Recruiting Report: Tywon Nash (Itasca Community College 2020)

Tywon Nash is a 6'2, 225 lb. linebacker who played his prep ball at my alma mater Minneapolis Southwest High School where he had a successful prep career in the Twin City subdistricts. The former Twin City All-Distrcit selection and team captain at Southwest went onto play junior college (juco) ball in Grand Rapids, Minnesota at Itasca Community College (ICC), which has one of the strongest juco traditions in the Minnesota. Nash transitioned from Southwest to have a great career that wrapped up well with Itasca, as he was selected 1st Team All-MCAC (Minnesota College Athletic Conference) in his sophomore and last junior college season. With a less traditional path taken to a college football program, I felt extremely excited and honored when Nash agreed to be interviewed for a "Recruitment Report" for Northstar Football News, especially since he is a former Southwest Laker. I learned quite a lot about Nash, the juco football experience, ICC, and Nash's college recruitment thus far. In the week since our interview, Nash has received two college offers that I am excited to present to you guys. I hope you enjoy! NFN: Hello and thank you for your time, Tywon. Go Lakers and congrats on your college success at Itasca. If you could, please share with our readers a little bit about yourself. Nash: "I’m from North Minneapolis and I started playing football in 6th grade so around 12 or 13 years old. Something interesting is I’ve played every position in football & normally been a captain every year I’ve played. I love football because of the competition I don’t think there’s another sport with that much competition. I’m 6’2, 225, run a 4.6 40, 265 bench, 445 squat, 235 clean, and had 50-60ish tackles 8 sacks 5 FF 4 FR this year." NFN: Elaborate on your recruitment out of high school and how you chose the JUCO path. What is playing JUCO like and how has your career been in Grand Rapids? Nash: "Out of highschool I was recruited by a lot of D2's and I was looked at by D1’s but mainly D2’s for inside linebacker but my grades weren’t up to par so I had to take the Juco route and got a offer from majority of every Juco in the MCAC and looked at by a couple out of state. I love the support from our actually fans and coach’s they do more than teach you football they teach you life skills too. Playing Juco is crazy you can look someone directly in their eyes and can see they want to get to the next level it brings out a different level of competition and in Juco it builds relationship with the people in it. [caption id="attachment_15275" align="alignright" width="300"] Nash leading his high school, Minneapolis Southwest, out for a game.[/caption] It’s different from high school because in high school you get chances after chances and get on the team no matter what. In Juco theres no second chance you have to do what you need to do to get to the next level and if you don’t than it’s the end of the road for you. My first year I didn’t play as much as I wanted to but I definitely made up for it this year. My first year we were 6-3 fell in the first round of the playoffs but this year we went 8-3 lost in the championship but we have a bowl game so it’s right back to work. So good games this year was Vs NDSCS Vs Mesabi Vs Rochester. There’s two different conferences in the east (our division) I’ll say Itasca Mesabi & CLC in the West I’ll say NDSCS and Northland in the East." NFN: How did this year go for you personally and the team? Nash: "I played my best this year especially since this is only my second season actually playing defense. But I can definitely improve and keep learning. We played a lot of competition but the best rounded teams we played was NDSCS (North Dakota State College of Science) & CLC (Central Lakes) we beat NDSCS both times but it wasn’t easy but we lost to CLC both times but didn’t go down without a fight." NFN: Any recruiting news? What are you looking for in a college team and who has been in contact with you? Nash: "Honestly I’m interested in a lot of teams but the main thing I’m interested in is the atmosphere I want to feel like I’m apart of something special and want to feel like it’s a home. I’m considering any school that’s willing to take the risk and I can try and help win the championship with them. I’ve been contacted by schools D1 D2 D3 and NAIA I’m going to well out my options though. The recruiting process isn’t that much different but it’s definitely more stressful because you have to have certain things in order to transfer." Since this interview, Nash has picked up scholarship offers from Kansas Wesleyan, OUAZ, and Southwest College. They are the first of many I am sure. Congrats, Tywon! Senior year prep Hudl: <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/5638831/59f57afc664b3e0e64689522">https://www.hudl.com/video/3/5638831/59f57afc664b3e0e64689522</a> Sophomore year JUCO Hudl: <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/5638831/5721d18564e96b63801cb5b0">https://www.hudl.com/video/3/5638831/5721d18564e96b63801cb5b0</a>