Backstory Indicates TeSlaa, Arkansas Perfect Marriage in Quest for Respect

It's a story Razorback fans have seen plenty of times in Brandon Burlsworth and the Morgan brothers, but can it have the same fairy tale ending?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Wide receiver recruit Isaac TeSlaa could very well be the long lost brother of Grant and Drew Morgan.

Everything from his story, demeanor and work ethic screams Morgan family values.

TeSlaa has a story similar to so many Razorback underdog success stories.

Small town.

Check.

Overlooked.

Check.

Overcame odds.

Check.

Willing to do whatever and eat whatever is necessary to earn his spot on the field and evolve into a star.

Check.

Good room guy with the right attitude.

It’s too early to say for sure, but every indication is that’s a check also.

The only ingredient that’s missing is that intense passion players from Arkansas tend to have in regard to being a Razorback and not wanting to let the people in the state down that allows them to perform with that extra 10 percent and a little extra grit.

The extent of knowledge most Arkansas fans have on TeSlaa is he’s the second lower division receiver, in this case Division II Hillsdale College, that Razorback Coach Sam Pittman has taken on despite a transfer portal stacked with four star talent.

Most don’t even now how to say his name.

Not to go all Hermione Granger on everyone, but it’s Tess-la, not Tess-luh.

For those wondering, it’s Dutch.

So here’s the made for TV background on the Razorbacks’ newest recruit.

TeSlaa played small school ball up in Michigan at Unity Christian. It has an enrollment of roughly 650 students, which may seem like a decent size to fans of Arkansas high school football, but on a national level, it’s downright tiny.

To put it in perspective, Arkansas likes to recruit Allen High School in the DFW area of Texas where the band, not the school, has around 800-850 members most years.

Not only did TeSlaa find himself at a tiny school, he was stuck playing quarterback in a Wing-T system.

Roughly half our readers have probably never heard of the Wing-T because they aren’t old enough.

It was a prominent offense in the late 80s, early 90s in Arkansas before the spread trickled out from Pulaski Academy and Shiloh Christian. It’s a run heavy offense with lots of blasts, sweeps and counters.

It’s a dream for running backs and fullbacks and old school run-first safeties defending it. It’s possible to throw out of it, but it’s not ideal for developing a passing quarterback.

Because of this, TeSlaa came out of high school with no stars. He knew he didn’t have enough film or experience reading and throwing against defenses to garner looks from any level of college no matter how athletic he might consider himself.

So, with a dad who played wide receiver at Hillsdale College sitting feet away from him every day and a body he felt was more suited for wide receiver at the college level, TeSlaa took a risk and started training for a position he had never played.

“The athleticism I had, the speed, size and everything like that, I felt like it was built for receiver better than it was for quarterback, so I decided to pursue that going into college even though it probably wasn’t ideal knowing I didn’t have any film or anything like that,” TeSlaa told “Morning Breath,” a streaming show based out of the Miami area back in December. “I just knew that was where I was supposed to be.”

In addition to lacking experience and film, TeSlaa came out of the high school a bit on the skinny side in relation to his height. Not only would he have to learn every nuance of a new position, he would have to learn and dedicate himself to a strict nutrition program, which would prove difficult considering Division II schools lack the resources in this area afforded Division I programs like Arkansas.

While at Hillsdale, TeSlaa put on 30 pounds of muscle, heading into his freshman season at 180 pounds before wrapping up his career with the Chargers at 6-4, 210 pounds.

Given those results, one might assume he just pounded the weights. While getting in the gym was a part of the recipe, TeSlaa said it definitely wasn’t the most impactful portion of it.

“It’s not all about the weight room as much as everyone harps the weight room,” TeSlaa said. “You’ve got to get in the weight room, but you’ve also got to be eating right in order to achieve your goals.”

So, he set out creating his own nutrition program, relying heavily on protein, Creatine and an in-depth study of quality calories versus the all-calories approach famously adopted by Brandon Burlsworth as he tried to bulk up enough to be considered for a walk-on spot at Arkansas back in the 90s.

“You have to know how important nutrition is,” TeSlaa said. “If you’re looking to gain weight, you have to eat the right calories to put on muscle.

“I just really got into using the MyFitnessPal app and tracking my calories and just making sure I got enough protein in every day. Pounding the Greek yogurt every morning, making sure I drank my protein shakes. It just became really important to me and I really got an understanding for how important nutrition is.”

As he grew, so did his numbers. He only had five catches for 93 yards his first season during the COVID year. In 2021 he improved to 45 catches for 700 yards and seven touchdowns.

However, after two years of building up to his ideal size, learning to play in every possible wide receiver position to allow for mismatches, and acquiring a solid knowledge of route trees, TeSlaa exploded in 2022 with 68 catches for 1,325 yards and 13 touchdowns while being named GMAC Offensive Player of the Year.

Having grown all he could at the Division II level, TeSlaa thought he might test the waters in the transfer portal and immediately drew interest, particularly from Iowa and Iowa State, which landed his first two visits.

However, if he was going to drive himself to his fullest potential and have a shot at reaching his dream goal of playing in the NFL, he needed to push himself against the highest concentration of perceived NFL talent, and no place exemplifies that more than the SEC West.

LSU, with its DBU moniker and Alabama with its history of highly developed defensive backs together put more DBs into the first round of the NFL than some entire conferences.

Once Arkansas came calling, it was the chance to finally take the opportunity he hadn’t been afforded as a high school athlete. Despite the delay and difficulty, it’s a path TeSlaa doesn’t regret.

“A lot of people ask me ‘Do you wish you played receiver,’ ‘Do you wish you went to a different school so you could play receiver and didn’t have to play quarterback,’" TeSlaa said. "It would have been great, but I also learned a lot of valuable skills going to a small school playing quarterback.”

Despite proving himself as a legitimate college athlete, there’s no bitterness within TeSlaa toward coaches who didn’t recruit him. He actually agrees with their choice to ignore him in the beginning.

“I didn’t have the opportunity, and I don’t blame coaches for not recruiting me because I was this raw talent playing quarterback,” TeSlaa said. “How were they going to know I’m gonna be a good receiver. I don’t blame any college for not looking into me. But now that I have the experience and I’ve shown what I can do, it’s super cool that I’m getting a little recognition now.”

SO WHERE’S THE DOWNSIDE?

Every hero’s journey features that one impossible weakness or obstacle he has to overcome before triumph brings him full circle.

In TeSlaa’s case, the giant albatross hanging around his neck is speed and quickness. Typically, coaches don’t start talking to wide receivers and defensive backs at the Division I level unless they can clock in at a flat 4.5 or less. The only exceptions tend to be giant athletic freaks like Treylon Burks who are essentially SEC linebackers playing wide receiver who maintain their speed once the pads and helmet go on.

To provide a baseline of what viewers see in the SEC on a given Saturday, Alabama’s Jameson Williams ran a 4.25 and Henry Ruggs ran a 4.27. Joe Burrow’s favorite target over at LSU, who didn’t stand out in the league as a speedster that season, clocked in at 4.38.

Burks is considered slow at 4.55. However, since equipment tends to slow down faster defensive backs, he was able to level with them on game speed out of sheer strength.

As for TeSlaa, he times between 4.6 and 4.7. That puts him in line with Drew Morgan, who is among the 10 slowest wide receiver 40 times in NFL combine history in the modern era.

What gave Morgan an advantage was his quickness, which is different than speed. It allowed him to get open.

Go back and watch the highlight package shown at the beginning of the video above. At no point in time is TeSlaa wide open. In fact, in all but maybe one, he’s not open at all.

Even his extended highlights support this. 

Division II defensive backs are covering him rather easily. Fortunately for TeSlaa, his rare size at that level and unique hand-eye coordination allow him to come down with catches that probably don’t happen against an SEC defensive back.

The hope is that TeSlaa can be placed into potential mismatches similar to how teams use athletic tight ends by splitting them out. In the meantime, getting into an SEC workout regiment focused on helping him develop speed and quickness should help a bit.

That is where his background will make a difference. He has all the ingredients to overcome his shortcomings and the chip on his shoulder needed to keep trying to prove himself every day.

It’s the one reason why TeSlaa and Arkansas are a perfect marriage.

“My goal some day is to make it to the NFL,” TeSlaa said. “I’m going to work my [expletive] off to get there and it’s cool that other guys recognize that and they see that in me too.”

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