@image Walt Beazley/University of Arkansas 

One-on-One with Tyler Wilson: Part One:

@Urban writer Whitney Ray talks with the homegrown hero about his senior season

(Fayetteville, AR) I recently had 15 minutes to ask Arkansas Razorback star quarterback Tyler Wilson anything I wanted.  We talked about his senior season, new challenges facing the Hogs in light of recent scandals and roster shake ups.  We also talked about his love for the game and how Greenwood football helped shape the way he plays.  Oh yeah, and we asked him how he takes all those helmet rattling, should pad shaking hits and keeps on playing.  

Part One:

Whitney: Tell me how you fell in love with football and what does the Greenwood Tradition mean to you?

Wilson: Growing up I was a football, baseball, basketball player. I tried to play as many sports as possible. I never fell in love with one game in particular.  I just liked to play all of them.  If there was one, it was probably baseball.  It’s kind of funny how things turn out. I fell into a great situation when Coach (Rick) Jones came in to be the head football coach in Greenwood.  He taught me a lot, how to love the game and everything in it.  That was a great opportunity for me and I think it’s funny how it sometimes plays out.

Whitney: Tell me about your three state championships and getting in there and being able to take over in some big games. What did Coach Jones teach you and what did you learn through your career in Greenwood about leadership?

Wilson: For one, I think leadership is always demonstrated through work ethic and that’s one thing Coach Jones always taught.  You got to lead by example and be one of the hardest workers on the team and field, always do things the right way.  If you do things the right way, people tend to see that and they trust you.  They trust you to lead.  They put their faith in you.  So one was to work hard and two was to do the right thing and three is to be a good teammate.  I think you have to care about the guys in the locker room.  You have to build great relationships with the guys you’re around and those three things in combination are what I’ve learned at Greenwood and it means a lot to me and that’s a reason why I think I’ve become successful and we’ve been successful. 

Whitney: Tell me about your senior year loss to Little Rock Christian.  You really got hammered.  How did you responded and how your teammates looked to you in that situation to ultimately bring home another state championship?

Wilson: Greenwood football, it means a lot to the people in the city, which is great. I get a lot of community support. With that, I think everyone in the community wants to win and expected to win. Going into my senior season, we brought two previous state championships with us. We had very good seasons. It’s a lot like the situation I’m in today at Arkansas. You got great expectations going into your senior season. You got to pull through and make a lot of those things happen. You know, but I think we had a great team.  You mentioned the Little Rock Christian loss.  Obviously they were a good football team.  They did the little things right that night and beat us.  You know you’ve got to come to play each and every week.   I think we learned from that game, and that was a time where seniors, juniors and the whole team came together and responded. I think that was a pivotal moment and more of a positive for our team.  I’ve always tried to spin things more positive than negative.

Whitney: It sounds like you really had a renewed focus on practice after that loss and new determination.  How important are practices then and now?  How important is preparation in terms of having to meet those high expectations?

Wilson: Preparation is key.  You can’t let your guard down if you want to be successful.  It becomes more important at a higher level when you play because the guys playing against you care just as much and their preparation and their will becomes higher and on another level.  You learn that every step you climb up the ladder.  After Little Rock Christian, I learned you have to push yourself hard, you have to push your teammates harder so you can be more successful and go out the right way.  Ultimately you have to pay the price.  We’ve got to stay focused in practice and do those things right.  It’s really the same thing in college. You’ve got to stay hungry, stay dedicated and motivated in the offseason.  It’s the same situation that I’m in right here.

Whitney: What does toughness mean to you?

Wilson: Toughness is a word that a lot of people use in my favor graciously.  In the quarterback position toughness is different than an offensive lineman or being a defensive lineman or any other position on the football field.  I think there’s a different type of toughness. There’s mental toughness that you can have as well as physical toughness. Mental toughness is being able to throw a pick late in the game and have everybody blame you for it.  You can be the hero or you can be the goat so to speak.  You have to handle that as a quarterback.  You also have to be able to take the hits.  The quarterback doesn’t have to take the hits every day in practice.  You don’t get beat up every day in practice. So to show your teammates how much it means to you, you’ve got to take some licks and get right back up.  I think players feed off that and say, ’Hey, he’s tough.  We can play for him.’ That’s something I’ve always tried to implement in my game and work towards.

Whitney:  It’s pretty mind blowing some of those hits you took last season. What do you think when you see defenders coming straight at you?  Is it just reaction? What’s going through your head when you’re about to make a throw and you know you’ve opened up your chest and you know you’re about to get laid out?

Wilson: A lot of times you do see them.  But you also see a receiver down the field and you know if you can stand in there long enough to deliver the ball and gain a lot of good yardage or a touchdown, the hit doesn't hurt nearly as bad.  That's my thought a lot of times.  If I can just hold the ball enough to deliver a good throw down the field and give us a chance to make a good play, I'll take the lick every single time.”