Bob Wischusen, the Jets' play-by-play radio announcer, was a 26-year-old "guy with a tape deck over my shoulder and a microphone in the locker room, part of the gaggle" when Aaron Glenn was the team's star cornerback. Fast forward to 2002 when Wischusen, a Jersey native, became the team's full-time play-by-play guy and Glenn had moved on to Houston.
Now, fast, fast forward to 2025. Versatile behind the microphone, Wischusen, 53, is back for another season ... and so is Glenn as the team's new head coach.
"Like this matters to him, being here matters to him," Wischusen told team reporter Eric Allen on "The Official Jets Podcast." "Being asked to come back to where he was drafted into the league and basically played the majority of his career, began a family, that's in his DNA and it matters to him. And I think that it really seems like he and [GM] Darren Mougey are very much kind of the same mindset of how they want to build a football team, and they're not into making headlines. They're really into foundationally putting a team together that hopefully the guys that are already on the team that can be stars can benefit from that foundation."
Wischusen has worn many hats in his broadcasting career, which began at Boston College's 1,000-watt FM station and has expanded to WFAN and WABC radio with the Jets; stints with the Knicks and calling Arena League Football on MSG Network; covering playoff baseball as a field reporter for NBC; and college football and basketball, and recently the NHL playoffs for ESPN.
AG on Will McDonald IV: 'We're Going to Let Him Loose'
The defensive guru that he is, HC Aaron Glenn knows talent when he sees it. And when it comes to edge Will McDonald IV, who is entering his third season in the NFL, Glenn sees "a dynamic athlete."
"For a guy his stature, I think he's like 6-4, 240, and he actually weighed more than that," Glenn said during Phase 3 of the Jets' OTAs sessions. "He's gained about 15 pounds, which is very good for him because it allows him to be able to set the edge a lot better. He has really long arms. He's a guy that has a has a skill set as far as rushing the passer."
He added: "I'm going to enjoy saying exactly what he's going to be able to do with us, and we're gonna let him go. We're going to let him loose. We are going to let him go get the passer, that's what he does best. So, I'm just looking forward to when he gets the pads on, and when you can just put him in live action, see what he can really do."
McDonald, 25, broke out last season, leading the Jets with 10.5 sacks over all 17 regular-season games. He also chipped in with 24 QB hits and 28 tackles while playing 66% of the snaps on defense.
"That's his superpower, his speed off the edge," Glenn said. "But I think he understands for him to be at his best and to max everything out of his potential he needed to get stronger, he needed to get bigger. For him to be able to set an edge, for him to be able to take on these 320-pound tackles, he knows he has to be able to do that."
WR Garrett Wilson: 'God Humbles You'
No one can question Garrett Wilson's commitment and talent. And like so many of his teammates and other players around the league, Wilson came to the professional game from a top-flight college program. In other words, guys like Wilson are used to winning and often appear to struggle when things go south -- as they did last season for the Green & White.
"It's such a blessing to be a part of this organization and take the field on Sunday," Wilson said. "So when you put into it what we do every week, it's like you wanted to look at a certain way. You have this idea of how it can look and should look, right? And we just weren't hitting that. We weren't hitting that.
"So all of a sudden, it's compounding. You're really high, you're really hopeful going into the year and all sudden he humbles you, right? God, humbles you. And that's all it was. So I don't think it was for nothing. I think when we do this thing here in the near future, that it'll feel that much better because of times like that."
