Size is obviously one of Mundelein left tackle Cutler Wyss’ advantages on the football field.
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But for the 6-foot-6, 312-pound Wyss, who anchors the Mustangs’ all-senior offensive line, there’s more to his success than brawn.
“He’s definitely got the physicality, but he’s also really intelligent,” Mundelein coach John Cowhey said. “He makes so many calls along the line and does a really good job of thinking through the game.
“He’s become a student of the game, and I wouldn’t have said that a couple of years ago.”
Back then, Wyss was a relatively inexperienced, work-in-progress sophomore starting on the junior varsity team. He had just returned to the sport as a freshman after a multiyear absence, and Mundelein had two future college players, Brandon Hanson (Illinois) and Braelon Grant (Carroll), manning the tackle spots.
“I played in second and third grade, but then I was too big to play with kids my age, and I would have had to play with older kids, so my dad cut it off then,” Wyss said. “When I was a freshman, I was still bigger than most people, but I wasn’t very good. I was 6-1, 220, but it was a bad 220.”
Wyss didn’t often play with Hanson and Grant, but he still learned a lot by observing them, and he decided to push himself. So when Wyss was plugged into the lineup as the Mustangs’ starting right tackle last season, he was more than ready on all fronts.
“During the offseason after sophomore year was when I really started to get serious, thinking I could potentially play in college,” Wyss said. “If I wanted to do it, it was time, and that meant everything — hitting the weights, eating right.”
Wyss’ dietary emphasis wasn’t on losing weight but on distributing the weight differently. Some effective tactics included incorporating zero-calorie sauces into meals and eating high-protein lunches, including chicken breast and ground beef.
“Right now, I’m in the best shape of my life, and this is the best I’ve ever felt,” he said.
Wyss played at a high level in 2024, but his season was cut short after just five games. During a practice, he suffered a distal femur fracture in his right leg. The Mustangs (4-5), who started the season with three straight wins, lost three of their four games without Wyss and didn’t make the playoffs.
“It definitely hurt us when he went down,” Cowhey said. “He would have made a difference for us in those last few games.”
The situation was difficult for Wyss too.
“It was terrible and ended up being a really hard part in my life,” he said. “I was really down the night before games, and right before the Lake Zurich game (in Week 7) was a really big moment for me. I remember looking up at the stands and watching the sun set, just wishing I could be out there helping my team. Even now, I’m almost tearing up thinking about it.”
But Wyss, who has offers from Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois, is healthy again and back on track. One of five team captains, he has moved to left tackle, where his muscle memory has been put to the test.
“It’s been a bit challenging, even to this day,” Wyss said. “I still feel I’m more technically sound on the right side. The first week or two of the summer, my feet were flipped, plays were flipped, everything was flipped.
“But I take pride in what I do, and I know I have the skills and size to play there at a high level.”
Wyss has also embraced the leadership role that his teammates bestowed upon him. That has been apparent in many ways, but perhaps the most impactful is how Wyss has taken freshman lineman Jackson Rivas under his wing.
“I got to know him during winter workouts, and now I’ll bring him near me in drills and help him with footwork or technique,” Wyss said. “I feel I could have been a leader last year, but it wasn’t my job. I have more of a responsibility to do it this year. I’m more talkative and more the guy that people can come to for help with anything.”
That help isn’t reserved for younger players only. Even veterans like senior right guard Marco Toledano, who is a team captain, learn from Wyss.
“He’s helped me with a lot of things that I didn’t know a ton about before, like with footwork and hand placement,” Toledano said. “He knows what the whole offensive line does, and he organized a lot of workouts we had this summer for the offensive line. He’s such a role model.”
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Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.