When Slade Wittstock first came to the United States five years, he and his father, Keith Wittstock, were looking for something athletic to take the place of most Saffers’ preferred sport of rugby.
“We knew he wasn’t going to be in the ballet or something like that,” dad joked Sunday at the Real McCoy Exposure Camp.
No, but what Slade found is American football, and not only has he found it much to his liking, but he has also found a great deal of success in a relatively short period of time. He’s gone from a person with no real knowledge of the sport to being the starting left tackle for the Class 7A state champion Lake Mary Rams.
“I originally wanted to play basketball, but going into high school I wasn’t really tall enough to play basketball, so I decided football was where it’s at,” Wittstock said. “I was just prone to O-line because I’m a big kid and I stuck with it and got good at it and I’ve started to enjoy it.”
Wittstock, a junior this past season, was responsible for protecting the backside of Florida’s Mr. Football Noah Grubbs, and he did it impressively. Grubbs owes some deep appreciation to Wittstock for keeping the quarterback upright for much of the year and sending him off to Notre Dame all in one piece.
“He’s been working really hard and he had a lot of guys pushing him in the program,” Lake Mary coach Scott Perry said. “He had a lot of competition with Dominic [Sorrentino] and Tanner [Jumpp] and then this past year with all of the competition we faced. He’s had to step up.”
He also learned what a huge accomplishment it is to win a state championship here in the states.
“It’s been great. We’re getting lots of recognition. Just the other day we had a thing at the [Solar Bears] ice hockey game getting recognized and then we had a thing at Huey Magoos. Everywhere we go in Lake Mary, they recognize us,” Wittstock said. “It feels great, just my third year at Lake Mary and winning states.
“I love it. Most of my friends I have made through football and my connections.”
Wittstock learned quickly that it takes more than just being a big guy to be a successful offensive lineman. And it’s a good thing, because at 6-foot-3, 280 pounds, he’s not always the biggest guy on the field.
“I played rugby in South Africa, so I’m used to aggressive sports, but it took me a bit of time. It took me a year to get used to it,” Wittstock said. “From sophomore year to junior year I feel like I improved the most, from going from back-up to a Northwestern kid to starting on the state championship team. That shows the improvement.”
He’s had a meteoric ride to team success. Lake Mary made it to the state championship game during his sophomore season, losing to Venice. He had the opportunity that year to learn behind a pair of standout tackles in FSU’s Josh Raymond and Northwestern’s Jumpp.
Lake Mary tackle Slade Wittstock, who is from South Africa, got some work in this past weekend at the 24k Trench Gorillas 5v5 competition on Saturday at TFA and he also was at Sunday’s Real McCoy Exposure Camp in Orlando. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)
“Obviously his footwork is good and he’s grown, almost 280 pounds, and he’s done a great job with his balance and working on his kick-slide and stuff you need to be a good pass protector, which we’ve needed the past four years here,” said Perry, who played offensive line at Florida. “He also can run block, so he’s become a physical kid and he has good mentality for an offensive lineman.
“He’s a good kid and a hard worker.”
He credits several other coaches — Aaron “Tank” Jones Jr., Anthony “Sauce” DiCunto and John Regan — for helping him with his technique and physicality.
“Coach Sauce has like finalized my technique, Coach Tank I’ve been with since freshman year and he’s helped get my technique to where it is now, and then Coach Regan is my O-line coach and he’s helped me out with everything I’ve done,” Wittstock said.
His footwork is key to his dominance at the line. He’s quick and agile and has great upper body strength. He can hold his blocks and often directs his target backward and upfield, often dispatching of his initial responsibility and picking up targets on the second level in run blocking. He can even bounce outside and block for receivers if necessary.
“Yeah, there is lots of footwork and you have to be quick on your feet, side to side, and you have to be able to read people,” Wittstock said, “and you have to have hand placement, and know where to punch. If you don’t punch people they’ll beat you. You’ll lose the rep.”
He’s good and it has him eyeing football scholarships at the collegiate level.
“It’s going good. A lot of bigger colleges have been reaching out to me,” Wittstock said. “I have a couple of junior days coming up. I want to be able to get a free ride.”
So now what does he do to top what he’s done so far.
“Win back-to-back [state titles] and go undefeated,” Wittstock said, without hesitation.
Winning back-to-back state titles won’t be easy. Grubbs is gone to Notre Dame and the Rams lost 31 seniors to graduation. Transfer quarterback Remy Jarman from Edgewater will be looking to fill the void.
Lake Mary’s Slade Wittstock (left) goes up against Pennsylvania defensive tackle Dajour Webb during the 24k Trench Gorillas 5v5 at TFA on Saturday. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)
“It will definitely be a big loss,” Wittstock said of Grubbs, “but Remy is good and we got a better O-line than last year, I would say. We’re bigger and stronger.”
HIs acceptance at Lake Mary had been good, but Wittstock said at first people used to tell him his accent was fake.
“It took some time for people to get used to the accent,” he said. “Lots of people say I faked it at first .. or they think I’m from Britain or Australia.”
But he did say the girls love it. Speaking of girls, his sister, Taylia, plays flag football, and apparently she has no accent.
“They say it’s because she watched American TV and Slade did not,” Perry said. “The players kinda give him a hard time about his accent. They’re always saying, ‘Can you say that again in English?’ But he has fit right in and they have embraced him.
“He’s fun to be around, he’s fun to coach and he’s a big part of our success. He’s a good-hearted kid.”
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.