This story can also have a quiet conclusion. After completing his senior year at Norman High School and accepting the only Division I scholarship offer available, a tall, athletic child in Norman, Oklahoma, fades into the comfortable obscurity that envelops the majority of college football players who were never heavily recruited. His name might not have been known to anyone outside of central Oklahoma. That was not the case. However, it nearly did.
George Kittle moved through Iowa City and Cedar Falls during his father’s coaching career before transferring to Norman High School as a sophomore. Apart from anything athletic, starting a new school in mid-high school is a unique kind of challenge, and it’s noteworthy how fast Kittle seemed to settle in. He was not merely selected for the football team. He also made the basketball team, starting at center on the varsity squad following a four-inch growth spurt that transformed him from a shooting guard into a physical post presence with an emphasis on defense and rebounding. The child adjusted. Later on, that quality would be important.
Kittle was used by Norman in almost every position on the football field, including defensive back, tight end, wide receiver, and linebacker. By the standards of players who draw national recruiting attention, his senior season stats—26 receptions, slightly over 300 yards, five touchdowns, and five interceptions—were not particularly impressive. However, he was recognized as an all-state, all-district, and all-conference player, which is significant for a program in Oklahoma, a state where football is deeply ingrained and competition is truly fierce. Apparently, scouts didn’t see it that way. For the majority of his senior year, the Air Force extended the only Division I offer he was given. That was all.
It’s difficult to ignore the gap between that image and the subsequent one. He was ultimately selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, 146th overall, which is the kind of selection teams make when they are unsure of what they have. He had surpassed tight end Travis Kelce’s record for receiving yards in a single season in just two seasons. He received two First-Team All-Pro selections, seven Pro Bowl selections, and a contract that made him the highest-paid tight end in the league in less than ten years. Major programs were unable to accommodate the same player on their recruiting boards.
There’s a temptation to read his high school story again as you watch that arc develop because it’s clearly full of potential that everyone overlooked. Most likely, it wasn’t that easy. According to his recruiting profile from those years, he was a tall, rangy athlete with good movement skills, but his scout grade put him firmly out of the running for elite programs. The results of the combine test were not particularly impressive. Coaches attempting to project him into their systems may have been further confused by the fact that he was listed as a wide receiver rather than a tight end. The instruments were present. Apparently, those looking were not yet able to see the polish.
Bruce, his father, had coached college football for many years, played at Iowa, and co-captained a Rose Bowl team there. Jan, his mother, was an accomplished athlete who was named an All-America basketball player at Drake University. Growing up surrounded by athletic culture, George Kittle watched movies, learned about competition, and absorbed the mindset of those who took sports seriously. This background tends to influence how athletes react when things don’t go their way, but it doesn’t always translate into recruiting rankings.
In a college town already dominated by University of Oklahoma football, Norman High School is located on West Main Street. It’s the kind of setting where there is a lot of athletic talent and there is a real pressure to stand out. Kittle was notable enough to receive those all-state awards, but not enough to persuade universities outside of a single service academy that he deserved a scholarship. Following in his father’s footsteps, he eventually committed to Iowa, and the rest is the kind of tale that is told in broadcast booths on Sunday night games. Norman’s neglected child. Even after seven Pro Bowls, it still seems a little unlikely.
