The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1502339
JULY/AUGUST 2023 ■ 29 No Regrets With production like that, many ex- pected him to turn pro. Gibson thought all along that 2022 would be Wilson's last season in a Wolfpack uniform. Wil- son also acknowledged that going into the campaign he fully anticipated that he would be in the NFL the following summer. Instead, the graduate linebacker is in Raleigh for one more season, eager to prove he can stay healthy and help NC State take care of some unfinished busi- ness. "Especially after that BC game," Wil- son noted, referring to the 21-20 up- set loss on Senior Day in Carter-Finley Stadium to Boston College. "I was like, 'There's no way that this is my last home game.'" Gibson recalled how resolute Wilson sounded in the wake of that defeat. "He told me, 'I came here to do some- thing, and I want to finish my career the right way,'" the coach recalled. The day that his NFL Draft Combine invitation arrived, Wilson publicly an- nounced he was returning to NC State instead. He put the email from the NFL into the trash folder and will wait again next winter for the same message to ar- rive in his inbox. And he has zero regrets. "I love the decision I made," Wilson said. "I'm super happy. I love the guys here, and it's just for the best. I needed another year to show them I can stay healthy and improve on everything that I've done in the past." To that end, Wilson has reduced his body fat, which was already a fit 13.6 percent, down to around 11 percent by eating healthier. He said the Thomas brothers, former NC State linebacker Drake and receiver Thayer, provided the motivation. Wilson saw how training for the NC State pro day in March transformed the brothers and produced good results in the testing in front of NFL scouts. So impressed was Wilson that he is fol- lowing a regimen similar to the one they used. That included alterations to his diet. "I'm country," Wilson admitted. "I love fried food. I love barbeque, but nowadays it's just chicken, rice, steak and potatoes, lettuce and more lettuce, greens — that's pretty much it. "I eat for performance rather than taste." Blue-Collar Attitude Wilson joked that he has all his eggs in the NFL basket, to the point "the basket at the bottom falls out." However, he has a few ideas in mind for a post-football life. He graduated in December with a degree in special education. A backup plan would be owning a commercial landscaping business. "When I go home out in the coun- try with my dad, that's what we do. We mow the yard, we trim the bushes, we do all that. There are enough rich peo- ple out there that don't want to do that stuff that you can make a pretty penny," Wilson joked. The blue-collar attitude that Wilson inherited from his family is authentic, and it's helping him work hard to over- come a second major injury in college. He tore his ACL as a freshman, and then suffered the shoulder injury in 2021. Wilson noted that any football player missing that much time would need to find his confidence again. Gibson di- aling up the blitz against Texas Tech helped do the trick, and now he's ready to show NFL scouts even more. "I feel that toward the end of the year, I finally got back to who I was before," he said, "and this season is going to be a completely different animal." ■ " I love the decision I made. I'm super happy. I love the guys here, and it's just for the best. I needed another year to show them I can stay healthy and improve on everything that I've done in the past. " Wilson