Tyler French sets to begin his fifth season coaching the inside linebackers at Southeast Missouri.
French was hired as a full-time assistant coach in 2016 after working two years as a graduate assistant.
SEMO’s linebackers are a dominant part of the Redhawks defense year-in and year-out.
Over the last four years, French has coached one of the best linebackers in the Football Championship Subdivision in Zach Hall.
Hall, who was named to eight different All-America teams and became SEMO’s first-ever player to win the Buck Buchanan National Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2018, led the nation and broke a single-season school record with 168 tackles. He is one of 12 First-Team All-Americans in SEMO’s football history and ranks among the school’s all-time career leaders in tackles, sacks and tackles for loss.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Hall wrapped up his outstanding SEMO career with 406 total tackles, 40 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, six interceptions, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He also garnered All-America and All-OVC honors in multiple seasons during his time at SEMO.
In his first year overseeing the inside linebackers in 2017, French mentored Roper Garrett. Garrett led SEMO in tackles for the third-straight year to cap his remarkable college career.
A three-year starter and team captain, Garrett tallied 359 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks, three interceptions, seven forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in his career with the Redhawks. He ended his career ranked third all-time in tackles, fifth in tackles for loss and tied for eighth in sacks. Garrett also earned Second-Team All-OVC honors in 2015.
Before moving to his full-time role, French spent two years as a graduate assistant, primarily working with the defense in 2015 and serving as an offensive assistant in 2014.
During the 2014 campaign, Southeast was third in the OVC in scoring offense with 32 points a game. French also helped the Redhawks achieve a 141.1 pass efficiency, good for second in the conference. Southeast’s offense produced two All-OVC players that year and the Redhawks upended two ranked opponents in a season for the first time in school history.
Prior to entering the coaching profession, French completed a two-year playing career as a tight end at SEMO.
A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, French transferred to Southeast from Phoenix College.
He played in all 11 games and started six, making eight receptions for 60 yards in 2011. French scored his first career touchdown on a 7-yard pass late in the first quarter during the Redhawks season-finale vs. Murray State (Nov. 19).
After redshirting due to an injury the next year, French started 11 of 12 games his final season in 2013.
French and his wife, Ellen, reside in Cape Girardeau with their daughter, Annie Jean.
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