David Wilson of Virginia Tech Makes Most of Opportunities in Expanded Role

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 2, 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.

“David has got the shake—he’s a lot like Ryan in that respect, but he’s probably got better speed than any of the backs. Obviously he’s a threat every time he touches the football to make the big play and that’s what we need in our offense right now,” Hite said.

His success continued over the next two weeks against Boston College and NC State, where he split carries with Evans, as Williams was unable to play.

Overall, Wilson has averaged 5.7 yards per carry in the three games Williams has been out, and that doesn’t include the 92-yard kick return for a touchdown that gave the Hokies a spark in the 41-30 come from behind victory against NC State.

However, with Ryan Williams’ return looming in the near future, Wilson will more than likely return to being used sporadically on offense and on kick returns.

“If that was to happen, I would just look to take advantage of every time I touched the ball,” Wilson said. “After the Boise game, that’s what I decided to do—take advantage of every carry, and own it when I’m out there on the field and I have the ball in my hand.”

A good thing for Wilson is that Bryan Stinespring, offensive coordinator, has refused to say that there is a distinct order in the depth chart.

“I don’t think we are relegating anyone anywhere. We are going to play the people that are playing the best, are healthy and playing well. Right now, David is playing well and he gets better every time he goes out there,” Stinespring said.

Wilson met the biggest of his goals last week with the long return for a touchdown, but that doesn’t mean he is content with what he has done.

“Once you get one long run, you want to keep them coming. Even when they kicked the ball to me again, I was like, ‘I’m going to return this one too,’” Wilson said. “It definitely felt good to get one of my goals off my list, for sure. I still have other goals on my list, so I have to keep working hard and moving forward.”

This article was featured in today's Collegiate Times—the Virginia Tech student-run newspaper. You can view the original article here, or you can follow Nick Cafferky on Twitter @Caffscorner.