Isaac TeSlaa (born February 20, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Hillsdale Chargers The Hillsdale Chargers are the athletic teams that represent Hillsdale College, located in Hillsdale, Michigan, in NCAA NCAA Division II, Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Chargers (The Dales until a 1968 mascot name change) ...

and

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

. He was selected by the Lions in the third round of the

2025 NFL draft The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...

Early life

TeSlaa is from

Hudsonville, Michigan Hudsonville is a city in Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan; it is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. The population was 7,721 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 US Census. Hudsonville is nicknamed ...

. His father, Mark, played

as a

for the

. Isaac grew up playing

as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and became a starter at Unity Christian High School as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

. He led Unity Christian to the state championship that season, the first in school history. He then helped Unity Christian reach the state playoff semifinals in 2019, and that year he threw for 448 yards and 10

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s while rushing for 1,139 yards and 14 touchdowns. In addition to participating in football, TeSlaa also helped the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team to a state championship and competed in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, setting the school

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

record. He was lightly recruited and only had a single

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

offer, from the FCS-level

Valparaiso Beacons The Valparaiso Beacons is the name of the athletic teams from Valparaiso University – often referred to as Valpo – in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. The Beacons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA D ...

. However, instead of joining the Beacons, TeSlaa opted to sign with the Hillsdale Chargers, where his father and several other family members had attended.

College career

Hillsdale

TeSlaa became a wide receiver at Hillsdale and became a starter during his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

season. In the

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-shortened 2020–21 season, he caught five passes for 93 yards. He then led the team in the fall 2021 season with 45 receptions for 698 yards and seven touchdowns. He was named second-team All-

Great Midwest Athletic Conference The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It was named the 24th (at the time) NCAA Division II conference and op ...

and placed third in the league in touchdown catches and fourth in receiving yards. In the 2022 season, he was one of the top

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

wide receivers, totaling 68 receptions for 1,325 yards and 13 touchdowns while being named the conference offensive player of the year. He was also named an honorable mention

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and recorded seven games with at least 100 yards, finishing with an average of over 120 yards per game. He appeared in a total of 26 games in his tenure at Hillsdale, starting 24 of them and totaling 118 receptions for 2,116 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Arkansas

TeSlaa transferred to the

following his third season at Hillsdale. He was the team's second-leading receiver during the 2023 season, recording 34 catches for 351 yards and two touchdowns. He returned for the 2024 season and recorded 28 receptions for 545 yards and three touchdowns, finishing his two-year stint with the Razorbacks having caught 62 passes for 896 yards and five touchdowns in 25 games played, 17 of which he started. He declared for the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

after the season and was invited to the

2025 Senior Bowl The 2025 Senior Bowl was a college football all-star game played on February 1, 2025, at Hancock Whitney Stadium located in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the upcoming 2025 NFL draft, 2025 draft of the professional National Foot ...

Professional career

TeSlaa was selected in the third round (70th overall) of the

by the

References

External links

Detroit Lions bioHillsdale Chargers bioArkansas Razorbacks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:TeSlaa, Isaac 2002 births Living people People from Hudsonville, Michigan Players of American football from Ottawa County, Michigan American football wide receivers Hillsdale Chargers football players Arkansas Razorbacks football players American people of Dutch descent Detroit Lions players