesten, McGarigle was one of only four players in history to make more than 300 solo tackles, and his 319 career solo stops ranked second only to Davis.
After three seasons in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, and a two-year stint with the Florida Tuskers of the UFL, McGarigle returned to Northwestern as a graduate assistant coach. He was hired to coach linebackers at Western Michigan in 2012, and currently holds the position of Linebackers Coach and Run Game Coordinator on P.J. Fleck’s staff with the Broncos.
The biggest threat to McGarigle was Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, who averaged a record 14.0 tackles per game in three seasons at Boston College before leaving for the NFL.
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