Why 8-man football player Tyson Struber of Canton-Galva picked K-State in recruiting
It would be difficult to find a better athlete in the 8-man football ranks in Kansas this season than Canton-Galva’s Tyson Struber.
Struber is rated as a three-star prospect in the class of 2022 by recruiting services and has committed early to play college football at Kansas State. With measurables of 6 foot 3 and 200 pounds to go along with his speed — evident by a state title on the track this spring and a 4.44 time in the 40-yard dash — he certainly looks the part of a Division I athlete.
With his commitment to the Wildcats locked up, Struber said his focus this summer has been to prepare himself for the Big 12.
“Now that I don’t have to stress about it, I can focus on becoming better, bigger, faster, stronger,” Struber said. “I have one more high school season to make my mark and then it’s off to Manhattan.”
Canton-Galva figures to be one of the best 8-man football teams in the state this season with the return of Struber, a standout wide receiver and safety. He caught 58 passes for 810 yards from quarterback Garrett Maltbie, who is also back, and accounted for more than 1,100 yards of total offense and 19 touchdowns, while he also recorded 102 tackles and 10 interceptions on defense.
After helping lead Canton-Galva to a state championship in 2019, the team lost in the quarterfinals during last season’s playoffs. Struber said his goal is to hoist another trophy at Canton-Galva in his last season.
Even though Struber is elite at this level of football, he knows the monumental transition he faces once he heads to college. He will quite literally be playing an entirely different game.
“I feel like the biggest transition for me will be learning the 11-man game,” Struber said. “Obviously they’re both football, but they’ve got their differences. So I’ve got to get in that weight room and get faster and stronger because college football is no joke. You can’t go in and expect it to be like high school football. You go from the top of the totem pole in high school, right back down to the bottom in college and you have to prove yourself and prove to people that you belong there. I’m excited to do that.”
K-State wasn’t the only option for Struber to prove himself at the Division I level — KU also offered the 8-man product last summer.
After months of talking during his high school football season, Struber said K-State coach Chris Klieman and his staff stood out. That feeling was only solidified when Struber was able to take his first unofficial visit on campus at the start of June.
“Just the way they called and were always asking me how it was going and how my family was doing,” Struber said. “I felt like they always wanted to know more about me. That made me feel welcomed.”
Also in K-State’s favor? The program’s track record of turning small-town Kansas players into Big 12 standouts.
Struber hopes to be the next one.
“That mattered a lot to me,” Struber said. “Sometimes small-town kids don’t get the recognition they deserve. We put in a lot of work and it takes a lot of effort and motivation to do that. I really like that they don’t look past the small-town kids. That’s a really big respect factor for me.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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