Recruiting Report: Tyler George (2021)

For a football program like Eden Prairie, a two-loss regular season and a playoff run that ends short of the state tournament can be deemed as disappointing. That is one of the downsides of being one of the top programs in Minnesota. If you ask junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1746" first="Tyler" last="George"]</strong>, the season – while he hoped it would have lasted a few games longer – was one to build on in the future. He feels with the experience they gained in 2019, they and George, are set up for a big 2020 season. "It was an exciting season," George said. "Obviously, it was exciting because I got to start, but also a lot of the team was new. We only had about half the starters returning from the previous year. I bunch of the team were new juniors. I am excited for next year – the team is going to be experienced." Although they were young – the Eagles’ focus didn’t waver. "We focused on doing the simple things right," George explained. "Our running game was our primary weapon on offense with a few extra things in the passing game. On defense, basically, the entire defense was juniors, so we were trying to learn to play the defense together." George came out of his junior season as a much better player than the player that started the season. "I played on special teams as a sophomore. That helped me keep calm and stay focused on the task in the first few games when I was starting this year. I learned a lot from our linebackers’ coach. I focused on playing downhill, playing faster, and being more explosive off the ball." George feels his strength as a middle linebacker has nothing to do with getting faster or more explosive. "My strength is recognizing the type of play they are running," the first-year starter said. "When we are in a defense that isn’t going to work against an offensive formation, I am good at getting us out of a bad play and into a better play. Just recognizing what the offense is doing and adjusting our defense at the last second – getting the team coordinated and working together. I still need to get better playing downhill. I am pretty good at reading plays, but I need to get better at trusting my instincts." After the season ended, George got right into his offseason. As everyone’s lives changed – outside of trying a new sport - George has tried to keep his routine as close as he can to the winter. "I was lifting weights this winter and am doing home workouts now. I have put on twenty pounds of good weight. I am happy with that. My squats have gone up a lot. This spring, I was going to do lacrosse for the first time." "A lot of the lifting program is bench, clean and squat – especially clean," the 6’0" 205-pound George continued. "That is a big emphasis for us." Like everything else in our lives, George’s recruitment has been modified. "Recruiting has been interesting. Obviously, a lot of stuff has been changing. Before, I liked talking to the coaches. It has been great learning about all the coaches and programs. I did a gameday visit to Grand View in Iowa. Other than that, I haven’t been able to get out to any schools since the quarantine started. I just got my first offer from Rose-Hulman, which is an engineering school in Indiana." The stay at home world we currently live in has not kept colleges from contacting George – virtually, of course – to get him to consider their school. "I have been talking to Minnesota State-Moorhead and just did a virtual visit with them Tuesday," the linebacker recruit explained. "I have been talking to Hamline and have been in contact with Columbia, Cornell, Liberty, and Yale." With multiple Ivy League schools in on George early, it should come as no surprise one of George’s passions outside of football. "I like to build stuff. Hopefully, I will be going into engineering," George told northstarfootballnews.com. "During the quarantine, I have built a salmon ladder like in American Ninja Warrior. I am also on the robotics team. The robotics team is kind of my second main hobby after football. My dad was into robotics when he was in college, and now, he is a robotics coach. I have grown up around it. I enjoy designing the robot and competing with it in competitions." Hopefully, once the fall rolls around, George, along with all high school athletes, will be competing on athletic fields and courts too.