LSU commit Arik Gilbert receives national award, surprise from NFL QB

It’s one thing to win a national award in high school, but quite another to receive a surprise from the quarterback of your hometown NFL team. But that’s what LSU tight end commit Arik Gilbert experienced in one event.

“I was a little bit starstruck, not gonna lie,” Gilbert told the media, including 11Alive, as he received the Gatorade National Player of the Year award with Atlanta Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan in attendance to present the award.

Added Ryan, “He looks like he could kind of do it already. He’s big and strong and he’d be a great addition to our arsenal in the future. But he’s got big things in front of him at LSU, they’re playing for a national championship. They’ve got the Playoffs coming up and tough road ahead for them. But they’re doing special things down there right now. I promise you this much, I’ll be following his career and what he does down there and hoping he finds his way back to Atlanta in three, four, five years, something like that.”

Gilbert, who is from Marietta, Georgia, is the top-ranked tight end recruit in the country, and committed to LSU in October as the Tigers reportedly beat out Alabama and Georgia.

.@Marietta_FB TE @arik_gilbert was surprised by the @Gatorade National POTY award this morning, nd surprised to see #Falcons QB @M_Ryan02 there 2 present the award He got some HIGH praises from Ryan
“I promise you this I’ll be following his career.”@AtlantaFalcons #InBrotherhood pic.twitter.com/KbvOyQeacP

— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) December 17, 2019

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.