Klecko: Wilkerson Will Make Impact

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Klecko: Wilkerson Will ‘Make an Impact’

Posted by Randy Lange on May 16, 2011 – 2:09 pm

Thirty-four years before the Jets selected defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson in the first round of the 2011 draft, they took an Owls DT in the sixth round in 1977.

Wilkerson, at his news conference at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on April 29, said he has yet to meet Joe Klecko, “but he’s well-recognized and known around the facility” in Philadelphia.

We checked in with Klecko last week and he said he wouldn’t mind if that balance of power changes in the coming years.

“I hope the guy makes them forget about Joe Klecko at Temple, know what I mean?” Klecko said. “If Muhammad does that, that’s a big plus for the New York Jets.”

Klecko does know a little bit about Wilkerson from a mutual acquaintance. Al Golden, now Miami’s head coach, was Wilkerson’s HC at Temple. And Golden is a Jersey guy just like Klecko and Wilkerson, having graduated from Red Bank Catholic High — in fact, he and Klecko lived in the same Monmouth County neighborhood until the Hurricanes came calling.

“We talked last year about Muhammad, where’s he going to go,” Klecko recalled. “He’s a stud. With the right direction, he could be an unbelievable player. He’s going to make an impact.”

Klecko, who remains the No. 2 sacker in franchise history with his 77.5 sacks in his 11 seasons in green and white, expanded on the quarterback-pressuring dimension that Wilkerson could bring along the Jets’ D-line.

“How many pure pass rushers are there out there? A half dozen that everybody can point to?” he said. “Thirty-two teams don’t all have a pure pass rusher. When you get push, the guy’s making upfield momentum, he’s making the quarterback think. It’s not so much putting the quarterback on his back. It’s making him think.

“That push up the middle is what the Jets missed a lot. They were solid against the run, they have great linebackers, and a couple of guys got after the passer every now and then. But it takes more than size. You’ve got to be athletic.”

Fans might have been wondering why they hadn’t heard Joe’s thoughts on SNY about the push that Wilkerson and third-rounder Kenrick Ellis could apply to make the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning uncomfortable. But Klecko was a little incapacitated around the draft, having just undergone a replacement of his right shoulder.

“I was supposed to do the draft stuff for SNY but I had just gotten out of the hospital. It was impossible,” he said. “I’m doing great now. I have tremendous doctors and the progress I’ve made in two weeks is tremendous, so I’m as happy as a lark.”

Not as happy as he’ll be if he can watch Wilkerson become the next great Temple Owl to create havoc as a Jet.

Rex Libris

Head coach Rex Ryan’s book, “Play Like You Mean It: Passion, Laughs, and Leadership in the World’s Most Beautiful Game,” is now climbing the charts.

His book is debuting at No. 11 on The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list dated next Sunday, May 22. The book also checks in at No. 15 on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list that is out today. We’re told “Play Like You Mean It” has 70,000 copies in print after three printings.”

Terry Bradway’s Father Passes Away

We send our condolences to Jets senior personnel executive Terry Bradway and his family upon the passing of Terry’s father. Robert A. “Bob” Bradway, 91, coach, bowler, golfer, tomato grower and family man. The elder Bradway died last Thursday and his funeral mass will be held Tuesday morning at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Absecon, N.J., the Bradways’ lifelong shore home.