David Wilson looking forward to fresh start after giving his stamp of approval to playing in 2010
Darryl Slater
Sep 02, 2010
Last November, as Virginia Tech’s season was winding down, David Wilson’s lack of playing time frustrated him to the point of tears.
After today’s practice, Wilson was all smiles. He believes he is going to get more meaningful carries as a sophomore this season than he did last year.
The new season, Wilson’s fresh start, begins Monday, with an enormous game against Boise State. Today was a regular Tuesday practice for the Hokies, because their schedule is pushed up two days this week. So even though two practices and a walk-through remain before kickoff, Wilson seemed eager to play today.
He learned Sunday that he wouldn’t redshirt, during a meeting with running backs coach Billy Hite. Wilson had the option of redshirting, because he played last season, when he got just 59 carries (4.2 per game), mostly in garbage time. And after last season, he initially thought he wanted to redshirt in 2010.
“And then as the season came closer, I had that feeling like: Dang, I’m gonna really be sitting out,” he said. “My goal [for preseason practices] wasn’t to go out there and prove to the coaches that I need to be on the field this year. My goal was to go out there and show them that they did have a very talented back. So if I did redshirt, they would know what was in the barn.”
Wilson grinned. “[Hite] calls us Stallions, so I say we were in the barn,” he said.
But Wilson was simply too impressive during August for the coaches to keep him on the sideline. When offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring reviewed practice video, Wilson stood out – especially when he did things like run into the end zone, stop and reverse-dunk the ball over the goalposts’ crossbar.
Stinespring still remembers the 1998 season, when the Hokies played quarterback Al Clark instead of a true freshman named Michael Vick, because Tech coach Frank Beamer had promised Vick’s high school could that Vick would redshirt his first year.
Stinespring watched the Hokies’ offense struggle at time, then saw Vick standing on the sideline with a clipboard – something that would frustrate any offensive coordinator.
“We were having a tough time completing a hitch route,” Stinespring said. “And two years later, [Vick] was gone anyway.”
Because Vick left for the NFL after he was a third-year sophomore in 2000, his first chance to turn pro, the Hokies ended up getting just two years out of him, instead of all three. (Some would say, in retrospect, this is a valid argument for why Tech should have played tailback Ryan Williams as a true freshman in 2008.)
“I think you get your best players on the field that you feel like can help you win ball games and go from there,” Stinespring said. “Don’t look back. That’s the mindset.”
Or, as Wilson recalled Hite telling the running backs Sunday, “The future is now. And I want to see all my backs move the ball.”
Said Wilson: “When I heard that, I wanted to be a part of it. That’s why I decided not to redshirt.”
More specifically, he decided not to redshirt – and he said it was his final decision to make – because Hite told him he would do more than just play in mop-up situations.
Wilson recalled a one-on-one meeting Sunday in Hite’s office that went something like this …
Hite: “How do you feel about the season?”
Wilson: “I feel like it’s gonna be exciting for the team.”
Hite: “So what do you think about your part?”
Wilson: “What do you mean?”
Hite: “Do you want to redshirt or not?”
Wilson: “Depends on what y’all have in store for me. If y’all are gonna play me, and I won’t just have four carries a game and y’all want me definitely in the mix, then I want to play. But if y’all just think that I’m gonna be like a closing guy, then I’d rather save my year and redshirt.”
Hite: “You ran your tail off in the scrimmages this spring and this fall.” Before recounting this part of the story, Wilson laughed and said, “I can’t say the exact words he said.” (You’d think “tail” wasn’t one of them.) Then Wilson continued and said Hite told him, “I definitely want to see you out there on the field.”
In wrapping up the anecdote, Wilson said Hite asked if he was OK with playing. Wilson said yes.
“I had to put my final stamp of approval,” Wilson said. “Because he asked me what did I want to do.”
This was a huge weight off Wilson’s shoulders, because the redshirting situation had been very much on his mind. He spoke to his parents on the phone “for hours” every night since since the second summer-school session began in early July. They talked a lot about the big question: redshirt or play?
His dad asked him the other day if he felt more certain either way. “Nobody’s telling me anything,” Wilson responded. But, “I had that feeling inside” about being green-lit to play. “I didn’t really have a definite,” he said.
Now, Wilson has a goal sheet hanging in his locker, just as he did in high school. Some of his goals: seven touchdowns, 6.7 yards per carry (one more than he averaged last year), a kickoff return for a touchdown and no fumbles. “That’s the biggest goal,” he said.
Though carries per game aren’t on there, Wilson definitely wants more than the four he got last year.
“And I told coach Hite that before we made the decision,” Wilson said. “Ideally, I’d like to have 10 carries a game. I think I could do a lot with 10 carries, especially in the heat of the moment, getting different touches in different spaces.” (He clarified that he meant 10 actual carries, not 10 touches.)
Of course, Wilson understands that, as Hite explained to him, Hite “can’t promise a certain amount of carries.” The Hokies already have two proven tailbacks in junior Darren Evans and Williams, a sophomore.
Wilson expects to be involved in ways other than just carrying the ball. He said he and Williams have been practicing motioning out of the backfield to line up as wide receivers and catch passes. Evans doesn’t really do it, Wilson said.
“I think I’m more of a threat [lining up wide, as opposed to in the backfield] because I’m in open space already,” Wilson said. “The defense has got to use their energy to get out there. And then when they get out there, they’ve got to stop me. I like that.”
Stinespring said playing Wilson “gives us more versatility. Now how much more? That’s still to be determined.”
However things turn out, Wilson is just looking forward to playing when the game matters, rather than at the end of blowouts.
“Everybody knew we were running the ball,” he said of those late-game situations. “There’s only one running back back there. That makes it real hard. When I get in, I’m trying to show the coaches that I’m a good back and I need to be in during the heat of the moment.”
Sometimes, he tried to do too much, juking and looking for a 20-yard gain or touchdown when he could have easily gained five by running straight ahead. He thinks that won’t be as big of a problem this year.
“When you know you’re getting another carry when you’re playing football, for a running back, then you can [think], ‘Let me get the five yards. Next time I can try to get the touchdown.’”
