Spotlight | Theo Wease By: Charlie S Posted on: March 26, 2018

I was fortunate to be able to catch up with 2019 elite Wide Receiver, and major Sooner target, Theo Wease.

The dynamic 6’3” receiver from Allen, Texas, is coveted by basically every major program around the country. He has been offered the opportunity to get his degree and play football pretty much anywhere he wants too. At one point early in his recruitment, he was verbally committed to Bob Stoops and Oklahoma. As you all know, circumstances, including Coach Stoops retiring, contributed to Theo eventually backing off of his verbal pledge to OU, and reopening his recruitment.

Although he was no longer committed, that did not stop his relationship with OU from continuing to grow and strengthen. In retrospect, it is my opinion that he made a very mature decision to step back a little bit and see how things shake out at Oklahoma in the new era of Lincoln Riley.

His recruitment is well documented by us here at The Football Brainiacs, as well as by countless other recruiting sites across the country. So, when Theo agreed to talk with me, I wanted to take a little different angle and not focus so much on his actual recruitment, instead, focus on his family, football history, and goals for his upcoming senior season at Allen.

As the discussion began, I asked Theo how much of a role sports play in his family. He said, “My whole family is a sports family. My mom (Traci), ran track and my dad (Theo Sr.) played basketball.” I was all set to move on, but that’s when the fun really began.

As I was finishing up writing down the notes about his mother and father, Theo was just getting started. He said “Then you have my uncles, all three of them played football. As a matter of fact, one of my uncles (Fred Coleman) won a super bowl ring with the New England Patriots.” Again, here I was finishing up notes on that when he offered, “And then I have an uncle (Jason Shelley) who played at Washington, and another uncle (Steven Shelley) who played at Fresno State and made the Oakland Raiders practice squad.”

Thinking I could move on, Theo then continued with, “I also have cousins who play football. One of them (Jason Shelley) is a wide receiver at Southern Oregon, and another (also named Jason Shelley) is a red shirt QB at Utah.” Oh and by the way, Theo also has a cousin, Greg Smith, who played in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks. He is still playing overseas.

I found myself in awe of the athletic lineage that runs throughout his family. Theo added with a laugh, “yeah we all play DB and WR, so I guess you could say it’s in my blood.”

As the conversation shifted, we began talking about his football history. I was interested in finding out when he started playing the sport he loves and he said “When I was four, my brother Mikey passed away. That’s when my family moved from California to Texas and I really used football as an outlet. That’s when I knew football is what I want to do.” I was blown away with that response.

We then went on to talk about the positions he played aside from WR and DB growing up. “I actually played running back for most of the early years, then in the seventh grade I even started to play QB” he said.

It was at that point when I brought up the fact that one of Austin Stogners favorite memories of his youth career was when he proudly told me that “We beat Theo Wease’ team in the sixth grade championship”. Theo didn’t skip a beat, saying “Yeah they beat us, but they knew who I was. I even played QB against them in that game, they knew!”

Freshman year was the first season he actually spent at wide receiver. As it turns out, we all know see how wise of a decision by Theo and his coaches that was. At Allen, the freshman players generally play freshman ball only. However, when the playoffs rolled around, Wease was brought up to varsity. “As a freshman, I got lucky because the coaches moved me up (during playoffs) so I was able to get the experience to get on the field early. Kind of a jump start.” As we were talking, I asked if he had the opportunity to play with Kyler Murray and he said “unfortunately, I missed Kyler by a year”.

We then began talking about how his connection to OU began. He said “Coach Gundy was my first contact. We had a True 19 game. It was Texas vs Georgia and it was streamed so a lot of coaches got to see the game. A little while after the game, my coach told me that Coach Gundy mentioned to him that he’d like to talk to me. I called coach Gundy and just listening to him, it was like, I could tell he was just real. He went on to offer me. This was huge! I had six offers to that point, which was something I was truly grateful for as a freshman, but this was the University of Oklahoma!”

As the relationship between Theo and the OU staff grew, plans were made to take some visits. “My dad and I went up there for the first junior day in my sophomore year. Once we were there, I said to my dad, we need to get mom up here. We really, really need to get mom up here.” He went on to say “I was blown away by everything on that visit”.

Shortly thereafter, Theo, his dad, and his mom, made their way back up to Norman for the second junior day which was only a few weeks later. That was when Theo made his initial commitment.

I didn’t really want to get into the whole commit/decommit thing with him. What I was looking to find out was more related to the difference during Bob’s tenure when compared to Lincoln’s tenure. Theo summed it up pretty well when he said “It’s the same vibe in Norman. Even after Coach Stoops left, when Coach Riley took over, it’s the same. I get the same feeling every time I go up there. It’s special.”

As we were wrapping up, the discussion then moved to talking about what his goals were for his high school team this season. Theo got right to the point when talking about them, he said “I want this team to go back-to-back. We won a state championship this past year and it is my goal to lead us to another.”

When I asked about personal goals, he deflected back to the team. “I’m good at leading by example, but being a senior, it’s my job to become a more vocal leader. I want to make everyone around me better, both on and off the field. That’s my only personal goal.”

The last question I asked Theo was in regards to what he would like to major in while in college. He replied that he is thinking about “Business Management and Sports Media.” His personality, and his team first mindset, will help carry him very far in those fields. He was an absolute joy to talk too.

As I reflect back on our discussion, I can’t help but be impressed. The young man was so personable, humble, and grateful. He will be an asset both on and off the field, no matter what school he chooses to attend.

Who knows, maybe someday he will get that opportunity to play with Kyler Murray.