George Kittle explains how Iowa has become an NFL tight end factory

Yahoo Sports NFL writer Andy Behrens spoke with San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle about his return from injury this season and how the Iowa Hawkeyes program has become a breeding ground for NFL tight ends.

George Kittle joins Yahoo Sports on behalf of Gatorade Bolt24.

Video transcript

[LOGO]

ANDY BEHRENS: We are thrilled to welcome Iowa Hawkeyes legend, 49ers legend, Mic'd Up legend George Kittle. Joining us on behalf of BOLT24 by Gatorade. And we're going to get more on that partnership in just a second. First, I just want to ask you about your health, your foot, the knee, anything else that you might have injured this season. How are you feeling?

GEORGE KITTLE: First off, thank you so much for having me on. Pleasure to be here to talk. Body is feeling really good. Broken bones heal. So I'm not worried about it at all. Feeling good going into the off-season program and just looking forward to training again, actually.

ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, talk about the decision a little bit to return in week 16. I feel like under those circumstances, maybe a lot of players, a lot of teams, probably would have folded the tents.

GEORGE KITTLE: Well, I came back because I love football, and that's my short answer. I love the game, everything about it. You know, whether it's the ups and downs, the injuries, whatever it is, I love football and that's why I came back to play.

But also I'm a captain, and if I'm healthy, I got to play. It's a terrible example to set if I'm 100% healthy and I'm sitting on the sidelines letting the rest of my team go out there and play football games, you know, whether or not we have a chance to go to the playoffs. And at the end of the day, you never know how many opportunities you're going to get to lace them up and play football. If I have the ability and the availability to play, you can bet that I will be out there.

ANDY BEHRENS: That is an amazing answer. Before I turn this into basically an Iowa recruiting video, why don't you tell us a little bit about the relationship with BOLT24 by Gatorade?

GEORGE KITTLE: Woo, what I'm actually here to talk about. Not even football. I'm here to talk about Gatorade, baby. It's really cool to represent Gatorade. It's something that I've been using my whole life since I was a little kid, middle school, high school, college, I've always drank Gatorade. I've always loved Gatorade.

The BOLT24 product, I think it's awesome. It's brand new, new flavors. It's delicious, but I think the coolest part about it is it's made with watermelon water, and there's no artificial flavors or sweeteners, and so you can actually drink it 24/7.

There's no excess sugar in it. It's not unhealthy. It's a delicious beverage. So, as you can see, I naturally, it just kind of popped up next to me. Those were there when I walked in. I'm not [INAUDIBLE], but it's a great product, and I'm just happy to be able to be representing it.

ANDY BEHRENS: OK, this is going to be a little bit of Iowa propaganda now and maybe a little bit of recruiting video here. I think as everyone knows, Iowa is basically Tight End University, right? With all due respect to Stanford, Miami, wherever else, this goes back to like Marv Cook, Dallas Clark, you're part of this tradition. I think before you, it was probably Tony Moeaki and CJ Fedorovich, right? And then after you, it's Noah Fant, Hockenson.

GEORGE KITTLE: Got them all, I think.

ANDY BEHRENS: But these guys are not all like-- you guys didn't all come in as like four or five star recruits. What is happening on the player development side at Iowa, the stuff that fans don't see on Saturdays?

GEORGE KITTLE: Well, the best thing about playing tight end in Iowa is that they ask everything of you right away. And they put everything on your plate, and like, this is what you were going to have to do to be able to touch the field in Iowa. And I'll never forget I had a coach tell me, if you want to play tight end in Iowa, you're going to have to learn how to run block. And I played wide receiver and free safety in high school.

I had no idea what I was doing. The amount of reps, the amount of hard work, the amount of film, and coaching, and critiquing that you will receive in Iowa, it's amazing. And it's the reason I-- it's one of the reasons I'm in a position I am today. If you don't love to run block, you will not excel at Iowa. That's just, it is how it is because of how much tight ends are used in the run game.

If you don't mentally love it, it's really hard. And it is, it's a grind every single day when you just get hit, you know, rep after rep after rep, and you're going against a wide nine defensive end who knows what play is coming. [INAUDIBLE] snap count because the defensive coordinator, Phil Parker, tells them what play is coming every single time. He's-- so it's--

It's a reason why I became a very good run blocker and I why I excel at it today. And I learned a lot of little lessons there in Iowa. And I bring those all with me in the NFL.

ANDY BEHRENS: Really appreciate your time here again. Huge thanks to BOLT24 by Gatorade for helping set this up.

GEORGE KITTLE: Yeah, thank you, guys. And thank you for having me on. See ya.