PROVO – After a wild walk in the 2020 season and a three-year whirlwind in Provo, BYU defender Zach Wilson made the decision.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound product from Corner Canyon High School is officially heading to the NFL.
Wilson made the decision on Friday and announced it on social media, a long-awaited moment since Cougars’ QB1 stormed the college football season in 2020.
In a lengthy post on social media, Wilson thanked BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, athletic director Tom Holmoe, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick and a number of other private and personal coaches and tutors who have helped go from Corner Canyon to the draft pick projected in the first round of the NFL.
He also thanked “the largest fan base in the world” at BYU.
“Thank you for the best three years of my life,” Wilson wrote. “On our home field or on the road, there was no doubt that the Blue Wave would be fierce. BYU is a special place. I’m blue forever.
“All my guys on the team and everyone else involved in my time here: Without you, I’m nothing. Never forget those who went to fight with you; they are part of you forever. receivers. Strength staff and training staff for their endless dedication to me. “
THE COUGAR NATION pic.twitter.com/pEa9RUMCTQ
– Zachary Wilson (@zachkapono) January 1, 2021
The junior is the sixth footballer in Utah High School to declare himself early for the 2021 draft, joining Simi Fehoko of Stanford (Brighton), Jay Tufele of USC (Bingham), Feather Sewell of Oregon (Desert Hills), Dax Milne from Bingham (BYU) and his left tackle at BYU, Brady Christensen (Bountiful). The latter is probably the most important for Wilson, who will pursue his approach confidently, as has his entire BYU career – including the season 11 wins 2020.
Wilson finished his junior season with 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns with just three interceptions, pushing the Cougars into an 11-1 season with a performance that ends just outside the top-10 in the school’s court yard ( Robbie Bosco ranks 10th with 3,874 meters in 1984).
He ran the record of passing accuracy in a single season, completing 74% of his passes to reach Steve Young’s previous record of 71% set in 1983. (He also set a new rating record of career transition efficiency of 162.91, a mark that remained since Detmer posted a 162.74 during his career).
Wilson finished eighth nationally in voting for the Heisman Trophy, a top-10 that is BYU’s best score since Ty Detmer’s second season in 1991.
Detmer. Bosco. Young people. Jim McMahon. John Beck. They all made their way into the BYU mystique of a quarterback, and Wilson was mentioned in the same breath as each of them on different occasions.
In three years at BYU, Wilson completed 68% of his passes for 7,652 yards and 56 touchdowns with just 15 interceptions. Nine of these elections came in 2019, when he struggled with several injuries as a sophomore, including his shoulder and thumb.
He also ran for 642 yards and added 15 touchdowns to the ground. He has lost just three beats in his entire career, all in 2019.
Wilson ended his career with a brilliant performance in the Boca Raton Bowl, a 49-23 victory over UCF – a team that came into play with one of the most important crimes in the country, led by the two-year-old defender, Dillon Gabriel.
But the Corner Canyon product outperformed its Hawaiian counterpart, whose father Garrett Gabriel twice beat the Detmer and Cougars during the remarkable career of the former Heisman Trophy winner. Wilson completed 26 passes for 425 meters and three touchdowns, including a pair of scores to Isaac Rex, a reliable prime minister and a miraculous throw to Neil Pau’u.
Wilson turned each of his receivers into lethal weapons, led by former Dax Milne, who caught 70 passes for 1,188 meters and eight touchdowns to become BYU’s first 1,000-meter receiver.
Cougars compiled an explosive offense, ranking fourth in scoring offense (43.5 points per game), fourth in passing efficiency (189.35), seventh in total offense (522.2 yards per game). game) and on the eighth in passing offense (332.1 yards per game) through bowl games played on December 26th.
THE COUGAR NATION pic.twitter.com/BLQtiKWygT
– Zachary Wilson (@zachkapono) January 1, 2021
A season that was previously in danger of being played, with only two opponents in the pandemic-affected program through August, turned into an 11-win tour – the Cougars’ best fall of 2009 or 2001 or even 1996, depending on who you ask (or what value you use).
But the numbers are not what Wilson will remember about his 2020 team. Like the T-shirts they wore during the warm-up, he will remember the “love” they had for each other.
“The excitement I had to play this game was special,” Wilson said. “Just looking around and getting soaked was the hardest part. We will never have the same team again, with boys who will take off next year, and things are always different.
“I love these guys and that was the best part of coming out with that excitement and energy, and the boys were thrilled to play.”
Wilson also had a brilliant career. He earned his first freshman start in 2018 to help BYU in a 7-6 season, capped by a perfect passing performance against Western Michigan in the famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
A year later, Wilson struggled with several injuries – namely his shoulder and thumb – before amassing BYU in another 7-6 season. But the son of former Utah defensive lineman Mike Wilson has saved his best season for the latter, as he expects to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft in the coming days.
Faced with a season in which all but two Cougars were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Wilson entered a battlefield against the football group broadcast on ESPN. Instead of facing Utah, Arizona, Michigan and Missouri, he raised torturous numbers against a group that included Navy, Troy, Louisiana Tech and Houston, to name a few.
He boosted BYU to its first victory on the Blue Turf in Boise, where it once committed to play, throwing 360 yards and three touchdowns in a 51-17 victory over the then No. 21 Broncos propelled his team to number 8 in the Top 25 Associated Press.
Instead of returning for a 2021 season that is scheduled to open Sept. 2 against Arizona in Las Vegas – and feature six Power Five opponents, including former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall’s return to Provo with Virginia on Oct. 30 – Wilson will take the talents to the NFL.
He is expected to be one of the top five defenders selected by most project analysts, a hop behind alleged No. 1 Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and mixed with a group that includes Justin Fields of Ohio, Mac Jones of Alabama, Kyle Trask from Florida and Trey Lance from the state of Dakota.
The Jacksonville Jaguars blocked No. 1 in Sunday’s draft with a score of 1-14 and a game remaining in the 2020 season. Up to eight teams could select a first-round defender, according to most projections, including Jets (No. 2) , falcons (no. 3), dolphins (no. 4), lions (no. 8), panthers (no. 9) and 49ers (no. 14).
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