It's hard to go unnoticed when you're 6-foot-9 and 300 pounds as a sophomore in high school. For Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State's lone 2017 basketball commitment, getting noticed became much more common after he verballed to the Buckeyes this past July.
"My life has changed a lot," Wesson told Eleven Warriors as he prepared for his 8 p.m Monday workout. "In good ways and bad."
For the average, non-Division I athlete type of person, it may be hard to understand how widespread publicity, paid for travel to play a sport, fresh new gear at every turn and having college paid for could be bad. It's a tough lesson to learn, to know that with "fame" comes problems. Wesson is learning it young.
"A lot of people want to be my friend now that didn't even talk to me when I wasn't committed," the country's 59th-ranked 2017 prospect said. "I just stick with the people who were with me when I didn't have offers, and didn't even have interest, from colleges."
The work that goes into his craft – Wesson says he routinely works more than 20 hours a week just on his improving his on-court game – is overlooked. The idea some have is that to get where Wesson is has been easy just because he's big.
"I think a lot of people think that all you have to do is be tall and you're good," Wesson said. "That's not true at all. I work out three times a day, two for strength and one for basketball. I rarely see my friends or my family, so it's a struggle."
The struggle has, to this point, paid off for Wesson. He's the state's second-ranked basketball prospect in the 2017 class (behind Warren's Derek Culver) and the centerpiece of Ohio State's recruiting for the next few years. He's modeling his game after some of the best players in the world and the Buckeyes' coaching staff made him a priority early.
"I'm not actually sure why (Ohio State) offered me so early but I did have a really good summer," Wesson, as humble as he is talented, said. "They have told me that I have low post scoring which they haven't had in the past few years and that I bring something different to the program. It was just (Jeff) Boals and (Dave) Dickerson recruiting me before this summer, that's when Thad Matta got involved."
That "something" he brings is a big-time body – Wesson expects to continue growing and end up at least 6-foot-11 – to go with a soft touch on his jumper and around the rim. He can run the floor, he can pass and he's got surprising range for a player of his size. He's as close to the total package as a high school sophomore can be, but there's work to be done. The good summer he talked about included tournaments and camps all over the country, including a stop with The United States Junior National Team. That experience could prove vital to his longterm growth on and off the court.
"I knew that I had to work on conditioning," Wesson said. "Playing against people who run like deers and jump out of the gym it showed that I had to work on it even harder than I already was. I was playing guys like Josh Jackson and Jayson Tatum and you try to measure up to them and see what you do better than them and what they do better than you."
Playing against the best of the best and watching some of the best to ever play the game, Wesson has an idea of what the perfect big man is, and he wants to be the next one.
"I watch Jahlil Okafor everyday cause I want to be just like him," the Westerville native said. "But I want to have a Shaquille O'Neal-when-he-played-for-the-Lakers like body. That's the perfect big to me."
Wesson could be one of the state's top football prospects had he lined up offensive tackle for Westerville South. The Wildcats football team struggled this year and Wesson's decision to not suit up on the gridiron wasn't an easy one.
"It was hard," Wesson said of watching the football team's struggles."I always want to see my school do good and they have way too many good athletes to be that bad."
Ohio State 2017 commitment Marcus Williamson and 2018 offer Jaelen Gill are among the good athletes, and Wesson says the pair definitely tried to get him to play football.
"They both gave me pressure to play," Wesson admitted. "The football coach my sophomore year told me that it was either football or basketball in the summer and I chose basketball. I was thinking of football, too, but I was only going to play if my brother did and he didn't want to."
His brother Andre, a 6-foot-6, 190-pound wing, will end up playing Division I basketball next year, and he and Kaleb have always been close. His father attended Ohio State and his family, being so tight-knit, was a primary reason he decided to take the Buckeyes' offer when it was extended, despite knowing other big opportunities could come down the line.
"It's great that my family can see me and it's great that I can see campus everyday just being a 25-minute drive home," Wesson said. "My dad went there and my whole family loves Ohio State. I knew if they offered they would have been at the top."
When the Buckeyes offered June 15, it took less than three weeks – July 3 – for Wesson to commit. The distance to home wasn't the only factor, of course.
"I picked Ohio State because it's a great school that has high academics and they play high major basketball," the four-star said. "Now I'm so comfortable there. I know everyone's name and they know me and my family."
