From Walk-On to First Team: Beating the Odds with North Texas WR James Tyre | IN THE MAKING Ep 6

In Episode 6 of IN THE MAKING, we sit down with North Texas wide receiver James Tyre to discuss his journey from walk-on to First Team honors, the challenges of switching positions, and the obstacles he had to overcome along the way.

James shares what it took to earn opportunities, develop his game, and stay committed through adversity. We also dive into his transition to North Texas on scholarship, the lessons he’s learned throughout his career, and what this next chapter means for his future both on and off the field.

Whether you’re an athlete chasing your goals, a fan of underdog stories, or someone looking for motivation to keep pushing forward, this episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiration.

Follow James Tyre:
IG: JamesTyre_
X: TheJamesTyre

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

For those of you who don't know, I think we have to do it. We are here on In the Making with James Tyree at his high school alum, Lambert High School. James is reaching 6'7A player of the year at quarterback position. And then he spent two years at Western Carolina. Last year, James recorded 68 receptions for 832 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging over 12 yards per catch, nearly over 70 yards per game. He delivered multiple big time gains, including 112 yards and a touchdown against Charleston. And then three touchdowns, the game that I was at against UTC on their homecoming. Yeah, and he's just been continuously growing and getting better each and every year. So yeah, here we are. Let's go. So I've known you since grade. I'm just going off the top right now. I gotta hear me talking now. So yeah, since like sixth grade. Yeah, you I remember doing your first basketball highlight. Your mom said use eye of the tiger. Yeah, yeah. My mom's going crazy with the music. Yeah, we came a long way from John's Creek feeder to here. Um just talk about your journey and even, yeah, we can start from the very beginning and just work our way up. But just coming through seventh, eighth grade, you decide to choose Lambert High School, and just talk about that transition. You were playing quarterback in your freshman year throughout. Um, but they had you at, what was it, wide receiver? Your first. Yeah, so COVID hit, and just yeah, just talk about entering Lambert, starting freshman, and having to be at a new position at wide receiver that first, I think that first year and a half maybe, or okay, uh yeah, so when I first got to Lambert, I didn't even think I was gonna really be a football player at the next level.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I really thought basketball, to be honest, because we came to Lambert mainly because Coach Scott Bracco was the head coach here. And so I thought I was gonna be a basketball player this whole time. So I get to Lambert and we heard there's like a huge we have a good football team, like a good freshman class. So I was like, okay, that's awesome. And like I'm coming in as quarterback, so we I played on the freshman team when I first got here. I mean I was I was I was really small back then.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

So I was playing on the freshman team. How tall, yeah, because you're what five, nine, five, ten now? Yeah. Five, five, ten.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

So you were like I was like probably five, three, five, like four. Like I was small. Five, three, five, four at the quarterback position. Yeah, crazy. And um, so we ended up having like a good freshman year or whatever. And then we start to, so I start to grow in a little bit, and we get into my sophomore season, and that's when uh the COVID hit and everything. So we were having positions getting taken out of uh because they got quarantined. Uh so I was playing quarterback for a little bit, and then one of our star receivers gets taken out for quarantine, so I switched back to receiver, and at this point I'm just going out there just running around, balling, like just getting the ball, trying to make something happen.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Did you was that a different learning career? Because you've been quarterback your whole majority.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Oh, 100%. It was it was a whole different level of the game, but the thing that quarterback helped me a lot with was I was already knowing if I was gonna get the ball, if I was gonna be open, if I wasn't gonna be open, like I'm already I'm playing chess while they're playing checkers.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Mm-hmm. You kind of already can read the quarterback because that's how you would kind of read it. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Uh and then uh there was a moment, I know leading on to like your senior year, you you played a little bit of safety. So how like to be able to be multiple, be able to play multiple positions, how how did that mentally were you just like okay, I know this is the spot, I know the reads, I know how to wide receiver runs, like what was kind of like your thought process on that.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yeah, so I mean, Coach Beach was my uh high school head coach, great dude, phenomenal. Like he trusted me, I trusted him, so he knew I could go back there. And I mean, I was just being an athlete back there. I would go in at like critical third downs or fourth downs when it was they knew it was gonna really be a pass because they didn't want to be tackling and or could get hurt. But yeah, I ended up getting a pick one game and it was yeah, so it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Yeah, and uh kind of just uh discuss. I know we did our our documentary uh That was fine. Yeah, we did it, yeah, we did our documentary uh just showing the growth going from zero to ten record as he came in as a freshman to them going ten and two. Just talk about that vision and just like when did you know, like, okay, I'm ready to be the starting varsity quarterback to to win some games.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, I mean that is one of the craziest documentaries I've ever watched in my life. And I mean, going from a team zero and ten to ten and two is just you you don't hear of that.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

But I mean, I always knew, like I've had that fire in me, that line in me where I always knew I'm that guy, like I'm I'm gonna be that guy for a team. And especially when it was my team with a bunch of childhood best friends growing up with each other, and like when you're in chemistry and when you're so close with a team, you can do the unthinkable, and that's what we did. So I just I'm grateful for that.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, and just talk about talk about your process. So you you're a player of the year, um you're killing it, your stats are crazy. Just talk about that uh that process of getting recruited and getting scouted. Uh, I know that was probably tough and like mentally just looking at it. If if they saw what I saw and saw the videos and saw the stat lines and that's 6A, 7A, what was that, 7A? 7A. Yeah, and you're in 7A playing against bigger schools, putting up those numbers. Um just talk about that process.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, I mean, I wasn't recruited heavy at all at a high school. I mean, the only pre people that were really talking to me were like D3s or D2s. And I mean, no shame to them, but I knew I was a better player than that. So uh Western Carolina took a big chance on me and gave me the opportunity to walk on there. And that was and that was very late too. I was thinking like I I might be done with football. Like that that was going through my head, which I would never want to happen. And Western Carolina ended up giving me a call and they said they would give me a chance to go out there and walk on and go make a name for myself.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, and talk about that first year and that process, like going into a bigger school, which is D1, um, and just figuring out the routine, figuring out the practices, um, knowing that you're a walk-on, um, and just someone that has to prove themselves. Just talk about that and the obstacles you had to go through.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah, so when I first got there, my appendix actually like I had some, I almost had an appendicit I had an appendicitis and it almost burst. So the day before I'm supposed to drive up there, I had to get rushed to the ER and they had to do like an open cut surgery on me. And I had to, I wasn't able to get up there until like four days later, and then I wasn't able to practice the whole entire summer. And I they were like, we're only bringing five quarterbacks in, so you're gonna have to, if you wanna go to camp, go to swall camp, if you want to go to camp, then you're gonna have to go play receiver. And I was like, I stepped up to the opportunity, and Coach Cade Bell, who's a phenomenal coach, really stuck with me and believed in me that I could be a next Julian Edelman, and he would always send me clips. So I it kind of gave me like a like a thought to or a person to look up to. And I just studied him and just tried to mimic my game after him and just had this.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

So how did that appendix like it just ran him or how did it be? It was it was the worst pain I ever felt in my life.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

You just woke up and I I woke up and I couldn't move. If I moved a muscle, like I'd start throwing up. I threw up like 30 times, like I couldn't eat anything, couldn't drink anything.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It was So what what was the duration of that?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Like how much time of like training, training camp or like So I missed like the whole June and July, and then fall camp starts right August 1st.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

So I came back just for August 1st, but I also haven't been doing anything for two months, so I just kind of came in and just So they were already thinking about okay, since we're only taking five quarterbacks, we're gonna try and transition you over to wide receiver. Yeah. Is that that was the thought process?

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah. And I mean I always had like a a thought that I was gonna play receiver because I'm a smaller dude. But I mean, it obviously worked out.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah. Yeah, so talk about that. So first year um they transitioned you to wide receiver. Did you even touch the the field that first year?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Nope, nope, I didn't touch the field at all. I would they red shirted me, and I really just grinded, learned the wide receiver position, tried to get my feet down, my eyes, my arms. Just I tried to learn the game of playing as a wide receiver because I already knew like the leverage and all that stuff that a quarterback would know for a receiver, but I really needed to learn from a receiver standpoint of how to play the game from that position. And that's kind of what I did for um my first year there, and my second year, I didn't really do much on the field. I played a little bit, but not much. I traveled all the games, and then that third year is when I really had a breakout season. And it's just straight work and grind the whole time. Yeah. Where'd he go? What's what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

And then I just that's usually how it goes too. I feel like a lot of players, they get they feel like they're rushed, they feel like they're not uh in a situation where like, oh I gotta be playing now, I gotta be doing this. But you were able to like develop, like, so like just talk about those three stages where it's like, okay, so first year you're just watching, second year you're getting a little feel for it, and then third year you just kind of just take off. Like, did the game just slow down that much for you, or was it just the development that you had?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

And I think the main thing, I mean, I had great coaches around me. I did, and I just think once they gave me that chance, I just took it and ran with it. Because I knew I really I I'm just I just know I'm a gamer. And once they gave me that chance, then you you couldn't they couldn't do anything else about it. The rest was history.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

So lead in, leading in uh, what is it, FBS, uh leading in touchdowns? Receiving touchdowns.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, that was like coming towards the last couple games.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah, multiple receptions every game. Uh like I already mentioned, um, what was that? Uh like 12 yards per per reception. Yeah, I had a great quarterback too. Yeah. Tiger.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

He went 46 for 46. Yeah, that was. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah. What was his uh the full name?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Uh Teron Dickens.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah, Teron Dickens, uh great quarterback as well. Um, but yeah, just that transition is was crazy. So talk about like um just the mental and then also like because you were still a walk-on all three of the years. I'm a walk-on this whole time. All three years.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I started I started the first game.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

It was the first game of the season? Mm-hmm. Wow, first game of the season.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Because they I wasn't even really supposed to start. And then uh another kid got hurt, and Tiger, Tehran, was always rooting for me to be the starter, which I respect that a lot. When uh some of the coaches didn't want me to be the starter, but Tiger did, and then I ended up starting, and then me and Tiger were very glad that I was starting. And then once I started, they just never gave it away because I didn't let them take it.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Yeah, no, that's amazing. Going from Western Carolina, breaking multiple records. Um, I think you were number one in that uh, I want to say yeah, number one in the conference, receiving touchdowns. You got first team.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Mm-hmm. First team all conference.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

First team all conference. Um, just now talk about after that last year, like were you already thinking of like transitioning? You already knew like you wanted to go to a different school, like kind of talk about the process. Now that we're such in a time of like so many transfers going from one school to another without sitting anymore, um, with NIL, just kind of like give like a small background on just like that process.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, so during the season, I wasn't thinking about transferring at all or any of that. I was just trying to be the best player I could for that team and for those coaches. And then once the season ended, I just kind of started getting hit up and a bunch of people started rolling through, talking about transferring, and which I mean our whole team from last year at Western pretty much transferred. So there was kind of like nothing left for me to go back to from just like being like my teammates and people who I played with. And I was decided to hit the transfer portal, which is God's blessed me to be able to do that and go and play at this next FBS level at University of North Texas.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

FCS. Okay, FCS. So leading touchdowns in FCS and now tr transitioning to FBI. FBS at North Texas. Which with yeah, where it's UGA, Indiana, all the schools, and you guys are as well playing Indiana first game. Yeah, we play Indiana first game. Yeah, so that'll be a fun one. So talk about that transition. I feel like that is too um, there's definitely players in both both sides of um what would they be called? Like region or leagues or kind of like uh like all Americans, like uh yeah, all American conferences, but like just talk about that transition.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Oh, so we're so North Texas, we're now in the American Conference, and I'm pretty sure Indiana, I think they're in the Big Ten or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

And yeah, so it's I mean, I'm not too worried about if I mean if they're bigger than me. I mean, that's just that's people have been bigger than me my whole life. Yeah, for sure. So I mean, it's nothing really different. I mean, I feel like the main difference from FCS and FBS is like the trenches, like the front seven, they're just a lot bigger. But I mean, when you're out here playing against DBs or receivers receivers, they might be like longer, but I mean, leverage is leverage and getting to your spot on time is just basic football.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

It's just yeah, and just through that whole process too, like just talk a little bit about like um how to overcome being a walk-on and things like that. Just talk about the come up of like, did you have to be in the j uh on the field more? Did you have to lift more? Did you have to be in touch with your coaches a lot more to gain that respect?

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Or so I mean being a walk-on, if you if you were a walk-on, you know the feeling like you're you're not really showing as much respect as other scholarship players. You're just not, which is they're not paying you, you're paying them, so they don't they kind of don't really care about you, but I had to I it took a lot to earn their respect. And I had to put in extra hours after practice, before practice, extra lifts. We would when the team would be traveling, we would be back lifting. So it was it was hard, but I just knew that I was gonna get to the spot that I'm at now. So I was I'm God had a plan for me, and He still does, He's still I'm still going and I'm still gonna follow it because I know He's not done with me yet. So I'm just excited to see where I keep going, keep writing chapters.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

For sure. And like what made you choose uh North Texas? And did you have any other offers or what was that process like? What what made you choose North Texas?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

So the transfer portal is kind of crazy. I mean, nowadays there's thousands of kids in it. There's still thousands of kids in it right now with no school. So you had to really pick up on a team right away because if you didn't, they're going to next guy. So I mean, North Texas was just I mean, it's the perfect spot for me. I mean, the coaches were so real, because nowadays you don't, it's it's just a it's a business now.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

But you won't find coaches, a lot of coaches just tell you what you want to hear. But Coach Neil Brown, Coach McClain, like they tell you what you like what you need to hear, not what you want. They tell you exactly what you need to do, and if you want to play, they're gonna tell you what you need to do to play. And that can they're not just gonna baby you and be like, oh, you you're doing this good. Like they're gonna tell you for real, like what's up, like if you're gonna play or not, or if you're doing good or not. So I just really respected that. And I think they're great coaches and they got a great scheme, and I'm just excited to keep uh go play some football this next season.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited for you. Indiana, I'm definitely tapping in Indiana first game of the season. Um they did great last year too, I heard.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Uh yeah, they they had a crazy year.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah, they should have gone to the playoffs, but yeah, some really good games, some really good football. Um, I know they got a new coach over there uh this year. Uh Coach Neil Brown. Yeah, Neil Brown.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

He's a great coach. Yeah, he is. He came from, he was at uh West Virginia a couple years ago, and he I think he just came from Texas. And he was at Troy before all that. So he's he's been around. So he he knows football, which is good.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

And what's like the key thing that you're like working on as well as key like goal that you want to accomplish this year? Like whether it's like I'm focusing more on this style or or maybe uh we want to win this man in our games or win the conference, like what's your what's your two things that you're looking at as far as development and success?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

So for like the s success of the team, like we want to go to the CFP, the college football playoffs, so we gotta win the conference, which that's gonna be the best experience ever if we do that, which we will. I'm there's no doubt in my mind. We have a good team. And my I mean personal goals, I want to get all conference, I want to make it to the league. And if in order to do that, you're gonna have to have a good season, really good season. So those are really my two goals. And I mean, whatever God's got me, then I'm gonna go do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Yeah, and you know, I think you're gonna kill it, bro. And then you have you have two years, right? You still because you red shirt.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Yep, yep, so I have two more. I have this one and one more.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Okay, perfect. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I got a little bit of time. You're on track. So uh if there's one thing you wanted to tell the audience, uh, just in the making of your journey, um, what's something that that you would say to help somebody else that along their journey?

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Uh you know, uh someone actually did tell me this the other day. So I mean, I've my my whole life I've just been trying to prove people wrong. But I've I now that I've gotten older, I've learned to prove the people you love right. So prove the people, prove, prove, uh, prove your people right. I think that's what it is. Yeah. Prove your people right.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

So it's like, you know, everyone's gonna hate on you. You're gonna have haters your whole life, but instead of trying to prove them wrong all the time, just prove your people right. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters. You couldn't care what other people gotta think, but your people, proving them right, that's the best feeling.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

That's a great saying.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

I love that, man. Yeah, where can they find you? Uh like Instagram, uh, Twitter, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yeah, my Instagram's James Tire underscore. Twitter is the James Tire or X now. Yeah, something like that. And then yeah, that's really all I got. Yeah, for real. I appreciate you for that. Nah, for real. Thanks for having me out here.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

For sure, bro. I was pumped. I felt like this talk has been uh It's been much needed. Yeah, much needed. Yeah. Uh I've always had the vision of us just sitting down on this field. For real. He made a lot of a lot of history, a lot of accomplishments, a lot of milestones. Um, from quarterback to wide receiver. Uh yeah, just proud of you, man. Just how far you've come, just seeing your growth, uh, growing those six inches. Yeah, crazy, crazy. Johnny Menzel is what I called him in high school. If you haven't seen these high school clips, he was it was Johnny Menzel to me out there. I swear. Just the creativity, the playmaking, um, the speed. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, so yeah, just I'm I'm excited to see what happens next, and just congrats at North Texas and go kill it. Thank you.