One of the last men standing when the prep season in California ended was
Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian School receiver Sean Wiser (6-2, 180). The
Stanford commit, one of the top two-way players in the state, saw his high
school career come to a close in the Lions 27-20 overtime win over Cardinal
Newman of Santa Rosa in the California Division III Championship game.
With his prep career done, Wiser can now shift his focus to college, and no
sooner did the weekend conclude than Wiser got the news about Stanford hiring
Jim Harbaugh as its new coach.
“I'm really excited because I've been talking to the Stanford coaches and I
know that USD had the number one offense in all of I-AA, so they're really big on
throwing the football,” Wiser exclaims. “I've had teammates who knew Coach Harbaugh,
too, and they had nothing but good things to say. I'm going to wait to see who he
hires as a staff, but I'm rock solid to Stanford.”
A receiver in as prolific an offense as California high school football has
seen in some time, it's not a surprise that Wiser is intrigued about playing a
role in the new passing offense for the Cardinal.
“I'm definitely excited because it's what he's known for, throwing the
football,” Wiser explains. “If they want me to play on defense, I'll do whatever is
good for the team. But I'd definitely loved to play receiver. If I had it my
way, I wouldn't mind playing both ways, but that's almost impossible in college. I'll leave it up to the coaches because I enjoy both so much.”
Wiser had already taken his official visit to Stanford in early November but
says he plans to
visit Palo Alto again next month.
“I'm going to go up to Stanford in January for a recruiting weekend to meet
the coach and the new coaching staff,” Wiser shares. “It's still uncertain on who
he wants to keep, and I don't think they'll know for a while. I don't have an
in-home scheduled yet, so I'll go up there and meet them.”
When Wiser committed, Walt Harris was still the coach and even when he was
fired, Wiser didn't waver in his commitment. But he did admit some
anxiety.
“I was pretty set on going there no matter what, but I was a little
concerned,” Wiser allows. “I wanted to wait and see who they were interviewing, and
I was pretty comfortable with they were talking to.”
Wiser has already received word too, that he has been admitted to Stanford.
“Yes, I've already been accepted, so I don't have to worry about that,” Wiser
beams.
This weekend, the Oaks Christian School standout will be without football for the first time in a long
stretch, as the Lions played a 15-game season.
“It's going to be weird with this last year being all football,” Wiser says. “Either that or I would have college games to watch, too, but this weekend all
there is to watch is the NFL.”
Wiser and his teammates had been blowing out teams through the first 14
games, and they enjoyed their third straight unbeaten season and won their fourth
straight CIF sectional title.
Last Saturday, however, the Lions were in that rare position of trailing, and
Cardinal Newman poised to spring the upset.
“Of course you're nervous, especially when you get down in the fourth
quarter,” Wiser admits. “But time was on our side, and we were a more experienced
team. With every guy playing together, we had an advantage in that game.”
The Lions pulled out a 27-20 thriller to win the state title game and put a
capper on a memorable career.
“There was a ton of excitement and it was a relief. We would go out
undefeated, tie the record for most wins in a season, but it was a little tough. It didn't really hit me on the field, but now with no football, I'm not going to
see them,” Wiser comments on his teammates. “But I will play against half of them in college.”
Wiser finished the year with 60 catches for 904 yards and 16 touchdowns,
adding 80 tackles and two interceptions from his safety spot.
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