If you listen to the stories on campus, you know of David Wilson’s athleticism by now.
From catching a rabbit with his bare hands on the Drillfield last year, to his 4.29 40-time, to the fact that as a sophomore he already holds a running back record with his 341-pound power clean, there is little doubt Wilson has the build to be Tech’s star running back.
In fact, it’s why he is garnering comparisons to everyone from Reggie Bush to Percy Harvin.
“I’m old school, but he reminds me of Gale Sayers and he was the best one I’ve ever seen. David can cut on a dime and he’s got great explosion,” said Billy Hite, running backs coach. “I think before his career is over here at Virginia Tech, you’ll see a lot of them that he’s taken to the house.”
Despite of all of this, the 2008 Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year has seen very little of the field this season because of the depth that the Hokies have at running back.
With Ryan Williams and Darren Evans both returning from their own respective record-breaking seasons, everyone knew that finding touches for another back would be difficult.
This actually led most to believe Wilson would redshirt this season and save a year of eligibility.
This idea floated around the minds of the coaching staff until the end of fall scrimmages, when Wilson put that idea to bed by earning a spot as one of the team’s top performers.
Wilson was initially excited to not to redshirt when the season began, but that enthusiasm died down after week two, when he realized he wasn’t getting the number of opportunities that he thought he would see.
His time came in the very next week, when Williams went down with a hamstring injury and Wilson was one of those left in charge of making sure the Hokies didn’t lose to East Carolina and drop to 0-3.
Just as everyone expected, Wilson put the opportunity to good use, as he had 110 total yards and two touchdowns on just 13 touches.
For most of the Hokies faithful, the ECU game was Wilson’s coming-out party. Many were aware of his speed, but few knew about his power and ability to break tackles.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 7 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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