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Inside the CFL: A teacher in off-season, Wieneke is schooling CFL DBs

Alouettes' top receiver ranks No. 2 overall in the CFL, has a league-leading eight TDs and is becoming renowned for highlight-reel catches.

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When Jake Wieneke was a student and his class had a substitute teacher they could take advantage of for the day, learning might not have been the highest of priorities, he admitted.

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So, it’s with some irony the Alouettes receiver worked as a substitute teacher at Park Center senior high school, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., last year, taking a position at the end of summer, not long after the 2020 CFL season was cancelled.

Wieneke, who graduated with a teaching degree — majoring in physical education — from South Dakota State University, launched his career as an art teacher. But, before the end of the year, he also taught music, Spanish and even some French, a language with which he has a rudimentary base following nearly two seasons in Montreal.

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If the teachers didn’t prepare lessons for Wieneke, knowing they’d be absent, he researched the material online. He found himself busy five days a week and, although he was never going to get rich from the profession, the steady income helped his family survive without football.

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“I think I started to learn how to be comfortable by being uncomfortable,” Wieneke, who laughs frequently and doesn’t take himself too seriously, told the Montreal Gazette during an interview this week. “Being at the school daily, I got to build a relationship with the students. When I went into the room, it wasn’t so much like I was their teacher but more of a familiar face. That got me some respect. The more I got to know them, I think I was able to have a bigger impact on their lives. I tried to do my best to make sure they’d learn (something) and enjoy every single day.”

At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Wieneke cut an imposing — and at times intimidating — figure in the classroom. And since he helped coach the receivers on the school’s football team, along with track and field athletes, that earned him some cachet as well, not only inside the gym. It wasn’t long before the team’s players learned of Wieneke’s exploits with the Als.

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“I wanted the kids to behave, but I was more of an encourager than yeller,” inside the class, Wieneke noted, adding he enjoyed the experience enough to hopefully return following this season.

And what a season it has been for the 27-year-old native of Maple Grove, Minn.

Heading into Friday’s game against Toronto, Wieneke was the Als’ leading receiver — second overall in the league — with 44 receptions for 705 yards. He also has a league-leading eight touchdowns, becoming a favourite and reliable target of both quarterbacks, the injured Vernon Adams Jr. and now Matthew Shiltz.

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Last Saturday at Ottawa, Wieneke caught seven passes for 114 yards, including an incredible 50-yard score on which he split defenders Antoine Pruneau and Abdul Kanneh while making a can-you-believe-it? reception. Following his fourth game this season with more than 100 yards, Wieneke was named one of the league’s top performers of the week.

Rarely a game passes in which Wieneke doesn’t make at least one outstanding catch. In Hamilton this month, he beat defensive-back Ciante Evans in the end zone, inches from the sideline early in the fourth quarter, launching the Als’ overtime comeback victory.

On pace for a 1,000-yard season, despite only a 14-game schedule, Wieneke was the East Division’s 2019 nominee as outstanding rookie after catching 41 passes for 569 yards while scoring another eight TDs.

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“We pride ourselves as receivers to catch everything that comes our way,” Wieneke said. “We want to make sure we do the best we can. Sometimes it’s pretty crazy looking back at the highlights. When you look at it after the fact, sometimes you realize that was different than I thought in my head. When they happen, we see the ball in the air and know we have to do everything to come down with it. And when we do, it’s like we just did our job.”

Wieneke’s ascension has been staggering as well. Although he was the Missouri Valley Conference’s career leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns, he wasn’t drafted, signing with the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent. But the dreams of playing for his hometown team ended when Wieneke was released at the end of training camp. He signed with Salt Lake of the Alliance of American Football, but was released.

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Wieneke also had a tryout with the Washington Football Team, but seemed destined to fall back on his teaching career when the Als called.

“He’s a pretty special player,” Als head coach Khari Jones said. “He just has that knack. He’s great close to the end zone and we try to take advantage of it.”

Wieneke prides himself on his catching and route-running ability. And, despite his size, he’s deceptively fast. He believes the Vikings of 2018 wouldn’t recognize the receiver he has become. Wieneke is eligible to become a free agent this winter. He believes he has the talent to play in the NFL and doesn’t believe age will be a mitigating factor.

“I’m just living in the present and giving everything I have,” Wieneke said evasively.

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com

twitter.com/HerbZurkowsky1

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