Kansas City Chiefs rookie defensive end George Karlaftis is one game away from every kid’s dream. However, the kickoff of his football career was far from a Super Bowl moment.
“My first two games, I jumped offside twice,” he recalled of his eighth-grade nose guard debut. “They put me on a tough count. Then the second time I went after the quarterback, he threw it out, and I didn’t know what to do. The players were like, this guy knows what he does.
Karlaftis, at the time, was the new kid in school after his family moved from Athens, Greece to West Lafayette, IN. He was also 6-foot-2 and weighed nearly 200 pounds and had the strength and intelligence to learn the ins and outs fairly quickly.
When he entered high school, George Karlaftis said his early workouts focused primarily on lower body speed and explosiveness, not through heavy weightlifting, but through speed drills and a focus on speed. basic work.
In his sophomore year, as his teammates huddled in and out of the squat rack doing 225 front squats and nagging him for refusing to join, Karlaftis, at 6’4” and around 260 pounds, finally forced and immediately proceeded to shut the mouths of all team naysayers.
“I threw another plate and hit 315 for five reps,” he laughs. “And they were like, okay, this guy is a little bit different from us.”
From there, George Karlaftis began compiling as many postseason awards as he would stack on weight plates on a barbell. He became Indian Defensive Player of the Year and was selected for the 2019 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. He would then go to Purdue where he earned second-team Big 10 honors as a sophomore as well as All Big 10 academics in 2020.
This year, the Chiefs selected Karlaftis in the first round and immediately paid dividends. He finished the season with six sacks – third among NFL rookies – and was named to the 2022 Pro Football Writers of America First Team.
And with the biggest game in sight, it peaks at the right time.
His biggest sack of the season, however, came in the AFC Championship Game in which the Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, to earn a trip to the Super Bowl this Sunday against the champions. the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles.
So far, in such an early and successful start to his career, George Karlaftis’ winning strategy includes:
- Soak up the wisdom of veteran teammates
- Take notes during film sessions like a doctorate. student
- Finding time to enjoy your accomplishments (after scrambling to do pre- and intra-game work.
“It just doesn’t feel real,” Karlaftis says of the build-up to Super Bowl LVII. “It’s very surreal. Like almost living a dream. You know, and that was, kind of my dream. So that’s pretty awesome.
George Karlaftis soaks up the knowledge of veterans
You hear this before you enter the league: listen to your vets. They’ve been there, they’ve done it, and you learn from the experience; he is the best teacher of all.
So the guys who’ve been there, who’ve done this, you ask them little questions like, “What does the media and the calendar look like with everything that’s going on?” Or, “How’s the game, and how’s the speed, how’s the break with the long half?” All that stuff.
Obviously you are playing your own game, but at the same time you want to know as much as possible. So to learn from those events about that kind of stuff, from guys who were hugely successful for the Chiefs – guys like Travis Kelce and Patrick [Mahomes] and Chris Jones – those guys have set a precedent for expectations of the Chiefs every year. We demand success and have a very low tolerance for error.
The coaches would be like, we have to be ready for playoff speed.
So I would ask them what are they talking about? For example, are the playoffs actually faster. They’re like, it might feel like that because there’s more at stake. But step back, and it’s really the same old game you’ve been playing for a long time.
Prepare now to be available later
We went to training camp in July and it’s been going full steam ahead ever since. It’s a lot on your body. So doing this for 20-30 weeks is really taxing on your body and something I had learned to struggle with since before college.
I’ve been lucky enough to know people who have played in the NFL and professional sports. And everyone told me not to wait to take care of my body when I hurt myself. So for me, it was a lot of stretching. Lots of preventative rehabilitation – I call it pre-rehabilitation. I will work on my ankle and hip mobility, as well as the small muscles in my shoulders, hip flexors and adductors. I will work enough in those small areas and the leg muscles and ligaments and all that to be able to withstand the stress that might be.
That’s what I did in college but now I’ve taken it to another level. At home I have an infrared sauna and a hyperbaric chamber. I get massages three times a week, I see my chiropractor twice, IVs twice a week. I will be doing mobility every day, stretching with my trainer, Bobby Troupe, not only to stay healthy, but also to get a little bigger, better, faster, stronger and more mobile during the season .
Many veterans who have played say they didn’t really take care of their bodies as much as they should have. They wouldn’t get massages and just go home and relax. So I learned from people’s experiences and what they say so I think the big part is still taking care of my body and focusing on things before it focuses on these weaknesses that I have physically.
So really just trying to learn from people’s experiences was a huge key for me. There’s Carlos Dunlap, he’s been in the league for 13 years. He encouraged me to start receiving infusions. He also started telling me to focus on little things like the health of my toes and feet, which is crucial for our position.
I’ve had guys like Chris Jones tell me to get in the hyperbaric chamber, and Travis Kelce and Patrick tell me to take a sauna. So you take what little you take of little nuggets from each player and try to try and make it work for you and see what works best for you.
Write down your best and worst moments
Film study is one of the biggest things we do. We watch training every day – watch our exercises, every little detail of ourselves. We watch the opponents to see how you can take advantage of them, but for me, I watch myself, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
If you saw my notebook, you would say this guy is crazy. I write like every little detail because I feel like when I write something down, I remember it better. It’s like a coach saying, “Don’t do that! and I will write it down. It fits me a little better.
I’ll do sections every week, and there will be like different sections on the opponent, specific tendencies. It’s a lot of work for me, but it’s about me and what I can do to be better against these guys.
A lesser that still resonates with me came in high school. It was my second year and it was the third game. It was a small school in Indiana, and I was pretty physically dominant over everyone.
Three games, I wasn’t trying very hard in the team – we were facing was not really good. My defensive coordinator kicked me out of the game. I was like, what’s going on? He said, if you’re not going to play hard, I’m not going to play you. So from that point on, if I didn’t give my absolute every game, he would take me out.
At the time, I hated him – Coach Roseman – but he’s a big factor in why I play the way I do. I don’t know if he knows it or not. But yes, it was huge for me.
George Karlaftis learns, then moves on
You must have a goldfish memory in football. It’s something coaches talk about all the time. Goldfish have no short-term memory. It’s on to the next play, that’s what they always talk about. Next reading next reading, next reading. because if you think about the previous piece, it will affect your next piece. You can’t do much for the past, but you can always improve your future by being good in the present.
I remember a bang in my head during my senior year at Purdue. I received an offside penalty on the first game of the match – I just jumped offside. You know, I thought I saw some that weren’t there. And then I went on and had a really good game, but I felt stupid, like, “What am I doing?” because it was the first game of the match. But then I ended up having a big tackle for a loss on that drive that saved us. You can either forget about it or use it to motivate yourself. I think both work.
Take the time to enjoy your moment
Frank Clark appeared in several Super Bowls and had great success in this league. He said, hey guys, take a moment to really enjoy it. There is a lot of turnover in the NFL, and our group will never be the same again. So enjoy it with these guys, it’s great fun. Obviously, mind your own business and focus on the opponent. But you know, just take some time to really enjoy it because not many people get to experience what we’re about to experience.
After the championship game, it was crazy. It was a lot of a lot of hugs, a lot of celebrations. Felt like a dream like a movie. As if it weren’t real. It was amazing. So soon after guys like our job is not done yet. You know like we have one more game. Let’s get it over with.
Follow George Karlaftis on Instagram @georgekarlaftis.
