San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle has heaped praise on Caitlin Clark after meeting the WNBA sensation during March Madness.

 

Kittle studied at Iowa, where both Clark and the tight end’s wife, Claire, played on the Hawkeyes basketball team.

The 49ers star remains an Iowa fan and he was among the crowd during Clark’s pursuit of a national championship at this year’s March Madness.

He and Claire even had the chance to meet the 22-year-old, who was recently selected by the Indiana Fever with the No 1 overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft.

‘She’s incredibly personable. She’s charismatic. She’s just so authentic,’ Kittle told Fox News.

‘She doesn’t fake anything. She’s very interested in everything you’re talking about. She’s great to have a conversation with. You can tell how much she loves her teammates.’

He added: ‘We were hanging out in the training room after the game just to get away from the crowd a little bit… she comes in, hugs all the athletic trainers, talks to everybody, talks to us a little bit, and you just see how much people care for her.

‘She has this incredible reputation that she’s built day in and day out. So, she’s done that and just so excited for her.”

Clark’s hopes of a national championship were dashed by South Carolina, not long after Kittle and the 49ers were beaten in the Super Bowl by the Kansas City Chiefs.

The tight end has watched Clark’s rise on the court but meeting her afforded him the chance to see another side to the 22-year-old.

‘You see how she is on the court – she has this competitiveness, this fire in her,’ Kittle said. ‘But as soon as she gets off the court, there’s this flip of the switch.

‘She’s just Caitlin Clark. To be able to go back and forth between all that, you have to be very good to be able to do that, and she does that flawlessly.’

Kittle vowed to get his hands on Clark’s new Fever jersey and he believes she is in for a fun ride in the WNBA.

‘With Indiana, the amount of Iowa fans who are going to travel to see her play, it’s going to be a sold-out stadium every time they play. It’s really fun to be able to follow her and her incredible journey,’ he said.