When Bartlett’s Tyler Whiting began playing football in middle school some six years ago, he could never have imagined that numerous colleges would be courting him in his senior season. In such a short time, Whiting has not only become proficient playing the offensive line, but he has also contributed to the Indian’s defensive line as well.

“The coaches in middle school put me on the o-line due to my size and then the next year they asked me to play d-line as well,” the Bartlett senior said. “Today, I feel that I am better suited for playing d-line due to my speed.”

The three-sport athlete (baseball, basketball and football) found that playing the offensive line was a completely different position where he saw the game in a new perspective. He admits it took time to learn the position.

“It was difficult at first; there was so much work and a lot of techniques to learn. At times it felt like a lot, but with hard work I could see there was an end goal,” Whiting said. “I can assure you that my first game was not very good and it took me three years to figure everything out while understanding what I was actually doing.”

By the time he was entering high school, Whiting knew that he wanted to try out for the football team. While his goal was to make the varsity team, he would have been happy to land on the junior varsity squad. However, earning a position with the varsity team made him feel that all his hard work had been rewarded.

During his sophomore season, Bartlett Coach Dane Laboissonniere approached Whiting and asked his opinion about playing football on the collegiate level.

“Was I serious about playing football on the next level - of course I was,” the athlete said. “If I could continue playing football while going to college, I would do whatever it took to get me there. I just want to play somewhere where I can get a good education as well.”

At the time of this writing, Whiting has no specific college in mind, although according to his coach, some 30 schools from Division 1 through Division 3 are looking at him. Whiting is totally surprised about having this opportunity.

“If I had told my 12-year-old self that I could potentially be able to play football in college, I definitely wouldn’t have believed myself,” he said. “When I started playing football, I never even imagined taking this to college; it never crossed my mind – I was a baseball player through and through.”

While many schools have displayed interest in the senior joining them next fall, Whiting has a couple of schools floating around in the back of his mind. Salve Regina University in Newport has a decent football program and it has a very good business and marketing program, something that interests Whiting.

As he gets ready to enter his senior campaign with Bartlett, Whiting realizes that he has an opportunity that not many athletes get to experience and he is not going to throw that away. If he continues to work on his game and put his mind to it, college should be on the horizon, the only question is where.

“Ty is a great kid and does all the right things,” Laboissonniere said. “He is definitely the type of kid you want leading your program. During the off-season, the coaching staff threw around the idea of moving him to tight end, giving our new quarterback a big body to throw to and he’s all in. During the summer he was doing an outstanding job in the 7-on-7 drills and has been catching the ball really well. There’s a learning curve but he’s up to the challenge.”

Whiting is excited about taking on a new position to help his team and he really shouldn’t have any problems making the transition from the line to tight end. According to the coach, he’s going to do great things for Bartlett this year at the position.

Whiting was excited when he heard he could be playing tight end his senior season. When the coaching staff made the change official, Whiting began studying the tight end playbook to learn the routes and the blocking skills that he will need to play the position.

In addition to helping his team get into the division playoffs and get past the first round, Whiting is aiming to earn CMASS All-Star status, something he has yet to accomplish. He also wants to play his new position as best as he can so that colleges continue to look at him for their football programs.