Wes Obermeier fell in love with football “probably before I knew it. I think dad started my love for the game when he was Gibson Southern’s football coach. Football was all day in our home.”
“And when I got into the Titan Youth Football League as a first grader, I realized what a team sport football is. Dad said you can win a basketball game by yourself if you’re a big scorer, or a baseball game by yourself if you’re a great pitcher. But in football you have do be a piece of the team puzzle,” Obermeier said.
“That appealed to me right away. I think it’s awesome.”
The 19-year-old son of John and Misty Obermeier, and brother of Gibson Southern senior-to-be and frequent National Anthem singer Kennnedy Obermeier, Wes played football awesomely enough to earn a football scholarship to Division I Ball State University of the Mid-American Conference. He also earned all-state honor as a wide receiver/tight end by catching 52 passes for 801 yards and 12 touchdowns in keying Gibson Southern to a third straight unbeaten regular season, third straight Pocket Athletic Conference title and an 11-1 record. And in basketball he became a three-time All-PAC player by averaging 15.5 points and 6.1 rebounds.
Today, three days before he heads to Muncie as a Ball State University football recruit, Obermeier is the Daily Clarion 2017-18 Gibson County Male Athlete of the Year. When he gets into a Ball State football game, the coming season as a true freshman or in 2019 as a redshirt freshman, he’ll become the first Gibson County high school grad to play to play in an NCAA Division I gridiron game since 2002 Princeton Community grad Bo Greer played offensive guard for New Mexico in 2005 and 2006.
He’s the first Gibson County high school grad in over 30 years, and perhaps longer, to go directly from high school to an NCAA Division I school on football scholarship. Greer played two junior college seasons at Garden City (Kan.) Community College before entering New Mexico. Wood Memorial’s Jacob Rowe entered Purdue in August 1997, made the Boilermakers as a walk-on in January 1998, started the 2001 Rose Bowl as the left side upback when his team received the opening kickoff, but did not go on football scholarship until his 2002 senior season. Eastern Illinois was College Division, a step below Division I, when former Princeton all-state running back Justin Lynch played there from 1995-98. High school teammate and lineman Ross Key went to Purdue as a walk-on, as did more recent Gibson Southern lineman Wade Fisher.
“Wes will be a very good player at Ball State,” Gibson Southern Coach Nick Hart said at Obermeier’s signing in November. “Not only does he stand 6-foot-7, he’s big and strong enough to play as a tight end. He not only catches the ball, he can block people. And he’s athletic enough to move around and play the wing and slot positions.”
“Great kid, great student, great in the community, does everything you ask.”
The son believes that “Dad started the TYFL, and it has continued with Coach (Rick) Stefanich and Coach Hart. I really loved being a piece of the puzzle. That first grade year was awesome. Only so many kids in our class were playing, so we all played a lot of positions. I played all over, from center to quarterback.”
“I’ve always loved the passing game. It’s something. Even though I became the backup quarterback on our freshman team, as well as a linebacker, I knew I wouldn’t be a quarterback. But in watching NFL games I became fascinated with tight ends like Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots and Travis Kelce of the Chiefs,” Obermeier said.
“As a receiver you can change games. It can be third-and-17. But when you have a tight end like Gronkowski, the thinking is, ‘We’ll give him the ball and we’ll get it.’ So when Coach Hart moved me to receiver, I really liked the move.”
For much of his boyhood, basketball was Obermeier’s favorite sport. “I trimmed down and got pretty athletic. And in middle school I loved running up and down the court. Looking back, that helped me in football. But while my AAU basketball coaches talked about scholarships, I didn’t get any college basketball offers. Division III and NAIA basketball coaches contacted me, but by then I’d started looking into football.”
After weighing 195 pounds as a freshman, Obermeier began gaining weight and now packs 248 pounds. “My junior year I started going to football camps. I went to the Southern Illinois University Junior Day Camp and things snowballed from there. I also went to camps at Ball State, Purdue and Indiana, and made visits to Southern Illinois, Indianapolis, Miami of Ohio and Indiana State.
“I’ve found that athleticism in football is different. You have to make sure you never stop getting faster, stronger and smarter. The continuing growth you have as a football player is something. And being a receiver is awesome. Even when I was out wide, I knew that tight end would eventually be my role. In five or six of our formations at Gibson Southern, I moved inside and put my hand on the ground before the snap.”
Obermeier committed to Ball State on June 2, 2017, while at camp there. “Coach Mike Neu has the program headed in the right direction. Right away I liked the coaches and the facilities. They’ve laid down new turf, and I think they plan to install an indoor turf complex. The coaches not only want the best facilities, they want each player to become the best student-athlete he can be.”
After achieving a 3.9 grade-point average on Gibson Southern’s 4.0 scale, Obermeier plans to major in telecommunications and minor in sports broadcasting. “I want to stay involved with football as long as I can. I’ve looked at SportsLink and found that Ball State’s telecommunications department does a lot with ESPN.”
After he and family reach Ball State on Sunday afternoon, Obermeier will and fellow Cardinals will take a conditioning test at 6 a.m. EST Monday. “A while back the coaches sent me a 100-page book about sleeping, conditioning, diet, lifting, strength workouts, hydration work and other things. I’m anxious to get started on everything.”
What may not be known till late-season is whether he’ll play or be redshirted as a freshman. “I think the rule has changed, and that you can play in up to four games and still get a redshirt year,” he said near the interview’s end in the family home in Fort Branch’s Little York subdivision. “I’d like to play this year. But if they decide to redshirt me, I’ll be every bit as happy and I’ll work hard to get ready for my sophomore year.”