Matt Wilhelm

Total tackles:	243
Sacks:	2.0
Forced fumbles:	1
Fumble recoveries:	1
Interceptions:	6
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Matt Wilhelm
	Wilhelm at 49ers training camp in August 2010
No. 56, 57, 50
Position:	Linebacker
Personal information
Born:	February 2, 1981 (age 43); Oberlin, Ohio, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:	245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school:	Elyria Catholic (Elyria, Ohio)
College:	Ohio State
NFL draft:	2003 / round: 4 / pick: 112
Career history
	San Diego Chargers (2003–2008); Philadelphia Eagles (2009)*; San Francisco 49ers (2009); Green Bay Packers (2010);
	* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
	Super Bowl champion (XLV); BCS National Championship (2002); Consensus All-American (2002); First-team All-Big Ten (2002); Second-team All-Big Ten (2000);
Career NFL statistics
Total tackles:
Total tackles:	243
Sacks:	2.0
Forced fumbles:	1
Fumble recoveries:	1
Interceptions:	6
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Matthew Wilhelm (born February 2, 1981) is an American former professional football player who is a radio/TV football analyst.

He was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the early 2000s. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, earning consensus All-American honors in 2002. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft, also played for the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers of the NFL, and was a member of the Packers' Super Bowl XLV championship team that beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is currently a football analyst/show host for WKNR AM 850 and WEWS-TV 5 in Cleveland.

Early life

Wilhelm was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and grew up in Lorain, Ohio. He attended Elyria Catholic High School in Elyria, Ohio. He amassed 100 tackles, 26 for loss, and 11 sacks as a senior, and was named a first-team All-Ohio selection. He also played tight end and running back.^[1] In 2002, his high school retired his No. 34 jersey.

College career

Wilhelm attended Ohio State University, and played for coach John Cooper and coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football teams from 1999 to 2002. Wilhelm was moved to middle linebacker before his sophomore season and started every game. In his first game as a starter against Fresno State, Wilhelm intercepted a David Carr pass and ran it 25 yards for a touchdown.^[2] The following year, he earned the Randy Gradishar Award as the team's top linebacker and made all of the defensive calls. As a senior in 2002, Wilhelm was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American,^[3] and helped his team win a BCS National Championship with a team-leading 11 tackles in a 31–24 Fiesta Bowl victory over the Miami Hurricanes. Wilhelm ended the year with a career-high 121 tackles and ended his career with the 6th most career tackles for loss for Ohio State all-time.^[4]

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
Height	Weight	Arm length	Hand span	40-yard dash	Vertical jump	Broad jump	Wonderlic
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	33 in (0.84 m)	10+1⁄4 in (0.26 m)	4.79 s	35 in (0.89 m)	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)	27
Wonderlic and arm and hand spans were taken at the NFL Scouting Combine; all other measurables were taken at Pro Day.^[5]

San Diego Chargers

Wilhelm was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft.^[6] He spent the first four years of his career mostly on special teams and as a backup. In 2007, he became a full-time starter after Donnie Edwards signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was released by the Chargers on July 24, 2009.

Philadelphia Eagles

Wilhelm was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles on August 4, 2009, after starting middle linebacker Stewart Bradley suffered a season-ending knee injury. He was waived on September 5, 2009.

San Francisco 49ers

Wilhelm was signed by the San Francisco 49ers on October 19, 2009, after reserve linebacker Jeff Ulbrich was placed on injured reserve. He was re-signed to a one-year contract on March 4, 2010. He was cut on September 3, 2010.

Green Bay Packers

Wilhelm was signed by the Green Bay Packers on October 26, 2010.

NFL career statistics

Legend
Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	Games		Tackles					Interceptions					Fumbles
Year	Team	GP	GS	Cmb	Solo	Ast	Sck	TFL	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	FR	Yds	TD
2003	SDG	2	0	2	2	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2004	SDG	7	0	13	10	3	0.0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
2005	SDG	16	0	31	25	6	1.0	1	1	10	0	10	1	1	0	0	0
2006	SDG	16	0	26	19	7	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
2007	SDG	14	14	97	74	23	1.0	4	3	11	0	7	4	0	1	0	0
2008	SDG	16	7	51	41	10	0.0	1	1	8	0	8	2	0	0	0	0
2009	SFO	11	1	18	12	6	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2010	GNB	7	0	5	4	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
		89	22	243	187	56	2.0	7	6	29	0	10	12	1	1	0	0

Playoffs

Year	Team	Games		Tackles					Interceptions					Fumbles
Year	Team	GP	GS	Cmb	Solo	Ast	Sck	TFL	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	FR	Yds	TD
2004	SDG	1	0	6	5	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
2006	SDG	1	0	1	1	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2007	SDG	3	2	8	5	3	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	SDG	2	0	7	4	3	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2010	GNB	4	0	3	2	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
		11	2	25	17	8	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0

Retirement

After winning Super Bowl XLV as a member of the Packers, Wilhelm decided to retire from the NFL. In 2013, he was hired by Cleveland radio station WKNR AM 850 to be a football analyst, co-host of Cleveland Browns Daily, and serve as a co-host for the station's Ohio State Buckeyes pregame show. He also appears on Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS-TV 5 as a Buckeyes and Browns analyst.^[7]^[8]

In 2016, Wilhelm's hometown paper, The Morning Journal, changed the name of its annual high school football Player of the Year award to The Matt Wilhelm Award in recognition of Wilhelm's lifetime of football achievements.^[9]

In 2017, Wilhelm was announced as a member of the 2017 Lorain Sports Hall of Fame class.^[10]

Awards and honors

High school

1998 All-Ohio First-team

College

2002 All-Big Ten First-team
2002 Consensus All-American
2002 National Championship (as a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes)

NFL

Super Bowl XLV winner (as a member of the Green Bay Packers)

References

^ CSTV.com: #1 in College Sports Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
^ NCAA Football - Fresno State vs. Ohio State
^ 2011 NCAA Football Records Book, Award Winners, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, p. 11 (2011). Retrieved June 23, 2012.
^ Chargers.com - Team » Roster » #57 Matt Wilhelm | LB Archived 2007-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Matt Wilhelm prospect profile". NFL. Archived from the original on June 18, 2003.
^ "2003 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
^ Wilhelm's post playing career - Lake County News Herald
^ Wilhelm on WEWS - Twitter.com
^ Behm, Jon. "High school football: Introducing the Matt Wilhelm award". Retrieved May 3, 2017.
^ "Lorain Sports Hall of Fame announces 2017 class". Retrieved May 3, 2017.

External links

Green Bay Packers bio
Media related to Matt Wilhelm at Wikimedia Commons

[1] CSTV.com: #1 in College Sports Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine

[2] NCAA Football - Fresno State vs. Ohio State

[3] 2011 NCAA Football Records Book, Award Winners, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, p. 11 (2011). Retrieved June 23, 2012.

[chargers.com-4] Chargers.com - Team » Roster » #57 Matt Wilhelm | LB Archived 2007-06-08 at the Wayback Machine

[NFL_prospect-5] "Matt Wilhelm prospect profile". NFL. Archived from the original on June 18, 2003.

[6] "2003 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2023.

[7] Wilhelm's post playing career - Lake County News Herald

[8] Wilhelm on WEWS - Twitter.com

[9] Behm, Jon. "High school football: Introducing the Matt Wilhelm award". Retrieved May 3, 2017.

[10] "Lorain Sports Hall of Fame announces 2017 class". Retrieved May 3, 2017.

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v t e 2002 College Football All-America Team consensus selections
Offense	QB Carson Palmer RB Larry Johnson RB Willis McGahee WR Charles Rogers WR Reggie Williams WR Rashaun Woods TE Dallas Clark OL Shawn Andrews OL Eric Steinbach OL Derrick Dockery OL Jordan Gross C Brett Romberg
Defense	DL Terrell Suggs DL David Pollack DL Rien Long DL Tommie Harris LB E. J. Henderson LB Teddy Lehman LB Matt Wilhelm DB Mike Doss DB Terence Newman DB Shane Walton DB Troy Polamalu
Special teams	P Mark Mariscal PK Mike Nugent KR/AP Derek Abney

v t e Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV champions
2 Mason Crosby 6 Graham Harrell 8 Tim Masthay 10 Matt Flynn 11 Chastin West 12 Aaron Rodgers (MVP) 16 Brett Swain 17 Antonio Robinson 20 Atari Bigby 21 Charles Woodson 22 Pat Lee 23 Dimitri Nance 24 Jarrett Bush 25 Ryan Grant 26 Charlie Peprah 27 Anthony Smith 28 Brandon Underwood 29 Derrick Martin 30 John Kuhn 32 Brandon Jackson 34 Anthony Levine 35 Korey Hall 36 Nick Collins 37 Sam Shields 38 Tramon Williams 40 Josh Gordy 41 Spencer Havner 42 Morgan Burnett 43 Michael Greco 44 James Starks 45 Quinn Johnson 48 Cardia Jackson 49 Robert Francois 50 A. J. Hawk 51 Brady Poppinga 52 Clay Matthews 53 Diyral Briggs 54 Brandon Chillar 55 Desmond Bishop 56 Nick Barnett 57 Matt Wilhelm 58 Frank Zombo 59 Brad Jones 60 Curtis Young 61 Brett Goode 62 Evan Dietrich-Smith 63 Scott Wells 64 Adrian Battles 65 Mark Tauscher 67 Nick McDonald 68 Jay Ross 69 Chris Campbell 70 T. J. Lang 71 Josh Sitton 72 Jason Spitz 73 Daryn Colledge 74 Marshall Newhouse 75 Bryan Bulaga 76 Chad Clifton 77 Cullen Jenkins 79 Ryan Pickett 80 Donald Driver 81 Andrew Quarless 83 Tom Crabtree 85 Greg Jennings 86 Donald Lee 87 Jordy Nelson 88 Jermichael Finley 89 James Jones 90 B. J. Raji 91 Justin Harrell 93 Erik Walden 94 Jarius Wynn 95 Howard Green 96 Mike Neal 98 C. J. Wilson
Head coach: Mike McCarthy
Coaches: Edgar Bennett James Campen Dom Capers Tom Clements Jerry Fontenot Kevin Greene Thadeus Jackson Mark Lovat Ben McAdoo Scott McCurley Chad Morton Winston Moss Darren Perry Joe Philbin Dave Redding Jimmy Robinson John Rushing Shawn Slocum Mike Trgovac Joe Whitt Jr.