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\u2019 preferred sport of rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew he wasn\u2019t going to be in the ballet or something like that,\u201d dad joked Sunday at the Real McCoy Exposure Camp.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI originally wanted to play basketball, but going into high school I wasn\u2019t really tall enough to play basketball, so I decided football was where it\u2019s at,\u201d Wittstock said. \u201cI was just prone to O-line because I\u2019m a big kid and I stuck with it and got good at it and I\u2019ve started to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittstock, a junior this past season, was responsible for protecting the backside of Florida\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been working really hard and he had a lot of guys pushing him in the program,\u201d Lake Mary coach Scott Perry said. \u201cHe had a lot of competition with Dominic [Sorrentino] and Tanner [Jumpp] and then this past year with all of the competition we faced. He\u2019s had to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also learned what a huge accomplishment it is to win a state championship here in the states.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great. We\u2019re 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,\u201d Wittstock said. \u201cIt feels great, just my third year at Lake Mary and winning states.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it. Most of my friends I have made through football and my connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittstock learned quickly that it takes more than just being a big guy to be a successful offensive lineman. And it\u2019s a good thing, because at 6-foot-3, 280 pounds, he\u2019s not always the biggest guy on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played rugby in South Africa, so I\u2019m used to aggressive sports, but it took me a bit of time. It took me a year to get used to it,\u201d Wittstock said. \u201cFrom 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 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\u2019s Josh Raymond and Northwestern\u2019s Jumpp.<\/p>\n
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/slade-wittstock2.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously his footwork is good and he\u2019s grown, almost 280 pounds, and he\u2019s 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\u2019ve needed the past four years here,\u201d said Perry, who played offensive line at Florida. \u201cHe also can run block, so he\u2019s become a physical kid and he has good mentality for an offensive lineman.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good kid and a hard worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credits several other coaches \u2014 Aaron \u201cTank\u201d Jones Jr., Anthony \u201cSauce\u201d DiCunto and John Regan \u2014 for helping him with his technique and physicality.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Sauce has like finalized my technique, Coach Tank I\u2019ve been with since freshman year and he\u2019s helped get my technique to where it is now, and then Coach Regan is my O-line coach and he\u2019s helped me out with everything I\u2019ve done,\u201d Wittstock said.<\/p>\n
His footwork is key to his dominance at the line. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, 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,\u201d Wittstock said, \u201cand you have to have hand placement, and know where to punch. If you don\u2019t punch people they\u2019ll beat you. You\u2019ll lose the rep.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s good and it has him eyeing football scholarships at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going good. A lot of bigger colleges have been reaching out to me,\u201d Wittstock said. \u201cI have a couple of junior days coming up. I want to be able to get a free ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
So now what does he do to top what he\u2019s done so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWin back-to-back [state titles] and go undefeated,\u201d Wittstock said, without hesitation.<\/p>\n
Winning back-to-back state titles won\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
![\"Lake](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/dajour-webb_c6ce22.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will definitely be a big loss,\u201d Wittstock said of Grubbs, \u201cbut Remy is good and we got a better O-line than last year, I would say. We\u2019re bigger and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
HIs acceptance at Lake Mary had been good, but Wittstock said at first people used to tell him his accent was fake.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took some time for people to get used to the accent,\u201d he said. \u201cLots of people say I faked it at first .. or they think I\u2019m from Britain or Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he did say the girls love it. Speaking of girls, his sister, Taylia, plays flag football, and apparently she has no accent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say it\u2019s because she watched American TV and Slade did not,\u201d Perry said. \u201cThe players kinda give him a hard time about his accent. They\u2019re always saying, \u2018Can you say that again in English?\u2019 But he has fit right in and they have embraced him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s fun to be around, he\u2019s fun to coach and he\u2019s a big part of our success. He\u2019s a good-hearted kid.\u201d<\/p>\n