Jake Wieneke (born September 15, 1994) is a professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played college football at

South Dakota State South Dakota State University is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually ...

and signed with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2018. He was cut by the Vikings prior to the 2018 season, and then signed by the

Salt Lake Stallions The Salt Lake Stallions were a professional American football franchise based in Salt Lake City, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began play in February 2019. The Stallions were the northernmost team in ...

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

(AAF).

Early years

Wieneke attended

Maple Grove Senior High School Maple Grove Senior High School (MGSH) is a public grade 912 high school located in Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Osseo School District (279). Its feeder schools are Maple Grove Middle School and Oss ...

, where he was a three-sport star in football, basketball and track and field. After dealing with injuries for the most part of his junior season, Wieneke established himself as one of the top wide receivers in the state of Minnesota during his senior season. He was a first-team All-State selection and Mr. Football finalist after recording 68 receptions for 1,330 yards and 13 touchdowns. Following his senior campaign, he was invited to play at the Minnesota All-Star Game held in June 2013 and was named the North Offensive MVP after catching two touchdown passes.

College career

After redshirting in 2013, Wieneke was the runner-up for the

Jerry Rice Award The Jerry Rice Award is awarded annually in the United States to the most outstanding freshman player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports inf ...

as the Football Championship Subdivision's top freshman the following year. He garnered second-team

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(AP) All-American status and his first first-team All-

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivis ...

(MVFC) nod after catching 73 passes for 1,404 yards and a school-record 16 touchdowns. Wieneke finished his collegiate career as the Missouri Valley Football Conference career leader in receptions with 288, in receiving yards with 5,157 and in receiving

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

with 59.

Statistics

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

As the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

was coming to an end, Wieneke was hoping he would not be selected. With five picks to go, he received a call from the Vikings' wide receivers coach

Darrell Hazell Darrell Ivan Hazell (born April 14, 1964) is a former American football college and National Football League (NFL) coach. Hazell has been a head coach twice, with Kent State from 2011 to 2012, and Purdue from 2013 to 2016. A native of Cinnamin ...

asking if he wanted to sign as a free agent with Minnesota if not taken. "So for the last five picks of the draft, I was just kind of hoping that I don't get drafted and I get to sign with the Vikings," Wieneke said. When the draft ended, Wieneke agreed to terms with the

. Wieneke stated: "It's the best feeling in the world, I get to stay with the team I grew up loving and I get to stay in Minnesota. It can't be anything better than this." He was waived on August 31, 2018.

Salt Lake Stallions

Wieneke signed with the

of the

, but was released in January 2019.

Montreal Alouettes

On January 4, 2019, Wieneke signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

. He played in all 18 regular season games in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

where he recorded 41 receptions for 569 yards and eight touchdowns. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Frank M. Gibson Trophy as the East Division's Most Outstanding Rookie. He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the s ...

. He signed a one-year contract extension with the Alouettes on January 19, 2021. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Wieneke played in all 14 regular season games where he had 56 catches for 898 yards and a league-leading 11 touchdowns. At the end of the season, he was named a CFL All-Star. In his third season with the team, Weineke saw a drop in production as he played in 16 regular season games, but had 45 receptions for 589 yards and just two touchdowns. He also didn't record more than 70 receiving yards in a game until the penultimate regular season game where he had five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. In the playoffs, he had nine catches for 107 yards and one touchdown in two games. He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 14, 2023.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On February 14, 2023, it was announced that Weineke had signed with the

Personal life

Wieneke was born to parents Susan and Eric Wieneke, who attended all 18 Alouettes regular season games and one playoff game in 2019. Wieneke and his wife, Brenda, have one son, Israel, who was born in 2020. Wieneke also has a brother, Clark.

References

External links

Saskatchewan Roughriders bio

South Dakota State Jackrabbits football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wieneke, Jake 1994 births Living people People from Maple Grove, Minnesota Sportspeople from Hennepin County, Minnesota American football wide receivers Players of American football from Minnesota South Dakota State Jackrabbits football players Minnesota Vikings players Salt Lake Stallions players Montreal Alouettes players Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Saskatchewan Roughriders players