Recruiting Report: Joey Tilzer (Orono-2021)
In today’s recruiting profile we talked to another key to Orono’s success for the 2020 season: linebacker, Joey Tilzer. Two months ago we featured Joey’s teammate, wide receiver . Tilzer earned an all-district honorable mention, Orono’s defensive MVP and lead…
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Continue ReadingIn today’s recruiting profile we talked to another key to Orono’s success for the 2020 season: linebacker, Joey Tilzer. Two months ago we featured Joey’s teammate, wide receiver . Tilzer earned an all-district honorable mention, Orono’s defensive MVP and lead the team in tackles. The fire-plug of a linebacker earned all of the honors playing the entire season with a taped-up club due to a broken hand.
Joey Tilzer
Position: Linebacker (Middle)
Height: 5’9″ Weight: 208
Max Bench: 305lbs
Tilzer shows the ability to identify the ball carrier and diagnose the play quickly which is why he seems to often be in the right place at the right time. He’s strong at the point of attack but shoots gaps and that often enables him to make contact at or behind the line of scrimmage. While Tilzer may not be as big or fast as other linebackers, his instincts and aggressiveness more than make up for it.
Northstar Football News chatted about football with Joey recently:
NFN: What would you consider your strengths, on the field?
Tilzer: My strengths in football are reading plays, zone coverages, and overall knowledge on the field. I also find ways to make big plays in big moments.
NFN: Do you have any mentors or players you look up to?
TIlzer: A linebacker I look up to is Sam Mills who was a former NFL player who has passed away. He was short for a middle linebacker but managed to be an amazing player because of how smart and tenacious he was on the field. I try to model my game on his. He was also a very good and tough man outside of football. He was coaching for the panthers while he had cancer and he developed a phrase, “keep pounding” that the Panthers still use. And I hold that quote tightly because it reminds me no matter how tough something is or how much it hurts you gotta keep pushing.
NFN: Are there any teammates you’d like to be like in some way and tell us why?
Tilzer: A teammate I would like to be like and who pushes me to become better is Dave Wilfert, Class of 2021. He has an extremely great work ethic and is great at pushing others. Another teammate I’d like to be like is Chad Mrachek because of how he helped mentor underclassmen, including myself, when I was a sophomore to see what you need to do to be a varsity football player. I want to mentor some of our younger players in a similar way.
NFN: What were your biggest challenges this season?
Tlzer: Individually this year I suffered many injuries including two sprained ankles in the preseason and a broken hand in the first quarter of the first game. It was difficult to play through the pain in all of our games but it was a challenge I did overcome. As a team, a challenging opponent we faced was Benilde St Margarets because of how physical and well-coached they were.
NFN: What was the biggest moment in your high school career so far?
TIlzer: The biggest moment of my varsity football career so far was getting an interception in overtime to win our homecoming game in my sophomore season.
Recruiting Status:
Joey has attended gameday invites from North Dakota State University, Carleton College, Macalester College.
Check out Junior Season 2019-2020 Highlights on @Hudl https://t.co/O5TKfaetRD #hudl
— Michael Crow (@sportsotamike) February 21, 2020