LOGINRavens standout considering a pair of OUA schools
Linebacker Jethro Oleko is taking things “one day at a time”.
Jethro Oleko
Positions:
Linebacker
Height/Weight:
5’10, 180 lbs
Teams:
Essex Ravens (OVFL)
L’Essor Eagles (high school: WECSSAA)
Commitment:
None
Official Visits:
None
Consideration:
Guelph, Windsor, Open
Class:
2018
Jethro Oleko is still a youngster when it comes to football. He has only been playing the sport since the age of 11, but after just his fifth season, he is already performing at an impressive rate.
He began playing in the Windsor Minor Football Association (WMFA) with the Allstate Bulldogs. He was with them for two years before moving the the AmEx Freight Lions, also of the WMFA. He won Defensive Player of the Year with the Lions in 2014.
He then joined the Essex Ravens of the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL) in the summer of 2014. He played one season of Bantam for the Ravens where he earned the ‘Tough Enough to Wear Teal’ Award in 2014. In his rookie season of Junior Varsity he was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year for the 2015 campaign.
He started his high school football career in September of 2014 with the L’Essor Eagles of the Windsor and Essex County Secondary School Athletics Association. (WECSSAA) He won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the school’s junior squad as a rookie in 2014, and this past season was selected to the WECSSAA All-City Second Team for Clair Beach, Ontario.
He headed to Arlington Texas to compete in the 2016 International Bowl last week.
When asked about a highlight from last season, Oleko mentioned one game in particular in which he was able to step out of his comfort zone and take a leadership role with the Ravens on defence.
“My highlight of last season was when I was playing in summer with the Ravens against Hamilton because I had to step out of my comfort zone of playing the Will [linebacker],” Oleko recalled. “I became the leader of the defence by playing the Mike, and that game is when I finally had a understanding of being the Mike position.”
The 15-year-old Windsor native has an excellent support system and a great balance between life and football.
“The most Influential group of people in my life would be parents and also my older brother,” he mentioned. “They’ve always been helping me out by teaching me life lessons off the football field to better me as a person. My coaches also have a impact on me. They constantly push me to my limit and also they’re making me learn lessons on and off the field.”
Oleko has been enjoying the tender stages of recruitment, but time is on his side and he is in no rush to make a decision.
“The recruiting process has been going good, I’ve been in contact with many schools, but I am still weighing my options,” he said. “I am still trying what would be the best situation for me to develop as a player and as a student so I’m just taking things one day at a time.”
As for staying in shape, the 5’10, 180-pound linebacker works out three times a week, takes jogs around his school’s track a works on his footwork every day after school.
For next season, Oleko is aiming to become bigger, stronger (both physically an mentally) and is looking to become more explosive at the point of attack.
Being in Grade 10, he has yet to tour any universities, but will be visiting more schools as he draws closer to graduation.
He hopes to pursue football as a career, either North or South of the border, but should that goal not come to fruition, he would like to become a police officer.
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