Wohlabaugh's focus on football IQ powering breakout season

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- All of the talk in Conway Memorial Stadium on Friday night was about redemption. After a dominant 49-14 win over Garfield Heights in the second round of the Ohio high school Division II playoffs, the Walsh Jesuit Warriors struck a balance between keeping their eyes forward on the future and marveling at how far they had come.

Senior offensive tackle David Wohlabaugh, a Kentucky commit, watched the Warriors go 7-44 in the five seasons prior to his senior year. Alongside young head coach Nick Alexander, Wohlabaugh was instrumental in bringing this program from those low points to being one of the state’s top teams in their division, pushing deep into the playoffs.

“I’m feeling great right now. This is history for Walsh Jesuit. We’ve turned this program around. This is the first playoff win in a long time for this program, it feels great right now,” Wohlabaugh said.

Walsh has no intentions of only making it to third round of the playoffs. They know that this coming Friday’s matchup against fellow northeast Ohio private school powerhouse Cleveland Benedictine is a revenge game for this program and it will take everything they have to advance.

“They took it to us last year. They beat us 62-24 in our seniors’ last game. We’re excited for it. We know that they’re a great opponent. They have a lot of great players,” Alexander explained “They’re senior-led and they have some big seniors up front. They have a great offensive line. Defensively, they fly around. Tomorrow, we come in and put this one behind us and we get to work.”

Alexander, who coached previously at Lakewood St. Edward’s and Mentor, two highly successful programs in the region used to contending for state titles, knows that his team wouldn’t have made it as far as they have without Wohlabaugh anchoring the offensive line and helping to lead the offense as a whole.

“David’s growth has been tremendous this year. We run the ball to the left side. Everybody knows it, that we gameplan to come in and run to the left side behind David and every week, we’re still successful doing it. It’s awesome, it’s a testament to his hard work in the offseason,” Alexander said. “He had a little shoulder surgery this year and obviously you couldn’t tell watching him. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s getting very mean out here on the field. I’m proud of him every time we turn the tape on and he knows that.”

As important as his physical capabilities are -- Wohlabaugh often mashes downfield in the running game for Walsh Jesuit and clears impressive holes for his running back -- it’s possible that the Kentucky commit’s mental preparation and understanding of how the game is unfolding before him is even more important.

“The mental side of the game is really important to me. Me and my dad watch film after almost every practice, so tomorrow I’ll be watching film with coach Alexander and the rest of my team and then go home and re-watch the film with my dad. He gives me tips and stuff all of the time and it’s very important to me to be prepared for it. I have two people in my life -- one’s in college right now and one played in the NFL, that I have two resources in my life that I can ask any questions to that I can,” Wohlabaugh explained, referencing his father Dave Wohlabaugh, a nine-year NFL veteran and former starting center in a Super Bowl, and brother Jack Wohlabaugh, who is missing the 2020 season due to a knee injury, but will return as Duke’s starting center in 2021.

While his senior season is still very much in the spotlight for Wohlabaugh, he is keeping an eye turned towards his future college football career at Kentucky. The senior has been committed since February of this year and he’s anxious to begin his career in Lexington.

“Everything with Kentucky is great. I’ve never regretted committing there at all. I talk to them almost every day, they just have a great group of guys and I feel so welcomed. It’s like a family for me, so I’ve never regretted it at all. I’m really excited to learn from coach Schlarman honestly,” Wohlabaugh said. “I think he’s one of the best offensive line coaches in the country right now. I think he’s a great teacher, so I’m just excited to get bigger, stronger, faster and in every way better when I get down there.”

Alexander has also been fortunate enough to see the Kentucky recruiting process up close and personally and was able to attest at how effective the Wildcats were in recruiting Wohlabaugh and his entire circle.

“They were awesome. From the first day that Kentucky came in, they made David feel at home. They talked about the offensive line room and being one of the best in the country. They truly showed how badly they wanted David. It was from the beginning. They were one of the first SEC and really one of the first Power Five to come in and say ‘We want you to be a Wildcat.’ When I sat in that room with them and we left that meeting, I’ll never forget it, I was like ‘He’s going to Kentucky.’ I mean, I would have gone to Kentucky,” Alexander laughed. “I was excited to go play for them.”

Wohlabaugh made no bones about the fact that he is 100-percent committed to Kentucky and has not seriously considered any other program since committing.

“No schools are trying to get me to flip right now. Arizona State and Michigan State were the two schools that tried to. After I was committed for a couple months, they offered me I think in May. They were trying to get me to flip, but I just said ‘Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to stay committed to Kentucky’ and kind of shut it down,” explained Wohlabaugh.

The only missing piece of the Cleveland native’s recruiting process has been the fact that he, like all of the country’s other recruits, can’t travel to Lexington to visit his future home or see his fellow commits and future teammates. Still, that hasn’t dampened his excitement.

“It’s been tough with COVID and everything. [Me and the other commits] were planning to go on visits together and stuff like that, but obviously that can’t happen any more,” Wohlabaugh said. “Now we just stay in touch over the phone. I text with them every weekend, just asking how their games went and stuff like that. I just stay in touch with them a bunch. I’m probably tightest with Jager [Burton] and Paul [Rodriguez]. Those two are the guys I’m closest with.”

Wohlabaugh is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive tackle, rated as a three-star prospect and one of the top 30 prospects in the state of Ohio by Rivals.com. He committed to Kentucky over offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Michigan State, Arizona State, Maryland and Purdue, among others.