Ashe Mountain Times

While visiting Cullowhee this past weekend, Josh Wineberg reached the end of his visit and had a conversation with new Western Carolina head coach Mark Speir.

“I had a one-on-one with Coach Speir, and he had answered all of our questions,” Wineberg said Tuesday afternoon. “He asked me if I wanted to be a Catamount. And I told him ‘Yes.'”

And with that, the highly-recruited lineman for the Ashe County High football team gave a verbal commitment to the Southern Conference program and brought to a close a most draining element of his senior season.

Verbal commitments are non-binding and Wineberg will host a signing ceremony on national signing day, Feb. 1, at the school.

“It was wide open,” Wineberg said of narrowing his choice of schools.

Wineberg was courted by most Southern Conference schools and drew interest from schools in the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Wineberg said recruitment from North Carolina and N.C. State of the ACC never became too serious.

Wineberg is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds. While most recruiting sites have had him listed as a defensive line prospect, he will be headed to Western to play on the offensive line. John Holt, Western's new offensive line coach who was coaching tight ends at Appalachian the last four years, has told Wineberg he likely will play left tackle and could see action at tight end.

“They may start me off at tight end,” Wineberg said. “They want me up at 270 (pounds).”

Wineberg benches 300 pounds, dead lifts 550 and runs a 4.61-second 40-yard dash — about a half-a-tenth behind Ashe tailback Kole Goss.

Wineberg, the most sought-after Ashe County football player since Jeff Pell (2006 graduate, went to Mars Hill), said his knowledge of the coaching staff played a pivotal role in his choice. Wineberg won the lineman drills at ASU's summer camp in front of Holt, who has ties to Ashe County High as a student teacher in 2008 — the year prior to Wineberg's freshman year.

“Coach Holt and Coach Speir, I know what kind of guys they are,” Wineberg said. “And, the location helped, too. It (Cullowhee) looks a lot like it is around here.

“I went to camp and won the lineman drills and that's what got me on the page with them. That's when he (Holt) said he knew he wanted me.”

Wineberg, the son of Dale and Amanda Wineberg, was a fixture on both the offensive and defensive lines for the Huskies en route to the school's ninth consecutive state playoff berth and a 6-6 record. Ashe finished fourth in the Mountain Valley Conference and lost a first-round playoff game at Catawba Bandys.

Wineberg was chosen the MVC's Defensive Player of the Year.

In choosing Western Carolina, Wineberg becomes a foundation to Speir's rebuilding efforts. Speir, previously a linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Appalachian State, has assembled a coaching staff that includes colleagues from ASU as well as holdovers from Western.

Western Carolina was 0-8 in the SoCon and 1-10 overall this past season.

The Catamounts have just one postseason appearance, finishing as the national runner-up in 1983. Western last posted a winning record in 2005, going 5-4 overall and 4-3 in the SoCon, and is 11-56 since.

“I'm ready,” Wineberg said of the recruiting process closing. “It's felt like it took forever. I feel relieved to know I have somewhere to go.”