Wilson makes a Tech-nical decision

By Jason Wolf

Published: July 22, 2008

David Wilson picked up the ringing phone on Christmas Eve.

George Washington football coach Dan Newell was on the line, calling to tell the junior running back the teen had received a college scholarship — his first.

“We started screaming through the house, real excited,” Wilson said, recalling his family’s reaction to the University of Maryland’s offer. “I didn’t think it would come to 16 or 17 schools. I didn’t think it would blow up that big. … I didn’t think I’d have a big choice like that.”

In his first extended comments since verbally committing to Virginia Tech on Friday, the GW rising senior and national indoor triple jump champion detailed his decision-making process and the experience of being one of the most highly recruited football players in Danville high school history. Wilson went well beyond the regional schools that generally recruit in this area, sending his information and tape to the likes of USC, Florida, LSU, Texas and Ohio State. Some showed interest. Some even visited. But even after casting a national net, Wilson pared his choices down to Auburn and Tech and eventually decided to stay close to home.

“Coach (Frank) Beamer … said he likes winning championships for Virginia with Virginia athletes and I looked at the roster and over 75 percent of the roster is kids from Virginia,” Wilson said. “I look at all these other great players, and most of them — Michael Vick was born and raised in Virginia, he went to Virginia Tech … Reggie Bush was born and raised in California, he went to USC. Bo Jackson, from Alabama, he went to Auburn.

“I’m born in Danville, Va., and raised there, so why wouldn’t I go to college in my state?”

The 5-foot-9, 171-pound Wilson rushed for 1,557 yards and 17 touchdowns on 139 carries last year, averaging better than 11 yards a pop. He also caught five passes for 86 yards and a score and returned two kicks for touchdowns, earning All-Western Valley District and All-Northwest Region first-team honors. He had 15 runs of 50 yards or longer during GW’s 10-2 season, which came to an end in the Northwest Region finals.

Wilson posted those numbers while playing in only the first half of most contests. He had fewer than 10 second-half carries combined in GW’s final six regular-season games last year, a span during which the Eagles outscored their opponents 193-0 before intermission.

“You look at that and you go, you’d be stupid to be playing him in the second half and risk getting him hurt,” Newell said. “If you look at his numbers, there are plenty of guys all over the country rushing for 2,000 yards and whatnot. … But we had a couple of games in there where he had like six carries for 150 yards or something just crazy like that.”

Wilson is ranked as the No. 22 running back in the country by Scout.com, which lists him as a 4-star recruit. Rivals.com, which also lists Wilson as a 4-star recruit, ranks him No. 4 in the country at the athlete position.

He is the eighth 2009 recruit to commit to Virginia Tech.

Three former GW players are currently on Virginia Tech’s roster, including starting defensive end Orion Martin, starting linebacker Cam Martin and backup running back Kenny Lewis Jr.

Wilson also plans to continue his track career in Blacksburg. He won the 2008 Nike Indoor Nationals triple jump championship and the Group AAA state outdoor title in the event, as well, which certainly helped catch the attention of many programs.

“He really thought he was just going to get one (scholarship offer). He had no idea what was about to happen. … But you can’t ignore an athlete like that,” Newell said, adding that he had to memorize Wilson’s scholarship offers from north to south to keep them straight.

Newell recites the list.

At first “I didn’t even know I had one from Marshall!” Wilson said.

“Sorry ’bout that,” Newell replied. “Forgot one.”