Matthew Wilhelm (born February 2, 1981) is a former American college and professional football player and a current radio/TV football analyst. He was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for eight seasons during the early 2000s. He played college football for

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, and earned All-American honors. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. T ...

, also played for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

and Green Bay Packers of the NFL, and was a member of the Packers'

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

championship team that beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is currently a football analyst/show host for

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flags ...

AM 850 and

WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by ...

5 in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Early years

Wilhelm was born in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

, and grew up in Lorain, Ohio. He attended Elyria Catholic High School in

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River (Ohio), Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles sou ...

. 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 The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. 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 The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium i ...

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. The following year, he earned the

Randy Gradishar Randy Charles Gradishar (born March 3, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a middle linebacker in the 1970s and 1980s for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). A native of Ohio, Gradishar was a tw ...

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, and helped his team win a BCS National Championship with a team-leading 11 tackles in a 31–24

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...

victory over the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

. 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.Chargers.com - Team » Roster » #57 Matt Wilhelm , LB

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

Wilhelm was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the

. He spent the first four years of his career mostly on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and as a backup. In 2007, he became a full-time starter after

Donnie Edwards Donnie Edwards (born April 6, 1973) is a former American football linebacker from San Diego, California. He played for thirteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers. He began his ca ...

signed with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

. He was released by the Chargers on July 24, 2009.

Philadelphia Eagles

Wilhelm was signed by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

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

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.

Retirement

After winning

as a member of the Packers, Wilhelm decided to retire from the NFL. In 2013, he was hired by

radio station

AM 850 to be a football analyst, co-host of ''

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

Daily'', and serve as a co-host for the station's Ohio State Buckeyes pregame show. He also appears on Cleveland ABC affiliate

5 as a Buckeyes and Browns analyst. 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. In 2017, Wilhelm was announced as a member of the 2017 Lorain Sports Hall of Fame class.

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

winner (as a member of the Green Bay Packers)

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelm, Matt 1981 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Green Bay Packers players Ohio State Buckeyes football players People from Oberlin, Ohio Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Ohio San Diego Chargers players San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Lorain, Ohio