Trevor Weller is a 17-year-old high school senior and football player at University Prep who, like many of his peers, is a big fan of rap music.
What makes Weller’s affection for the genre so unique is the fact that his father is a well-known rapper himself. Weller’s dad, also named Trevor and also a former City League football standout, is best known by many as Real Deal, a star battle rapper who has performed in competitions around the globe, among his many stops being Australia, Ireland and Scotland. He’ll be performing in London in a few weeks.
But young Trevor has a booming voice himself, one that led him into doing celebrity voice impressions when he was just in fifth grade. At last count, Weller, whose dad said has been “on the doorstep of reaching ‘America’s Got Talent,’” can do 113 of them. Earlier this week, young Trevor was the voice of Shaq in an animated video put out by Bleacher Report to promote the beginning of the NBA season.
“It’s pretty cool,” young Trevor said of being the son of a popular rapper. “To be honest, it kind of tricked me into thinking that all people had this thing that they’re really good at. That led me into doing impressions. I was like, ‘If everybody has their thing, I better find mine now.’”
Young Weller is the real deal on the football field, too. And on Saturday, Weller, as his team’s starting center, will be at the center of the action when University Prep (7-2) takes on defending champion Westinghouse (8-0) for the City League championship at 3 p.m. at Cupples Stadium.
It’s a rematch of a regular-season game played Sept. 14 in which Westinghouse handed University Prep a 34-18 defeat. University Prep, which last won a City League title in 2016, has not lost since. Under the direction of coach Donta Green, Westinghouse, winner of 47 of its past 51 games, is aiming to win its fourth title in five seasons.
“I feel like it’s equally as big of a challenge for them as it is for us,” said Weller, a starting tackle the previous two seasons before moving to center this season. “We’re a completely different team. Not personnel-wise, but just who we have turned ourselves into this season.”
What University Prep has turned into is a serious threat to end Westinghouse’s reign as king of the city. University Prep features an offense that is just as potent as Westinghouse’s and a defense that has surrendered only eight points over the past four games. Senior quarterback Max Qureshi is the City League’s leading passer and senior wide receiver Daniel “Boy Boy” Cain is one of the most electrifying players in Western Pennsylvania. University Prep received some great news Tuesday when Qureshi was cleared to play Saturday. He sat out the team’s 32-8 semifinal win against Allderdice with a concussion.
Westinghouse ran all over University Prep in the first meeting, with the Bulldogs pumping out close to 300 yards on the ground. Senior Ty Abram rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown and sophomore Kyshawn Robinson ran for 52 yards and a pair of scores. Robinson, is a fantastic athlete who already holds offers from Pitt, Penn State, Southern California and Colorado, among others. The Bulldogs led, 21-12, at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
The younger Weller — 6 feet 1, 260 pounds — is carrying on his family’s tradition of playing City League football. Weller’s dad, a 2003 graduate of old South High School, was an all-league player while playing the same position and wearing the same jersey number (55) as his son does today. Weller’s maternal grandfather, Timothy Bronson, was the starting quarterback on South’s only City League title team in 1977 and went on to coach at Brashear.
While Trevor Jr. sounded relaxed when speaking about Saturday’s showdown, it wasn’t the same case for dad, who said he has been a nervous wreck all week long.
“Dude, it’s unreal. I feel like I’m living vicariously through him,” Trevor Sr. said, laughing.
Trevor Sr., who works as a physical education teacher for Pittsburgh Public Schools (Lincoln Elementary), grew up in Mount Oliver and now lives with his son in Green Tree. What’s ironic is that he has taught a bunch of Westinghouse’s current players, one of them being all-City League defensive lineman Sincere Shannon.
The elder Weller began his rap career in high school, back in a time when Wiz Khalifa was beginning to hit the scene locally, as well.
“The city was pushing me and Wiz, but we’re completely different kinds of rappers,” Weller said. “He’s kind of a stoner rapper. But for me, battle rap became the way.”
So, Weller entered the world of battle rap, a type of rap that involves competitors on the same stage freestyle rapping directly at one another, attempting to outduel their opponent by crafting the cleverest lines. Weller hit the circuit in 2006 and has since been in countless battles across the world. He has appeared on television many times and has released albums of his work. Weller has more than 50K followers between X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Instagram.
As the younger Weller said, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” He’s a big rap fan himself and even rapped alongside his dad in a video earlier this year for a song called “Boomers and Juniors.”
However, Weller Jr., who carries a 4.2 GPA, doesn’t aspire to become a rapper like his dad. Instead, he hopes to become an actor or comedian. He said he’s leaning toward attending Pitt and pursuing film and theater.
When it comes to doing impressions, this youngster is pretty talented. Back in April, Weller Jr. posted a video on X of him doing celebrity impressions to the song “Stand by Me.” He begins with Mickey Mouse and transitions to everybody from Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken to Donald Trump and several “Family Guy” characters.
“I think my favorite impressions of him are his Plankton from ‘SpongeBob [SquarePants],’” said dad. “And people-wise, I really like his Sam Elliott.”
The younger Weller, who has done voice overs for companies, said the first two he learned to do were the character Herbert from “Family Guy“ and Kermit the Frog. He lists his favorites as being Shaq, Barack Obama and Elmo.
So, does he even do one of University Prep coach Lou Berry?
“I think we all have our ‘Coach B,’” Weller said. “It’s all love, though.”
Weller and his team would sure love to win a City League championship Saturday. Playing against the defending champions, University Prep doesn’t just want to impersonate a City League champ. It wants to be one itself.
Said the elder Weller, “What a perfect season it would be if they cap it with a win.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.