Jets’ Raab to stay on gridiron for Alma
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POWERS -- North Central's Wyatt Raab will, officially, be joining the Alma College Scots football team next fall after signing his national letter of intent Wednesday afternoon in Powers.
Raab shared his excitement, and relief, for finally making the deal to go to Alma official.
"I'm excited," Raab said. "I'm excited for the recruiting process to be over. It's pretty stressful. Even for someone who's not going to a Power-5 school or even a D-2 school, the whole process was time-consuming and money-wise was stressful with the travel and everything.
"So, just to know where I'm going to be next fall is a great feeling."
One of the prevailing factors in choosing Alma over other schools for Raab was them being among the earliest schools to reach out to him. Among those other schools were Lakeland University, Concordia-Wisconsin, Finlandia and several others.
The potential Raab sees in the Alma program was also a big factor.
They look like they have a really bright future," he said. "A lot of young kids; they're not graduating a ton this year. They had the number one defense in the nation this year across all three divisions. So they have a super bright future. The coaches, the area, all that, it's where I want to be."
The "easy pick" for Raab also stemmed from the major he will be pursuing, athletic training.
"My idea has always been that I want to stay in sports after I'm done playing," he said." No matter when that happens, I want to still be around athletes. I want to be helping athletes be the best that they can be."
With the move to Alma, Raab will be moving back over to 11-player football which he played prior to moving to the U.P. However, he noted the change should not be difficult.
As he succinctly put it, "football is football."
In addition to the football offers, Raab also had a few wrestling offers on the table but the prospect of cutting weight at the college level -- which he foresaw himself needing to do -- was not as appealing as staying on the gridiron.
Raab also voiced his thanks to those who have helped and supported him get to this moment.
"I just want to say thank you to everybody that helped me along the way," he said. "Any coaches I had previously, my parents -- all the money and travel time they spent -- and, obviously (North Central). Coming to a new school in the middle of football season is pretty hard to jump in right away, but the team was very accepting of me."
In addition to those supporters, Raab named North Central Athletic Director as someone who helped him acclimate himself to the North Central school as well as someone to look up to.
"He's a huge role model in my life," Raab commented. "I am very happy that I was able to meet him and pursue college football with him in my corner."
Coaching Raab the last several years at North Central has been Leo Gorzinksi, who shared his excitement for Raab's signing.
"Any time you can get a player from your system that's going to go on to the next level and compete, you're going to root for them and you're going to be proud of them," Gorzinski said. "The thing with Wyatt is that he has absolutely earned this opportunity."
Gorzinski looked back to Raab's early days of joining the Jets as an indicator of what he may bring to Alma College come this fall.
"When you get a transfer student from another state that you don't know anything about, obviously, you have questions," he said. "But, Wyatt, from day one, has been a competitor. He has made North Central football more competitive just from his attitude and his 'I won't back down' grit that he has.
"I know he's going to take that on to Alma and just by being the way he is, is going to raise the level of competition all around him."