Last month, Greene County High School football player Tyler Miller verbally committed to attend Iowa State University and play for the Cyclones. The junior is listed at 6′ 9″, 285 lbs. and he’s ranked by some services as the number five football recruit in the Class of 2020 in Iowa.

Less than a month later, Greene County head football coach and activities director Mitch Moore announced he was leaving the Greene County school district to become the head football coach at Des Moines Roosevelt. The Rams were 1-8 in Moore’s first year heading the program, then turned it around for an 8-1 regular season in 2018, with a District 9 co-championship, a 2A playoff berth, and overall record of eight wins and two losses.

Coach Moore talked with Raccoon Valley Radio about how Miller’s recruitment helped the overall football program. “We’ve gotten a lot of notoriety in the last year from coaches coming through to talk to Tyler. When they look at Tyler they are also evaluating the football program. Things like how the program is being run, what are they doing from a strength and conditioning standpoint, how are they running practices, how are they teaching leadership, and all the things that go into running a program. That’s been great for our program because we’ve had the opportunity to showcase our program and athletes in front of a lot of different colleges.” He added that one year ago, very few colleges were stopping at Greene County High School, and through the first week of December there had been more than 20 colleges in Jefferson. “Tyler was a big part of that, but schools are now looking at some of our other athletes as well.”

Miller, Moore, and many other ISU fans will be watching intently tomorrow night when the Cyclones face Washington State in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. Former Greene County HS players Noah Juergensen and Daric Whipple are preferred walk-on members of the ISU team.