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Wilson received yet another curve shortly after his junior season
ended. A football staff member told him that new head coach Justin
Fuente was going to approach him about playing receiver during spring
practice. The news caught Wilson by surprise, but he thought little of it,
chalking it up to departmental rumors.
Except two days after the game at BYU, he received the call from the
coaching staff, which extended him the offer. He thought about it for
a day, talked it over with Williams and said, “Yes” to the opportunity.
The next day, he reported for spring practice.
Williams caught Wilson by surprise—he was all for the idea.
“He wasn’t really thinking about not having me for the year in
basketball, but later down in life,” Wilson said. “Just all the connections
I’d make playing football and to be able to say I played football … he
just thought it would be an overall great experience for me as a person,
and I think that’s why he was all for it.”
Wilson’s football experience consisted of six games in 2016. A
backup receiver, he played a little on special teams, and for the season,
he caught two passes for 13 yards.
Yet he appreciated the opportunity. After all, he got to be a part of a
52-10 win over Virginia, and he went to both the ACC Championship
Game and the Belk Bowl.
“I loved it,” he said. “Obviously, as you get older, you realize that
it’s unrealistic [to play two sports], so being able to do both was really,
really fun. I wouldn’t take it back for anything.”
Wilson returned to the basketball team after the bowl game, but
by then, the Hokies were 12 games into the season, and he needed at
least a few weeks to get into basketball shape. So Williams and Wilson
agreed to a redshirt season.
The consequences wound up being that Wilson missed the
Hokies’ on-court success. Yes, he helped in practices, with game-day
preparations and by serving as a sideline leader, but he missed out on
participating in the NCAA Tournament, as the program won 22 games
and received an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in a decade.
“I thought it was an awesome run,” he said. “I wish I’d have been
able to be a part of the on-court success that we had, making it to the
NCAA Tournament. It was hard not to be out there, but I was still trying
to help guys in practice and helping off the court as much as I could.”
Wilson hopes to be on the court for an NCAA Tournament game this
March. Tech fared quite well during non-conference action, with nice
wins over Washington, Iowa and Ole Miss, and hopefully that success
continues throughout ACC play. Bullish about the Hokies’ chances,
Wilson astutely pointed out that the Hokies possess a nice blend of
youth and experience and a lot of interchangeable parts, which makes
them tough to defend and attack.
Then again, “astute” is the perfect word to describe Wilson, who
already holds his bachelor’s degree in political science and remains on
track for a second undergraduate degree, with this one in English. Like
most, he wants to continue playing basketball in some fashion once he
departs Virginia Tech, but he also knows the value of a plan B.
Law school may be in his future, though not to defend himself
against any candy-stealing charges.
“I ultimately want to be an athletic director or an NBA GM [general
manager],” he said.
Whatever his future ends up becoming, he feels a deep sense of
appreciation for Virginia Tech despite the twists and turns along his
college life’s path. Not many get to play basketball in the ACC, not
many get to play two sports while in college, and not many earn two
degrees—without having to pay a dime for them.
This is a young man who simply gets it.
“Obviously, I’ve had my ups and down—minutes have gone down,
playing a different sport and I didn’t even play in that sport, all that,” he
said. “Trust me, I’m in tune with all the realities that have happened, but
I wouldn’t change it because it’s made me who I am. I think that’s going
to benefit me 10 years down the road. Not thinking about it now, but 10
years down the road, I’m going to look back and say, ‘I’m glad I stuck
with it. I’m glad I went through that because now I’m here.’”