Kyle Wilson's NFL Transition

It is without question that the Boise State secondary has dropped off a little bit since the now graduated Kyle Wilson left for the NFL. I can still hear Bronco's offensive lineman Faraji Wright (with some back-up singers, of course) rapping about him at the Fiesta Bowl fan celebration party at Taco Bell Arena on campus; "He's goin' to the league!" Good times... As you know, Wilson went in the first round as the 29th overall pick to the New York Jets. As one would expect, the learning curve in the league has been steep. Couple that with the fact that head coach Rex Ryan is a defensive guru and expects a lot from his players and that cornerback is the toughest position in the game, and you understand why a rookie has a long way to go to get to the top level of his game. Trust me, Kyle is smart, he will do fine.

Wilson is from New Jersey and actually grew up a Giants fan. Coming out of high school he was only a two-star recruit. He found a place to hang his hat in Boise, Idaho. By midway through the season his freshman year, Kyle was starting and carried that all the way to the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. It is amazing to look back and see how he transformed from the young, hot shot who needs to cut his dreadlocks and grow up, to the seasoned, experienced, wily veteran whose hair is a symbol of his ability and was a symbol of the team. In fact, his whole family has dreadlocks, I saw them at the Fiesta Bowl. His brother even made a Kyle Wilson bus that he took to all of Boise State's games around the country (expect for maybe Hawai'i). My guess is that it now resides somewhere in the New York/New Jersey area.



His hair is pretty intimidating. I mean just look at him. It's kind of scary...

Kyle Wilson in all of his Fiesta Bowl (version 2) glory!


Boise State and their incredible coaching staff had struck again. People like Darren Colledge, Ryan Clady, Quinten Mikell, Gerald Alexander, and now Kyle Wilson all went from lightly-recruited names in college scouts' notebooks to full time NFL contributors. It seems that these types of success stories keep coming out of the same small school in western Idaho; and don't expect that to change. Wilson is just the latest in a long line of them and there will be more. Here is Kyle, smiling on draft day as he holds up his green Jets jersey.



Along with the learning curve and expectations that come with being a first round pick, Wilson has found himself in a unique circumstance. All-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis selfishly held out of training camp in hopes of receiving a new contract as the highest paid player at his position. What that meant is from the beginning, Kyle was going to play a lot of downs. So he prepared for it and it's a good thing he did. Since getting his new contract and re-joining the team, Revis has been injured and has missed some games, therefore thrusting the former Boise State star into the starting secondary. It was a rough go for Wilson against the Baltimore Ravens at the beginning of the season, but since then he has played well, broken up passes, and even returned some punts. He has played well enough to force the coaches to keep him in there, even with Revis back in action. It will only go up from here for Kyle Wilson. I saw him Monday night against the Vikings. He looked good. The best part, he still has his Samson-like dreadlocks flopping in the wind as he begins to create "Wilson Island."