"I pitched a complete game shutout against the number one team in the state
Tuesday night," added Wes Rea. "We played our rival, Pascagoula, so
that was sweet. We are only 9-7, but we are starting to get it together. Personally,
I am 3-1 on the mound. I do not know my strikeouts or my ERA. I am hitting .540,
but I am not getting any pitches to hit over the fence like last year. They are
throwing me a bunch of slurves and junk. They are not giving me anything to hit."
Wes was taking a big cut the summer before the start of his sophomore season
and hurt his back enough that he was not able to play football his sophomore
season.
"That was tough on me. I did not like missing that season. Man, that was
not any fun at all. I am good to go now, thank goodness. I do a lot of machine
work to stabilize that area. I do not use any free weights. My bench press is
right around 340 right now but I have not maxed out on my squat since I hurt
my back."
Interestingly enough, baseball is still Wes' first love.
"I guess you can say baseball is my first love, but I can not tell you
what I am going to do in college because the baseball programs can not start
recruiting you until June, so I am going to wait and see who all recruits me
in baseball before I make that decision."
In the ideal world, what would Rea do?
"I definitely would like to play both sports, but it would be hard to play
the offensive line in the SEC and play baseball in the Springs and miss spring
practices. I have a lot of coaches blowing smoke up my butt saying I can do both,
but with the weight program going on these days, that would be nearly impossible.
I would probably have to play at a smaller baseball school, and to pass up playing
football at a big time school to play baseball at a smaller school, that does
not sound like too much fun. So really, it will come down to who offers me in
baseball."
What if Wes gets offered by a big time baseball program?
"That is going to be a tough decision for me to make. Of course I have
been thinking about it, but I have not made up my mind what I am going to do
if that situation occurs. I guess it would be a good problem to have. I just
know that realistically, I am going to have to just play baseball or football
if I want to be a big time player at a big time school."
What is going on in the football recruiting department?
"I have seven offers right now and LSU and Alabama are coming on strong.
They are big time, so they can wait and get who they want. They want me to come
to their camp, but they can still take their pick. I am going to go over to their
camps and show them what I got. Right now, I have offers from Duke, Ole Miss, MSU,
USM, Stanford, Tennessee, and Florida State. Hopefully I will pick up a couple
more from Alabama and LSU after their camps. Georgia and Miami are also recruiting
me pretty hard too. They have been sending a lot of stuff recently. Of course,
they recruit everybody."
Has Wes developed a tight bond with any particular coach that is recruiting
him?
"Not necessarily. They are all great, but I do like how the Ole Miss coach
recruits me. He does an awesome job recruiting me. He is their OL coach, Mike
Markuson."
What does Coach Markuson do differently?
"I do not know. He just sends me hand written letters just about every
day. He makes me feel wanted. That is a big thing for me. He just makes it seem
like I am his biggest priority. I like his personality too. We just have a lot
in common. But it is not like the other coaches do not. It is early in the recruiting
process, but he really does a good job with me."
What else does Wes know about the Rebels?
"I am suppose to be going up there for a baseball game soon. They invited
me to a few of the SEC baseball weekends, and I am going to go up there when
Ole Miss is scrimmaging in football on the same weekend. I am trying to get
it worked out with Coach Markuson. I have baseball going on too, so we are trying
to make it all work. But what I like about Ole Miss is that it is instate, and
that is big to me. I have a lot of pride in my state. I just like the overall
school. I always have. They are doing a real good job recruiting me. I am just
waiting to see what the campus is like. I hear it is awesome. I am just ready
to see it myself."
What is going on with USM?
"They are so close to home. It is only like an hour away to play ball.
That is huge. I guess you can say I have been around USM my whole life. They
were kind of my childhood team, if you know what I mean."
How about MSU?
"They are recruiting me pretty hard in baseball. They are not supposed
to call until June, but they have been sending me a lot of letters. Every school
says I can play both. As much as I want to believe it, I know it will be too
hard."
What are the other positives with MSU?
"I have been talking to Coach Mullen on the phone a lot. He wants to turn
it around up there. I get a chance to watch them for one year to see what is
going to go on."
Which out of state programs does Wes have interest in?
"I was over at LSU Jr Day and their recruiting process is unbelievable.
I have been to a couple of their games. They have great facilities, top of the
line. I guess you can say they are the out of state program that has caught
my eye."
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