There's a right way to do things for prospect in terms of putting your best foot forward leading up to the NFL draft and there's a wrong way. Apparently there's also David Wilson's way. The Virginia Tech running back has always marched to the beat of his own drum and that was evident at the NFL Combine this past February.
With medical exams and on field workouts a big part of the Combine process, prospects are generally in warmup suits the duration of their time in Indianapolis. That wasn't the case with Wilson, who showed up to his personal interviews with NFL clubs in the evenings in a suit and tie.
Wilson, who also commonly wore a suit and tie to high school as a senior, took it literally as a job interview and wasn't going to mess around with an opportunity he has thought about for years.
"This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and the Combine was a part of it," he said. "I was happy to be there and did my best to put my best foot in front of me."
Both of Wilson's feet helped him put on a show during Combine workouts. He ran a solid 4.49 40-time and he had an eye-popping 41-inch vertical leap. For Wilson, who has a track background the Combine requirements were all too familiar.
"I looked at the combine as another track meet," he said. "I told my sister on the phone 'I finally get to run another track meet.' You've got the broad jump, which is like the long jump, the 40 is like the 100, vertical jump, high jump. All this stuff just goes hand-in-hand, and at the end of the day, you've got football drills."
Some football players with track backgrounds are knocked for not playing physical. For Wilson it was never an issue. Wilson has a seemingly boundless energy, so lowering his head and driving for an extra yard or two was never an issue, though some scouts question his instincts running inside.
Wilson (5'10" 206) believes it's an area of his game that he has improved.
"Coming out of high school, I was way faster than everybody, stronger than most of my tacklers. It got kind of easy to a point," he said. "But coming to college, everybody's good. Everybody's an athlete, so you have to put more strategy into how you run the ball, and I think that's where I mostly improved – strategizing and setting up my defenders so I could make them miss in the open field and break arm tackles."
What scouts can't question is his production with better than 4,300 all-purpose yards in three seasons including 25 touchdowns. With value as a return man as well, Wilson is a likely second-round pick.
"Since I was six or seven-years old this is what I've wanted to do my whole life," said Wilson. "I wanted to play in the NFL, or play football at least. I'm just blessed to be here."
