Sooner Profile: Josh Weitzel

Josh Weitzel \| Sr. \| 6-1 \| 184
	Birthdate: February 27, 1985 Parents: Rodney and Denise Weitzel Hometown: Lincoln University, Pa. High School: Oxford Major: Secondary Education Multimedia Photo Gallery \| Complete Bio

NORMAN, Okla. -- Three years ago, Josh Weitzel transferred to Oklahoma from the University of Michigan, and it has made all the difference in the world.

Weitzel, who self-admittedly struggled to live up to his expectations at Michigan, was offered a new beginning with the Sooners. Since his arrival in Norman, not only has he had an extremely successful run on the mat, he has become more engaged in his academic pursuits, more involved in the community and has developed into a tremendous leader.

Combine all those things and it's only natural that Weitzel plans to become a teacher and a coach upon graduating from college. In that role he hopes to influence young people's lives and help them achieve their goals.

For the time being, however, he still has a few of his own goals he would like to accomplish at Oklahoma.

We recently talked to Josh about what remains of his career in a Sooner uniform, as well as what's in store for the future.

On his individual peformance so far this season:
"I'm pretty satisfied. With this being my last year, I knew what my goals were and what I had to do to get there. I just try to take each week for what it is and try to improve while realizing what's yet to come. Often times you can get caught up in who you're wrestling and what your record is, but I think so far I've done a pretty good job of taking the wins and the losses for what they are and working toward my goals of getting to March and the NCAA Championships."

On his personal goals and expectations:
"I'm kind of superstitious so I usually don't tell people my goals. One thing I said at the beginning of the year is that I have the potential to achieve everything I want to, it's just a matter of me going out there and wrestling and improving from week to week. If I can continue to improve, then I think I'll put myself in a pretty good position. That's really the only thing I can ask of myself. As long as I go out there and wrestle and put myself in a position to win, then I can't look back and say that I didn't work hard or any of that. I want to be able to say I did all I could do, the cards fell where they fell and that's the hand I was dealt."

On how he prepares for the stress of the NCAA Championships:
"You just have to take it one match at a time. You can't worry about winning or losing or where you're at in the bracket. You just have to go out and wrestle for those seven minutes and just do the best you can. For me personally, I don't even look at the brackets or know who I have to wrestle my first round because it messes with my head. I usually don't find out who I'm going against until they call our names. It's just taking that one match at a time approach. I know that's a stereotypical answer, and sometimes it's hard but that's just how I have to do it in order to not get caught up in the atmosphere."

"With teaching, I have

the luxury of going and

working with younger

kids that hopefully I

can influence their

lives and help them

achieve their goals."

On focusing solely on his own performance:
"I don't watch a lot of film on other guys. Most of the film I watch is my own film and just trying to improve and perfect the things that I do. My belief is that if I'm watching film and trying to prevent the other guy from doing what he wants to do then I'm not wrestling my style. I think that if I go out and wrestle my style I'm going to put myself in a pretty good situation."

On moving up a weight class this season:
"I think 184 pound just affords me a sense of relaxation because I don't have to worry about making weight. Last year I got caught up in that a lot. I would work out just to keep my weight down, and I think a lot of times that took away from the purpose of working out to get better. This year I've really been able to focus on my technique. One of the biggest changes is that I'm able to eat a lot more trying to stay a little bit bigger. The same thing with lifting -- last year I would lift just to get a sweat going, but this year it's really a lift to keep my strength up. It's a dramatic change from last season and I'm not nearly as stressed from having to make weight.

"I have more overall confidence in myself. I struggled at Michigan and I was really stressed about not living up to my expectations. This year I don't feel that much stress. I feel like I have the coaches confidence and I have a restored sense of confidence in myself."

On how happy is to have ended up at Oklahoma:
"It's kind of been a blessing in disguise and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm really happy here and for things other than wrestling. There's the social atmosphere and obviously the academic part of it. It's just been a great experience all around."

On his involvement with the Student-Athlete Advisory Council:
"When I was at Michigan I really didn't get involved in that much. When I got to Oklahoma I really wanted to change that. I wanted to start doing some things outside of wrestling to help build my resume. The first opportunity that came about was the SAAC. My first year I was just a member and this year I'm the vice president. I'm in charge of running meetings and setting the agenda for what we're going to talk about. I have meetings with the administrators and pretty much just help organize certain things that we do. We have a Faculty Appreciation Day in the spring, we were involved in creating the Sooner Oath and are now setting up a Sooner Oath Award, and we have a couple other programs we're trying to implement. We're basically the voice of the student-athletes and try to communicate their needs to the administration and vice versa.

"I'm pretty proud of that role and have really tried to take ownership and get more involved in that, in addition to doing more community service things. The wrestling team did a reading program where we had 15 guys that would go read to McKinley Elementary on a weekly basis. We did a Habitat for Humanity project where we went out on a Saturday and helped put on a roof. I think those types of things are really important, especially for the younger guys to realize what they're here for. Student-athletes are here for the all-around experience and the chance to give back because there are a lot of people who aren't as fortunate as we are."

On what sparked his interest in becoming a high school teacher:
"I've always had a lot of leadership roles. In high school I was the team captain and have always been involved in the community. What really sparked my interest in teaching was during my junior year in high school. I had a teacher who had been there forever, he even taught my parents. It was an SAT prep course and part of his job was to kind of help gear us in the right direction. We were filling out college applications at the time and one of the things he told us was that it's not about money, it's about finding your passion. At first I was like, 'All I know how to do is wrestle.' It didn't occur to me until later when I needed to figure out a major when I thought, 'If wrestling is my passion then I need to figure out something I can do to stay involved in wrestling.' With teaching, I have the luxury of going and working with younger kids that hopefully I can influence their lives and help them achieve their goals, and I can still be involved in wrestling. So it just kind of made sense that teaching was the career path I should choose."

On whether he plans to move back home to Pennsylvania:
"I'm getting married in the summer, and my fiance Allyson is from Oklahoma. She's actually a first grade teacher right now at Roosevelt Elementary. We're going to get married in Oklahoma, but we're not sure what we're going to do after that. I have a pretty big family and eventually I want to get back to Pennsylvania. That was kind of the trade-off, I'd let her get married in Oklahoma as long as she moves back with me. So eventually we plan on moving back to Pennsylvania, we're just not really sure when. We're just trying to get through this wrestling season, finish up our goals there, get ready for the wedding and then we'll figure out what we're going to do. We'll definitely be in Oklahoma for a couple years though."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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