It’s hard to pick out the best thing George Tarlas said during his 11 minute, 22 second interview with the media on Thursday afternoon. It was all impressive.
Maybe it’s the fact that he beats the coaches to the facility, arriving around 5:30 a.m. each day to start his routine.
It could be his reasoning for why he picked up meditation – or ‘creative thinking’ as he calls it – and what that does for him on a daily basis.
Perhaps it was that he listens to a science podcast called the Huberman Lab Podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman because of how ‘fascinated’ he is by how the body works.
It could be the fact that he’s in bed by 9 p.m. every night.
Maybe it’s how much transferring from Weber State and getting to play his final season at Boise State means to him and how eager he is to seize the opportunity.
It might be how he talks about being motivated each morning by “asking myself what kind of person I am going to be today. Am I going to be whining or complaining or am I going to do the best of my ability to make an impact for myself and my family for my future.”
His goals for his final season were impressive too, and might fire up Boise State fans the most: “Before the season started I claimed destroying quarterbacks is what I do, right? It’s my mission every time I’m on the field. I’m going to set the edge, I’m going to make the play and I’m going to get a sack. After that it’s either going to be a fumble or an interception if I have to drop (into coverage). It’s my mission to represent who I really am.”
Everything Tarlas sad Thursday was unlike most of the dozens of interviews we’ve done with football players over the years. It’s typically the cliche and same stuff, especially during fall camp. Not with Tarlas though. He’s different – and in a good way.
Tarlas arrived in Boise after growing up in Greece – he still talks with a heavy Greek accent – and attended both Caldwell and Borah High Schools growing up. He graduated from Borah in 2017 with a dream of playing at Boise State but instead signed with Weber State as he continued to adjust to playing American football.
He played in 45 games at Weber State in four seasons and was a three-time All-Big Sky honoree. He had 120 tackles, 24.5 tackles-for-loss and 19 sacks, and also had two interceptions.
But with one season left due to COVID he elected to transfer for his final season. Boise State needed a pass rusher. The dream was finally a reality.
Tarlas enrolled in January and participated in spring practices. He led the team in sacks during fall camp and appears set for significant playing time at the defensive end EDGE spot.
“It means a lot,” Tarlas said. “It was all meant to happen for a reason and it’s coming together. I got lucky. .. I’m starting to connect the dots and it all makes sense. It was meant to happen. And it’s more than I could ask for.”
Tarlas is battling junior college transfer Cortez Hogans for the starting spot, but it appears both will play a lot of snaps regardless of who wins the spot. Based on Tarlas and not Hogans being allowed to speak to the media, and with the praise coaches have placed on Tarlas, it appears he will be the starter.
He’s only been a Bronco for eight months and has yet to play a game – but he’s turning heads both on and off the field.
“He’s the first guy in every morning and always coming into my office before team meetings ands always checking in throughout the day,” EDGE coach Kelly Poppinga said. “He’s hungry to learn. … He’s just trying to get all the knowledge he can and I’ve been really impressed with how fast he’s picked on things.
“He’s a really dynamic pass rusher. … He’s making himself a well-rounded player. … He has huge value to our program. … You’re getting really a full package. Just for one year, but we’ll take it for right now.”
Poppinga, who played in the NFL, was asked if Tarlas had a chance to plat the next level.
“I never like to talk about that because you just never know. But he has the size, he has the strength, he has the explosiveness, he’s smart. I think he has all the qualities an NFL player has. Now he has to go out there and do it and be productive and do his job within the scheme. If he does that, the rest will take care of itself.
Tarlas wakes up at 5 a.m. and is in the facility by 5:30. He gets music going in the locker room while working on his flexibility and mobility, and then alternates with the hot tub and cold tub to get his body going.
He’ll then grab a coffee – with hazelnut creamery – and head into the film room to watch film for 30-45 minutes before team meetings and practice.
It’s the same routine he does every day to try and be at his best.
“It’s the standard,” he explains.
But with waking up early means going to bed early. He said he’s usually in bed by 9 p.m. and asleep by 10. One thing that helps with that is meditation. During fall camp when he wouldn’t get home until 9 p.m., he’d use meditating to help get him ready for bed.
“I would have to put attention into meditating to release my mind from all the external factors and that would help me sleep better when I have a shorter time period to sleep,” he explained. “Now that we are done earlier I have time to go home and relax.”
Asked about the meditation and his process with it, Tarlas said, “It’s interesting. I’ve developed a way of telling myself, I call it creative thinking, where I get into it and try to focus on my body. … I start at my toes and go all the way up to my brain and then I take myself out of it and it’s like Im a ghost and experiencing things.
“A lot of times I experience things I haven’t seen before. You don’t know what to expect. It’s real interesting sometimes. I get scared sometimes. It’s like being in a dream.”
Tarlas uses this routine when it comes to football. He’ll visualize a practice or game before it’s played, so he knows what to expect. But he has to do it on game day and not the night before because “my adrenaline levels go through the roof, let me tell you. I just get my heart beat going and I’m like I’m about to make a sack, I’m thinking about it and my heart is (beating) and then I can’t sleep.”
He explained that, “before the game, starting in the morning, that’s when I focus on controlling my adrenaline and being in control of my own emotions so when the game comes, I can go back to (his mind) and see it again.
“You have no fear. You know what’s coming. … When something happens in the game and it’s going to be a passion third-and-2 from the 30 or whatever, you say ‘OK I’ve seen this. I expect this’ and boom, you react way faster than you would otherwise.
“My whole concept for my personal development was to stop thinking as much because I was trying to learn the game more and more so when game time comes I’ve put my brain through those situations so I don’t have to think anymore. I just go with my first instinct. If I’m ahead of him, I’m going to beat him off the edge. If I’m not ahead of him, bullrush.”
Tarlas said the Huberman Lab Podcast helped him learn more about his body and how it can best function, which led to much of what he does on a daily basis.
“He talks about your nervous system and how your body works and I was so fascinated with how your body works and how you can be in control of all those things – your brain, your nerve system, your reaction,” Tarlas said. “My plan was to be able to develop myself to that level where I am at my best of controlling my own body.
“At the end of the day you control what you can control and that is yourself. If you can control your entire self, you’re in a better spot than somebody that is lost in the crowd.”
Tarlas has quite the story. It appears it might get even better this fall.
