Zach Wilson of the New York Jets seems to have had a thing for cougars his whole life.
Four years prior to his ex-girlfriend accusing him of sleeping with his mother’s closest friend, Wilson, then 22, invited two Cougars—a pair of cheerleaders who were enrolled at Brigham Young University—to his high school prom.
In a 2018 photo from the high school event, Breanna Penrod and Brynn Hiatt, Wilson’s two older dates who were also Cougars cheerleaders at the time, gave him a kiss on each cheek while he smiled coyly.
Wilson played football for the Cougars at the Church of the Latter-day Saints-sponsored BYU before joining the NFL. The Mormon faith is well recognised for its encouragement of polygamy.
The football star’s ex, Abbey Gile, claimed on Instagram that ‘He was sleeping with his moms best friend… that’s the real homie hopper,’ after she was called out for reports that she was dating his college roommate and best friend, Washington Commanders wide receiver Dax Milne. Wilson and Gile reportedly split in January.
Wilson’s mother, Lisa Neeleman Wilson – sister of multi-millionaire JetBlue founder David Neeleman – has not commented on the matter, and instead reposted a lengthy video on her Instagram in which she characterized social media as being satanic.
‘Satan has found a way to come right into your home and steal your child, without you even noticing,’ she said in the video, ‘The worst part? You let in and you even paid him to do it.
Who Wilson’s lover is remains unknown, but in a 2020 Instagram post his mother wrote that her ‘best friends range in age from 16-75,’ alongside a photo of her with a large group of women she dubbed her ‘tribe.’
She had not responded to DailyMail.com requests for comment at the time of publication.
The argument kicked off when Milne posted a picture on his social media of the new couple with the caption: ‘Word on the Street.’
One person commented accusing Gile of being a ‘homie hopper,’ a term denoting someone who breaks up with one person and immediately dates their best friend.
But she fired back with her scandalous accusation, which somebody in the comments backed up, writing ‘Lol, it’s true. I know the best friend’s mom and she freaked out about it for a while.’
Many noted the irony of the accusations against Wilson’s past as a player on a team with the name Cougars.
Jets assistant equipment manager Joe McMahon even jumped in with a shot at Milne, saying ‘Idk what’s going to be the bigger joke this relationship or your NFL career.’
The exact reasons for Wilson and Gile’s split in January was not made public by either party. The pair did scrub each other from their respective social media accounts.
Since then, Gile appears to have removed her Instagram account. According to a 2021 New York Post feature, she and Wilson were an item since high school.
The Post quotes Gile as saying about Wilson following his 20th birthday: ‘He’s the most selfless, kind, hardworking person I know. I’m the luckiest girl in the world and I have no idea what I did to deserve him.’
Wilson characterized himself as ‘A Mormon, an LDS Church member, for sure’ in a 2021 interview with Deseret News, saying ‘I consider myself a really spiritual person,’ and ‘I feel like I have always had a good relationship with God in my life.’ He also said his time at the Mormon sponsored BYU ‘helped me strengthen my relationship with God.’
Giles is currently a student at Utah Valley University in Orem, where she is a member of the school’s dance troupe. Though not an LDS sponsored school, the university offers an extensive Mormon studies curriculum and boasts ‘the largest LDS Institute program in the world,’ according to its website.
This isn’t the first time that Wilson’s mother has made her way into headlines.
In the past few years, she has posted on rants Instagram against mask mandates, promoted Hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 cure and supported ex-President Donald Trump.
Neeleman Wilson said in one video in May 2021: ‘Snapchat is for w****s.’ On the platform, she follows popular MAGA celebrities such as Candace Owens and Madison Cawthorn.
She was compelled to refute claims that she had an OnlyFans account in July 2021, stating: “I don’t have an OnlyFans account and I have no idea what it is.” Therefore, if my name is one, it’s a fraud. Some individuals should start living.
Wilson was one of his parents’ six children who was raised in Draper, Utah. In the 1990s, his father Mike played collegiate ball at the University of Utah.
Wilson said in the Deseret News article that the members of his family, including the brother who co-founded JetBlue, were responsible for his cool head and financial acumen.
Neeleman Wilson described her son as a “home kid” in the same piece. She claimed that her kid cherished spending as much time as possible at home.
The article describes her as a personal trainer who is developing a clothing brand.
Neeleman Wilson described the hardship she and her family went through when she found out that her teenage daughter was speaking online with a sketchy person in the video she aired on the day of the charges against her son. In the video, she made the comment that “kids make errors.”
Wilson was photographed in June watching the Yankees play the Tampa Bay Rays in the Bronx with TikTok star Nicollette Dellanno.
On TikTok, Dellanno has more than 250,000 fans. When Wilson and Dellanno were spotted on Sophia Culpo’s Instagram page, speculations about them started to circulate.
Wilson’s teammate Braxton Berrios, with whom Culpo is romantically involved.
With only three victories in his first 13 games with the Jets, Wilson had a miserable rookie campaign. He also managed just nine touchdown passes. The annual value of his deal is $35 million.
In June, Wilson told the New York Post: ‘I really do have a lot of confidence in myself. Obviously I think I can be one of the best, and I think if anybody doesn’t say that then they’re not a true competitor.’
In their reporting on Wilson’s alleged philandering, Outkick wrote: ‘And just like that the legend of ‘Broadway Zach’ is born,’ a reference to the Jets most famous philanderer ‘Broadway Joe’ Namath.
At the time of writing, there has been no comment from Wilson on the allegation.