From Lewis, Colorado to Brookings, South Dakota – Tyler Weir is chasing his dreams.
After moving through Lewis-Arriola Elementary and Dolores Middle School, he attended Dolores High School for three years before moving to Arvada and graduating from Pomona High School in 2014. A gifted athlete, Weir participated in football, basketball, baseball and track.
But it was on the football field that he garnered the most attention.
Weir was named to the 2013 Class 5A North Metro League’s all-conference second team as a tight end/offensive lineman in his lone season at Pomona, and the Panthers finished 9-3, falling in the Class 5A state quarterfinals.
He had interest from Colorado State University and a handful of FCS and Division II schools. But it was the Division I FCS South Dakota State Jackrabbits that eventually drew Weir in. He said it was their vision of winning a championship that led him to sign with the Jacks.
“I think every school has that vision,” he explained. “But there it was the most obtainable, and the coaches were a really big part of me making the decision to go up there.”
Weir redshirted during his freshman season in Brookings, but then saw action in three games last year, recording his first collegiate snaps in the Jackrabbits’ 55-10 win over Southern Utah.
“It was a big personal thing, especially coming from such a small town to eventually achieving my dream of getting a division one scholarship and then getting to play for the very first time,” he said of the milestone. “That was a pretty cool deal.”
He was also named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference Honor Roll in his first two years at SDSU.
Weir has appeared in five games this season, mixing it up at left guard, right guard, and center. And the Jackrabbits capped off the regular season with a 45-24 win over Northern Iowa to claim their first Missouri Valley Football Conference title in program history.
“Overall, with what I’ve been a part of, it would have to be last week when we won the conference championship,” Weir said when asked of this season’s highlight. “Because that had been a huge goal of ours as a team to accomplish and then to finally win the valley was kind of a huge sigh of relief.”
With an 8-3 regular season record and league championship, the Jacks earned an automatic bid into the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. As the No. 8 seed in the FCS Playoffs, they received a bye last week in the opening round.
Set to host Villanova on Saturday, Dec. 3 in the second round, Weir and the Jackrabbits will take aim at their next target.
“We’re on to our next goal of winning a national title,” he said.