An NFL Pro Bowler comes home to Waukesha to help train the next batch of football stars

Joe Schobert may not have expected to become a Pro Bowl linebacker one day during his time as a standout on the field at Waukesha West, but it’s the exact place lessons of accountability and dedication were instilled in him when he was a blossoming high school football player. 

That accountability and dedication eventually took him to Wisconsin, where he became an All-American, and then to the NFL and the Pro Bowl. 

Back at his old stomping grounds Saturday for the second annual Joe Schobert Football Camp featuring around 150 players from elementary through high school age, the Cleveland Browns linebacker was reminded of the lessons coaches Steve Rux and Jeff Trickey preached to him.

“When you get to college, you’ve got to be accountable, otherwise you’re not going to pass your classes or get on the field,” Schobert said. “So (high school) was the first time I really got that instilled in me.”

Schobert’s career at West is one of the more memorable ones in state history. A relatively unknown player entering his junior season, he went on to break the state rushing record of John Clay, another UW standout, with 296 yards in a title game victory over Stevens Point in 2010. That performance came on the heels of a Level 4 win against Kenosha Bradford when he out-rushed future Badgers teammate Melvin Gordon.

As a senior, Schobert ran for 2,442 yards and was named first-team all-state. Under-recruited by NCAA Division I schools, Schobert famously received a walk-on offer from UW days before he was planning to head to play at North Dakota. He ended up in Madison, where his career took off.

Schobert got the idea for his camp following his rookie season in the summer of 2017 when he helped former Wisconsin teammate and current Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Alex Erickson at his clinic in his hometown of Darlington.

“I thought I should do something like that in Waukesha, but it was already the middle of the summer so I couldn’t really schedule anything,” Schobert said. “I started planning for the year after, which was last year, so I really have to give credit to him for what he was doing.” 

Erickson was unable to assist at Schobert’s camp this year, but it still serves as an annual chance for Schobert to catch up with old friends. Among those helping run the camp Saturday were UW’s all-time winningest quarterback, Joel Stave; Schobert’s head coach at West, Steve Rux; and Schobert’s old roommate and teammate at UW, Trent Denlinger. 

“It’s a good excuse to get everybody back for a weekend, kind of hang out a little bit, catch up and see where everyone’s lives are taking them,” Schobert said. 

Schobert, set to begin his fourth NFL season, has to report to the Browns training camp July 24. Until then, he is using the downtime after organized team activities traveling between Waukesha and the Madison area. He has gone to NX Level in Waukesha for a few training sessions, lifted with former teammate Vince Biegel and the Wisconsin football team and taken the Fourth of July weekend off at a cabin in northern Wisconsin.

The football season is approaching quickly for Schobert, who is as excited as ever to put the pads back on.

Schobert was a fourth-round pick of the Browns in 2016, and Cleveland infamously went 1-31 in hisfirst two seasons, including the second 0-16 year in NFL history. The responsibility for those losses didn’t fall on the former all-state running back for the Wolverines, however. After playing mostly as a special teamer in his rookie year, Schobert went on to lead the NFL with 142 tackles and was the team’s lone Pro Bowl representative in 2017. 

Schobert played a big role in Cleveland’s turnaround in 2018 as it went 7-8-1, making 103 tackles, three sacks, forcing and recovering two fumbles and making a diving interception to help seal a Week 3 win over the Jets that snapped a 19-game losing streak.

“People ask me how the NFL is and I’ll say, ‘Well, the first two years weren’t that good, but last year was fun getting some wins under our belt,’” Schobert said. “With the amount of talent we have on this team, there’s a lot of potential as long as everybody stays healthy and smart. It will be awesome to see a turnaround from what it was when I got there, to playing through the first two years to be a playoff-contending team.”