Elsbury a great fit for the Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes may have gotten a little assist on the recruiting trail in landing 2020 offensive lineman Tyler Elsbury out of Byron, IL. Former Hawkeye Sean Considine is the defensive coordinator for the Byron High School football team and has known Elsbury since he was very young. He shares his thoughts on Elsbury's recruiting process and his potential once he gets to Iowa City.
Q: What are your thoughts on Tyler Elsbury going to Iowa?
CONSIDINE: Obviously I am thrilled that Tyler ended up pulling the trigger. Since the beginning, he made sense for Iowa, but he wanted to go through the process and look at other places. I really tried to take a hands off approach with him because of my background and he knows what I think about Iowa. He had other people in his family who had pretty strong and positive feelings about Iowa. His grandparents are Hawkeye fans, so everyone tried to not put pressure on him. I think at the end of the day, after looking at the other schools, it just made sense for him to go to Iowa.
Q: How long have you known Tyler?
CONSIDINE: Basically since he was a baby. Tyler has been the local small town kid that everyone has known for a long time. Really since he was young, he was always the biggest kid in his class. He was always tall and bigger, so everyone in a small town will watch him and think that maybe he could make it someday. Now he’s 6-5 and about 300 pounds and in a small town, he has always stuck out.
When you are built like him, all the kids in town want to be around him and hang out with him and he’s a teddy bear with them. All the kids look up to him and he has a great personality.
Q: Does he kind of fit as the prototypical Iowa offensive lineman? He seems like he fits their profile as a prospect that fits well at Iowa and how they operate.
CONSIDINE: Yeah, he does. He’s an extremely coachable kid. He wants to be around people that want to help him and make him better. He will listen and do whatever it takes to get better. He has the size and the toughness. He has a wrestling background and those type of guys do well at Iowa. I think he has a lot of the things that a typical college football program looks for, but beyond that he has the right mentality for Iowa and I think he’s going to be a great fit for the way Iowa does things.
He’s one of those guys that will be a great teammate and he will do anything that Coach Doyle asks him to do. When you are willing to use all the resources around you, and Tyler is that type of kid, then you fit in really well at Iowa.
Q: What role did you play in getting Tyler on Iowa’s radar?
CONSIDINE: When he was a freshman, we could have probably moved him up to varsity and he could have helped us that year. His dad, Mike, was the varsity coach at Byron a few years ago and we have a great relationship. The head coach and Mike sat down and thought it would probably be best to keep him down at the freshman/sophomore level that first year.
I just let Iowa know that we had a kid who was probably 6-4 and 260 as a freshman and looked like a potential D1 recruit already. I just told them to keep an eye on him. Then as a sophomore he was playing a lot and we made a good playoff run against some better schools and they were following him.
Iowa was the first program to really get involved along with a school like Northern Illinois. I just kept talking to Phil Parker and Seth Wallace and letting them know that he was legit.
Q: Then you got him to camp at Iowa and that kind of sealed the deal for the offer?
CONSIDINE: After his sophomore year they sent Coach Polasek out to see him and then he went to their camp. They basically offered him on the spot. Once he got a look at him in-person to go along with the tape he had a sophomore, they were ready to offer. He’s actually going to go to camp again this year.
Q: It was kind of interesting that Elsbury committed basically right after Josh Volk, another OL in the 2020 class, did on Friday night. Was there any connection?
CONSIDINE: I don’t think there was anything specific. I do know that Volk’s dad went to Coe College and that’s where Tyler’s dad played at. I would imagine that they knew of each other. Plus, during the recruiting process, kids get to know each other on visits. But, I don’t think this was a planned thing.
I think the other thing is the coaches let prospects know during the process where they stand as far as needs in a class and how many they are taking at a position. I wasn’t involved in it, but I’m guessing once one domino falls, then kids take notice.
Q: What do you project for him at Iowa? Is he a guard or a tackle?
CONSIDINE: I think with his size, I think a lot of folks think he’s a guard. But, he has really good quickness and agility. He is also a standard smaller town kid that does three sports, kind of like what I did in high school. You spend two months on each sport and you don’t get as much time in the weight room as you would like. I think multiple sport athletes are great because you learn several different skill sets.
I think when Tyler gets to Iowa and gets stimulated by what Coach Doyle does and focuses on football and strength and conditioning, I could see him really blossoming and improving very quickly.
As far as his position, I could really see him anywhere. He could pick up just about anything and do it well pretty quickly. He’s a really smart kid too.