Former Tech RB Wilson set to display talents

Former Virginia Tech running back David Wilson has been training the last six weeks at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex down in Orlando, Fla, in preparation for this week’s NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

By his estimation, he has worked out nearly eight hours a day, six days a week.

“I work out longer than I sleep. Put it like that,” Wilson recently said in a phone interview.

If he isn’t already one of the most physically gifted running backs in this year’s NFL draft, he’s certainly working hard to get there.

“I’m looking forward to going to the combine so they can compare and see me in relation to the rest of the top backs,” he said. “I think I can definitely separate myself from a lot of the backs that’s in [the draft].”

The combine begins today and runs through next Tuesday. Wilson, who rushed for a Tech single-season record 1,709 yards as a junior last season, is one of four former Hokies who will participate, along with wide receivers Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale and cornerback Jayron Hosley.

Many players have dramatically improved their draft stock by wowing scouts at the combine. Wilson, who many draft experts believe to be the third-best running back in the draft, could certainly join that group.

He was an All-American triple-jumper for Tech’s track and field team and clocked in at 4.29 seconds in his most recent 40-yard run, which would have been the second-best time at any position in last year’s combine.

Wilson has been working with esteemed trainer Tom Shaw, who has trained eight No. 1 overall NFL draft picks and 10 Super Bowl MVPs, to improve his numbers in all the drills the scouts and general managers will be watching at the combine — 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 3-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle and 60-yard shuttle.

Wilson works out with other draft hopefuls like West Virginia linebacker Bruce Irvin, Michigan State defensive tackle Jerel Worthy, Arizona State cornerback Omar Bolden and Florida wide receiver Chris Rainey, but he puts in even more work when the other players’ days are over.

A typical day for Wilson, who has added four pounds of muscle to his 209-pound frame since the Sugar Bowl, involves lifting weights in the morning and doing combine-specific drills in the afternoon.

But he fills his down time with even more work. He lifts weights every day after the second workout and then goes home and does push-ups and other exercises with resistance bands.

“Everybody down here is not working out as much as I do,” he said.

Wilson hopes to receive an invitation to New York for the first day of the draft April 27, and he hopes to hear his name called that day as well.

He knows he has something to prove to scouts and general managers before that happens.

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper recently designated Wilson as the draft’s biggest risk at tailback, and he doesn’t project Wilson as a first-rounder.

“Athletically, he’s off the charts. When he works out, he’s going to wow you over. He had some phenomenal games. He has that burst. He’s a game-breaker and all that. The issue is ball security. He coughed it up some. He’s got to eliminate the fumbles,” Kiper said during a recent SportsCenter segment.

“He could go in the first round. David Wilson’s got that kind of talent, that kind of ability. But you’ve got to protect the football. You can’t turn it over. That’s why I think he presents some risk.”

Wilson said he doesn’t pay attention to the critics, but knows they’re there.

“Yeah, there’s always going to be doubters and naysayers and people who don’t believe in you, but that’s what drives me is to prove people wrong,” Wilson said. “At some point down the road, I’ll get to show what I’m capable of.

“Even if I don’t go in the first round, when I get to a team, I’m definitely going to compete and be a factor on that team. That’s what drives me. People say, ‘He’s too small, he doesn’t have good vision or he can’t block.’ Any of that stuff they say, I try to make them swallow those words at the end of the day.”