Kevo Wesley is not a spur-of-the-moment kind of guy.
His mom, Karen Wesley, jokes about her son’s college outlook: “He always said it was more about a 40-year plan than a four-year plan.”
So when the Wesleys, their family and friends gathered in a conference room at Curie Wednesday afternoon, it wasn’t anything impromptu. They were there to celebrate Kevo Wesley’s big day, the culmination of a whirlwind two years when his athletic career took a left turn onto a path he never imagined.
The kid who came to Curie to play hoops for one of the state’s premier programs was signing a letter of intent to play football for Vanderbilt, a member of the greatest college football conference in America.
“It’s weird,” Wesley said. “A few years ago I couldn’t see this coming. I was going to be a basketball player.”
He was skinny when he arrived at Curie. Well, not exactly skinny at 6-3 and 220 pounds. But nowhere near as big as his is now, a solid 6-3, 280.
Wesley did play basketball for two years, but he stopped growing. And the guy with the 3.3 grade-point average was smart enough to know he didn’t have a high upside as a 6-3 post player,
He also tried football as a freshman, but didn’t like it. So he didn’t go out as a sophomore and wasn’t coaxed back to the sport till last year, when former Mount Carmel and Michigan State lineman Arthur Ray took over as Curie’s head coach,
“Kevo was blessed with size and natural ability,” said Ray, who left Curie earlier this year to coach at Northwood University. “When I saw him, it was crazy to me that he hadn’t played (much) football before.
“A guy his size -- that’s half of Chicago though, there’s guys between 6-1 to the 6-3, 6-4 range, they just want to play basketball. There’s many more opportunities to play football (in college).”
Ray knew he had a special player when Wesley would call him on the weekend during the offseason asking for a ride to Ray’s lineman camp.
Current Curie coach Peter Grazzini, who was an assistant last year, knew it too.
“He is the most intrinsically motivated student-athlete I’ve coached in my 16 years,” Grazzini said. “Kevo is a sponge. Coach Ray is an elite offensive line coach (but) Kevo will let anyone coach him. He believes he can learn something from every person he’s on the field with.”
But there were tough times along the way. Essentially starting his football career as a junior meant Wesley was far behind on the learning curve.
He remembers post-game film sessions last year, when Ray pointed out his mistakes.
“I was a lot smaller so I didn’t have that strength yet,” Wesley said. “I could get overpowered by guys, I might be wrong with my technique. He would get on my about it.
“I appreciate it now because it set me up to be better. But at the time I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I can do this,’ because it seemed so complex.”
But grinding away, at practice and in the weight room, paid off.
The 247Sports.com composite rankings say Wesley is the No. 7 player in Illinois’ senior class, the No. 11 center in the nation and a top-500 player overall.
He had dozens of offers, and picked Vanderbilt not just for the chance to play in the SEC, but also for how it would set up him -- and his mom -- down the road.
He plans to major in economics with the plan of starting his own business when his football days are over. And he wants to take care of his mom the way she’s taken care of him.
“My mom did everything she could for me,” Wesley said. “She set me up with great values. No. 1, responsibility -- just being respectful, handling your business and doing what you’ve got to do.”
So sometime down the road, Wesley said with a smile, “I got to retire mom. That’s what she said since I was a little kid. I got to get her retired so she can relax.”
And until that happens, you can bet that Wesley won’t be doing any relaxing of his own.
