HOOVER, Ala. — Tyler Wilson has been a rock.
First as the quarterback, where he has shown he’s tougher than a claw hammer on a hickory nut, and second as leader of the Arkansas Razorbacks football team.
He took a beating against Alabama last season that would have left many quarterbacks recovering on the bench while someone else played most of the second half.
Wilson showed a willingness to sacrifice his body for his team, standing in the pocket and waiting until there wasn’t a full second left before making a throw, and then going face first to the turf.
Tenarius “Tank” Wright, a hard hitter himself, along with most of his teammates, didn’t know what to expect from Wilson, who doesn’t get tackled in practice.
“I did not have a clue how tough Tyler was until I saw him get thrown around, knocked down and stepped on,” Wright said. “But he’d pop right up and shake it off and keep going. He’s just remarkable. He’s a great quarterback. You can’t teach toughness like that.”
If Wilson knows he’s tougher than a hard-candy Christmas, he doesn’t let on. When asked where he got the mental and physical toughness, he shrugged his shoulders slightly and said: “Being raised in Greenwood, I guess.”
Greenwood tough.
When asked whether his dad did anything when he was a kid to make him tougher, he just grinned and said no.
“Maybe I learned something by watching Brett Favre; he was tough and I idolized him,” Wilson said.
After a little more thought, he inadvertently gave the most plausible answer of all - that he’s the ultimate team player.
“I always have to be focused on the receivers,” he said. “My job is to get us into the end zone, so I have to find the open receiver. I don’t ever want to let my teammates down.”
Something he has not done on the field or off it.
When Bobby Petrino was fired as the head coach in April, it was Wilson and Wright who called the team together and kept it united.
No dividing up for those who were upset and those who were not. It was all about team. It was all about the Razorbacks.
Just one spring ago, one of the concerns about Wilson wasn’t his toughness or his ability to throw, but his leadership. How could he, after spending most of the previous three years on the sideline as just one of the guys, be the quarterback who took control during bad times?
“A natural maturation process,” Wilson said. “Actually, a year ago I stepped up and told the team Ryan [Mallett] was gone, and he wasn’t coming back, that I was the quarterback now.”
He backed it up on the field, despite the pressure every game. He completed 277 passes on 438 attempts (63.2 percent) for 3,638 yards, 24 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions.
The Razorbacks won 11 games, losing only to Alabama and LSU, who played for the BCS championship.
Wilson admits he has ruffled a few feathers on the road to success.
“I feel like we are buddies, but when you step between the lines, everything changes,” he said. “I’ve had to go back to guys a few times and say that was just on the field, it isn’t personal, we all have a job to do.”
Almost as soon as last season ended, rumors began that Wilson might enter the NFL Draft.
Wilson and his dad, Don, went to visit Petrino about it.
“He [Petrino] was not happy about it,” said Wilson, who didn’t seem especially comfortable with the admission. “He gave me a number of reasons I should stay. I listened, and in the end made my decision to return for my final season as a Razorback.”
How did he feel when Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who spent much of his career as a receiver, was taken with the eighth pick of the first round.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Wilson said. “We had been told three quarterbacks would go high, and I had reason to believe I would have been one of those three. I made the decision to come back and have no regrets.”
Tyler Wilson, an All-SEC quarterback, is a leader and Greenwood tough.
Sports, Pages 21 on 07/22/2012