My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is former NKU basketball great Tyler Sharpe. Tyler is from Mount Washington, Kentucky and was on the varsity basketball team at Bullitt East High School for five seasons. Tony Barr was the head coach of the Chargers and brought Tyler up to the varsity to lean from upperclassmen Derek Willis, Rusty Troutman, Trey Rakes and Elliott Young. Tyler was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in middle school and he describes how its effected him and his journey living with this medical condition. Tyler is part of a great class at Bullitt East that takes over as sophomores. He becomes the leading scorer for the Chargers and Bob Blackburn comes out of retirement to take over as head coach. Tyler also talks about Ernest “June Bug” Rakes who was an assistant coach and his son Bailey is one of Tyler’s best friends growing up. Tyler talks about the recruiting process which was not very good for him as he finds himself continually being overlooked for scholarship opportunities. After a long and winding road he decides to attend the University of Louisville as a preferred walk-on. After a season playing very sparingly for the Cardinals (2016-17) he decides that he wants to explore other avenues in hopes for a change at more playing time. One of his former AAU teammates Mason Faulkner directs him toward NKU where again he would have to be a walk-on. Head coach John Brannen explained that the roster is loaded coming off a Horizon League championship team but he would earn his way into playing time if he put in the work. Although things are rough in the beginning, Tyler starts to see time as a role player mostly becasue of his defense. He eventually becomes a solid rotation player that is a threat to make three-point shots on the offensive end of the floor. NKU earns a number-one seed in the Horizon League tournament but losses in the first round to Cleveland State. However, the Norse are invited to play in the NIT and are match with Tyler’s former team the Louisville Cardinals. Tyler returns for his junior season and starts 32 out of 35 games for a Norse team that wins the Horizon League tournament. He talks in depth about the game winning shot Drew McDonald hits to beat the buzzer against Oakland winner the semifinal game. NKU qualifies for the NCAA tournament and Tyler talks about the selection process and the lead-up to that first round game against Texas Tech. After the year head coach John Brannen leaves for the University of Cincinnati and he is replaced by Darin Horn. Tyler talks about the process of Brannen leaving and Horn taking over for his senior year. Senior year was an up-and-down year for the Norse becasue of injuries to key players Jalen Tate and Dantez Walton. Tyler is also injured at times but somehow finds a way to play through it. By February the full compliment of players are back in time for NKU to win another Horizon League tournament championship. Unfortunately. the NCAA tournament is canceled due to COVID-19 and that is how Tyler’s career comes to an end. But that is not the end of the story. Tyler applies to for a waiver to NCAA to get the year of eligibility back from his time at Louisville where he player just 11 minutes total as a walk-on. He goes into detail about the process and the results which is disappointing to say the least. You can also follow Tyler for basketball purposes on Twitter @TylerSharpe_15 Cover photo was provided by Northern Kentucky University Athletics Communications and taken by Chloe Smith. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to Podcasts@stoveleg.com Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
