Blue White Illustrated

ally good football schools out was be- cause of the opportunity that Penn State gave me, on and o. the -eld. I'm not going to act like I'm an academic monster or anything like that, but I know that, whatever I want to do in life, I have to have a strong degree supporting me. Penn State provided me with the oppor- tunity to get an excellent degree and also play football at the highest level. They're one of the few programs that are the best in the nation in both football and aca- demics. So, knowing that I'm getting the best of both worlds really helped me out. BWI Now that you're committed, how hard do you plan to recruit other players? Are you actively reaching out to recruits, or do you let guys come to you when they have a question about Penn State? WILSON I'm de-nitely aggressive, but probably not the way most people think. I'm messaging guys and texting them, but I'm not trying to persuade them to come to Penn State. I didn't like when guys bugged me all the time about their school. I just tell them that if they need any advice on how I handled my recruit- ment or if they have any questions, I'll always tell them the truth. For me, I learned a lot throughout the process. Growing up, Florida was my dream school, but when you go through every- thing, your attitude changes. You have to look at so much more than just football. Everyone has their di.erent reasons, too. So, I just tell guys that if they ever need some inside information on Penn State or have some questions, I'm here to help them and tell them the truth. I just talk to these guys like any friend would. I'm not trying to annoy them and talk re- cruiting all the time. Most of my friends who were recruited didn't like that. BWI How long have you been friends with Tyler Rudolph? Were you friends with him before everything took o. with recruiting? WILSON We both worked out with Supreme Athlete. I've been working with them since like seventh grade. Tyler was always one of the top players in the state, but he was kind of raw in the beginning, so he sought out help and came to Supreme Athlete. I believe that was either his freshman or sophomore year. From then, we've just been going at it, doing everything we can to make each other better. At -rst, I didn't really know him. He wasn't really a friend of mine, so I was always trying to make him look foolish (laughs). But once we got to know each other more, we just con- nected. We actually have the same birthday and everything. Now, I feel like he's my brother. He's like a twin to me. BWI Did Tyler have much of an impact on you coming to Penn State? WILSON If you would have asked us this a month or two ago, I don't think we would have both ended up at Penn State. I know Tyler was really thinking about Clemson a lot. But when we went on our o/cial together, we were roommates. We would come back to the room at night and just talk about how something really big is happening at Penn State. We were talking about how we could help get this team to that next level and help Coach Franklin become the -rst African-Ameri- can coach to win a national champi- onship. We just realized that we can make history here. So, I guess you could say that he kind of played a role, mainly be- cause of the talks we had during our visit. BWI Can you assess some of your strengths and weaknesses? What are a few traits that have always come natu- rally to you at cornerback? And are there a few things that you want to work on before you enroll at Penn State? WILSON One of my strengths is just ball awareness. When the ball is in the air, even if I have to run to the other side of the -eld, I've always felt like I'm great at timing my runs, tracking the ball and going up to make the play. Even if I'm not peeking at the quarterback, I feel like I'm pretty good at reading the -eld, reading the play and -guring out where the ball is going. Also, I think I'm pretty good at recognizing the play before the snap. When I was freshman playing against the older guys, they would always call out my plays and routes before I would even do it. So, I learned a lot when I -rst started about reading the quarterback, reading the receivers and their splits. When you see where the receiver is lined up, you can kind of check o. a few routes that you know he's not going to be run- ning because of where he's lined up. For my weaknesses, I just need to really improve my speed and strength. I think that, right now, I'm too small. If I were going to Penn State right now, I would de-nitely redshirt. I need to improve on my speed and my size so I can be ready when I get up there next year. BWI I like to give players an opportu- nity to say something to all the Penn State fans out there. Is there anything you would want to say to all the fans reading this? WILSON I would just say that I'm going to give you guys everything I've got. When I make big plays, I love to hear you guys scream and cheer, but it's tough being a cornerback. You're never going to win all the time, so just stick with me and support me the best way you can. I'm never going to be perfect, but I promise you guys that I'll give you everything I have every Saturday. ■

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