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Greencastle’s Wade excited to join Wabash
Abe Wade’s brother went to Wabash 10 years ago, and the Greencastle senior has had his eyes on playing college football for the Little Giants for a long time.
Wade’s dream will come true this fall, as the Tiger Cub defensive back will suit up in red and white and represent his favorite college.
“I’ve grown up going to that campus, and I was really excited to be accepted and get to go there,” Wade said. “The school is great, and the football is great too. I don’t think they’ve lost more than two games in any of the last 10 years. Playing for the Monon Bell every year is special, too.”
At 5-9, 170 pounds, Wade is not an imposing physical specimen. But he still loves the sport and the contributions he can make to his teams.
“My brother [Tyler] was a lineman, and I’m obviously not,” he said. “I grew up wanting to be like him, and I’ve always loved the game. It’s just a big thrill.”
Some college students want to go to school as far away from home as possible to create some distance, but Wade doesn’t mind that his home for the next four years is only about 30 miles north of Greencastle.
“It’s a good thing,” he said. “Family support is very important to me, and having them to be able to come to our games is awesome.”
Wade will play safety for the Little Giants, which he likes considering the high-scoring nature of the North Coast Athletic Conference.
“There is a lot of passing, and teams use a lot of secondary packages with more than four players,” he said.
Former teammates Nick Costin and Spencer Rhine were freshman members of the Wabash team last fall, and Wade spoke to them a lot to not only check up on how they were doing but to get advice on his college choice. South Putnam grad Johnathon Thibodeau is also a Little Giant defensive back.
“I also have a friend from Whiting [freshman Adam Zorich] who plays defensive back there, and I‘ve talked to him a lot about how they do things,” Wade said. “I’m really excited to get there.”
In a common football situation, Wade went through some position changes in his Tiger Cub career before settling on defensive back.
“Coming in as a freshman I was a quarterback,” he recalls. “I did OK, but I wasn’t playing a whole lot because Nick was a grade above me and he was really good. Coach [Mike] Meyer moved me to safety, and I loved my last two years. We had a great year my junior year, going 9-2, and then this year we went to the sectional finals.”
Wade prefers the pass defense part of his job over being a run stopper, although he is obviously called upon to do both tasks.
“You get to see the game more when in pass coverage,” he said. “You can sit back and watch them go across the middle before you hit them.”
Wade thinks he needs to get stronger and faster, and improve on his reads to make the jump to the next level.
“Over the summer, they will give us a booklet of things to work on,” he said. “They are in the gym at 6 a.m. every day in the winter.”
Wade understands that freshmen don’t normally jump right into the lineup, but likes the fact that the school plays a junior varsity schedule.
“It’s called the Red Squad, and they play games on Sunday afternoons,” he said. “It’s a great deal.”
Wade has not decided on his major field of study, and is considering pre-physical therapy or business.
Wade made 54 tackles for the sectional runnerup Tiger Cubs last fall, 33 solo tackles and 21 assisted. He had three tackles for loss, four pass deflections and one fumble recovery in addition to returning a few kickoffs and catching a couple of passes on offense.
Greencastle coach Mike Meyer thinks Wade will be able to work his way into a contributing role for Wabash.
“The best thing he has going for him is a great work ethic,” Meyer said. “He’s an intelligent young man, and he has a great attitude. I think they’re going to enjoy having him up there, and it’s a good choice for him.”
Meyer recognizes the tough job that defensive backs have, and points to one particular game that showed Wade’s talents.
“He was outstanding in the sectional game against Sullivan,” Meyer said of the game in which his team shut out the high-powered Golden Arrows 14-0. “That was his finest game, doing what we asked him to do and winning a big game.”