Quincy Wilson: Leading the Way
September 08, 2003 11:56 AM | General
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August 30, 2003
When he was four years old Quincy Wilson sat in the stands at the Super Bowl, not that he remembers it much. He was at the Pro Bowl, too, but remembers the trip more for the beach than the football. It was, most likely, the youngster's first trip to the ocean, so why should the fact that his father was a Pro Bowl-member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears mean anything to him?
Growing up the son of a NFL linebacker never really mattered much to Wilson. Sure, he knew his dad played football, but that's where it ended. The prestige of it all never really hit him. In fact, it wasn't until his first year playing pee wee football in his hometown of Weirton, W.Va., that Wilson started to understand that his dad had a job unlike any of his teammates.
"I never thought anything of it (father Otis' NFL career)," Wilson recalls. "To me it was just Dad played football, and then my first year playing in the pee-wee league he was on the first Tecmo Bowl (a Nintendo video game) and all the kids kept saying, ‘Hey, that's your dad.'"
From then on Wilson understood. Everywhere he went, introductions were always prefaced with, "son of Otis Wilson who plays for the Chicago Bears." It was different growing up that way (imagine having a conversation with Michael Jordan at 12 years old), but it is the relationship that the senior superback has with his father now that he values the most.
"My relationship with my dad is a lot better now than when I was a kid," admits Wilson. "He knows the level that I'm trying to get to and he can relay information to me about the things he did to prepare himself for his senior year as well as getting to the next level. That's an advantage I have that not many others do."
As Wilson prepares for his senior season, much of his focus has been on developing into the leader he's spent the last few years trying to become. Spending the past two seasons as the backup to Avon Cobourne, the BIG EAST's all-time leading rusher, Wilson learned the importance of the role senior leadership plays in helping a team reach its goals. This season, he knows others will be looking to him for the answers, encouragement and motivation necessary for the Mountaineers to win games.
"The seniors we had last year were lead-by-example guys," explains the athletic coaching education major. "We're different guys this year, but we've got guys like Rasheed (Marshall) and myself who have been in the fire, played in big games and we're just trying to lead by example and make sure everyone is walking that straight line. I know it's my job to keep the guys going because this is a team sport and in order to succeed we have to have everyone going on all cylinders."
Running backs coach Calvin Magee knows the value of Wilson's leadership role on this season's squad and expects the senior to be a big producer in this year's offense.
"First of all, he's a leader," acknowledges Magee. "I have some young guys he's been a big leader for. He's a powerful, experienced guy whom we are looking to have a big season."
Wilson himself agrees.
"I've been in some big games, so I know what to expect," he says. "Nothing's really going to surprise me this year. I'm just going to go out and have my best year. If I do that and Rasheed (Marshall) has his best season too, we should be alright."
One thing the superback knows is the key to his success this season is competing at the highest level in any situation. Whether it be breaking off a long run like last season's 42-yard touchdown in the third quarter of the Virginia Tech win, holding off a pass rusher or being the first guy to cross the end line during preseason sprinting drills, Wilson is always one of the hardest working men on the football field. It is a work ethic the admitted "family man" attributes to his mother.
"My mom is my heart and soul," says last season's second leading rusher (901 yards and six scores). "She's where I get my work ethic. She's the hardest worker I know. She works in the mill (Weirton Steel) and can be on day turn or night turn, but she always finds a way to make it to my games."
This season Wilson's mother Kyle will not be alone in the stands as his son, Trenton, will make his first appearance at Mountaineer Field. It seems quite fitting that a Mountaineer football career that had its origin in a son watching his father dominate on the gridiron end in the same way: the son having become the father, showing the next generation of Wilson family football players how to play the game he loves.
Lainie Guiddy is a graduate assistant in the West Virginia University sports communications office.
