News / Penn State

So proud you Chris! @chris_tyree4 Chris won States this weekend in the 55m dash. His time of 6.30 is currently the #1 time in the US!! Chris also placed 2nd in the LJ at states. Stay humble and keep grinding!! @milesplit @RivalsFriedman @SWiltfong247 @HamiltonESPN pic.twitter.com/bLUfWwRrvd

— Richard Tyree (@RichardTyree) February 25, 2019

The nation's top  2020 high school runningback, Chris Tyree out of Virginia, competed in his state's 55 meter dash this past weekend.  As you can see in his dad's clip on his Twitter page Tyree is smoking fast.  Elite fast.  Tyree not only smoked the competition but he ran a nation's best 6.3.  To put it in perspective that equates to running a 4.189 in the 40 yard dash.  Deion Sanders ran a 4.21 at the 1989 NFL Combine.  Does that mean Primetime wears Chris Tyree's pajamas?

Chris Tyree is the 6A 55m dash STATE CHAMPION! He is also currently ranked US #1 !!! pic.twitter.com/wEEMETHVz0

— Thomas Dale TF/XC (@TDKnightsTFXC) February 23, 2019

All joking aside Tyree has Olympic elite track speed that every college football program would love to have on their team.  Tyree has the speed you only see come around once in a while.  Bo Jackson had it.  Rocket Ismail had it and obviously Deion had it.  The question remains which college football team will be strutting out Tyree as a true freshman in 2020?

Right now Tyree has more than 31 D1 offers and that will only go up after this past weekend.  So far Tyree has visited Penn State and Happy Valley 5 times and they are seen as the early favorites for his commitment.  Coming in second with visits is the in-state Virginia Tech Hokies with 3.  Tyree recently visited Oklahoma in early February.  In December Tyree visited Notre Dame and is scheduled to return for an official to South Bend on June 21-23 with the whole family.  Michigan got a visit last month.  Alabama is getting a visit next month and FSU is pushing hard for Tyree's services.

Listed at 5'10 and 185 lbs Tyree isn't an every down back.  He's seen as an all-purpose back who can split out and catch the ball when not lining up in the backfield.  He's too small right now to be an every down back and will clearly need to bulk up in a college football weight program to take the beating on fall Saturdays.  With that being said Tyree is an elite RB who can change the fortunes of any football program.

If you watched the college football playoffs you could see the difference an elite freshman playmaker can have on a program.  Clemson used freshmen QB Trevor Lawrence and WR Justyn Ross (both 5-Stars) to shred both Notre Dame and Alabama defenses in route to a perfect 15-0 record and a National Championship.  Without those two true freshmen Clemson would probably be home shaking their heads about what could have been like the year before when they got smoked by Alabama in the playoffs.  Getting Tyree could be on the same level as getting a Ross out of Alabama was for Clemson.

The only team in the playoffs without those true game day play makers was Notre Dame.  Right now the Fighting Irish don't have an elite talent at RB on their roster.  Don't get me wrong they have some good backs in Jafar Armstrong and Tony Jones Jr but neither of those guys are "5-star can change a game with the ball in their hands" type of players.  Or as some would call them home run backs.  Which is why new ND RB coach Lance Taylor's #1 priority is to get Chris Tyree to sign his letter of intent for the Fighting Irish.  If Notre Dame wants to compete with the big boys in Alabama and Clemson they need to have a play maker with Tyree's speed on the field.  Taylor's recruiting prowess was a deciding factor for his hire because the man he replaced, Autry Denson, simply wasn't getting the recruiting job done by ND standards.

With about 10 months to go till signing day Tyree's recruitment is still wide open.  Penn State is the presumptive favorite but anyone from Alabama to Notre Dame to Oklahoma to Michigan to Virginia Tech could woo the top RB prospect in the nation.  Getting somebody with Tyree's speed could make the difference between not only a playoff appearance but actually winning the whole thing.  Just ask Dabo.