Wilson getting brought up to speed

Jimmy Ivey
sports@weatherforddemocrat.com

August 28, 2007 06:16 pm

— SPRINGTOWN — A senior quarterback is generally not the person one might think of as being the most inexperienced player in a varsity system.
To start the 2007 season, that is the case for Springtown Porcupines senior quarterback Kyle Wilson.
Wilson, who moved to Springtown from Weatherford in the spring, has been on the fast track to be ready for the season opener Friday night in Mineral Wells as the starting quarterback.
“It can be difficult,” Wilson said about learning a new, complex offense. “It was a challenge in the spring. Preparing for the spring game was a lot to get ready for because I had only a few weeks to learn all of the plays and get all the routes down.
“But going through 7-on-7 and going through all the routes all summer, it just kind of sank in a lot easier than just sitting down and learning it. It is a lot more fun when you are going through 7-on-7 and learning the routes than just sitting there trying to memorize them.”
This is the second year Wilson is replacing a quarterback who went on to collegiate football. Last year, he replaced Tyler Luttrell in Weatherford, who went on to TCU. This year, he is replacing Logan Turner, who is playing for SMU. The experience of having to replace a Division-I athlete last year is paying dividends for Wilson.
“There was a lot of pressure to fill in Tyler’s [Luttrell] shoes,” Wilson said. “This year is the same thing, so I am used to it now, so it is not as much of a big deal.”
That pressure, last year, is something Springtown head football coach Brad Turner felt can helped Wilson deal with the adversity he went through at Weatherford after being demoted halfway through district play.
“I think those experiences have certainly made him better,” Turner said. “This game is about when you make a mistake, being able to respond and make another play.
“There is a lot riding on the quarterback’s shoulders. I think his ability to deflect the negativity and be stronger for the trials and tribulations he has been through, I think it could not do anything but help him.”
Wilson said playing in a spread offense, which can chew up huge amounts of yards through the air is something he has looked forward to since he started playing football.
“It is what I have always wanted to do,” Wilson said. “To be able to prove I can throw it all the time and have a lot of completions and a lot of yards. To prove what I have always wanted to do with my high school career and try to achieve that.”
“To him, it may be important that he does whatever he has to got to do, he will use that,” Turner said about any possible extra motivation Wilson uses from his experiences last year. “As a coach, I am trying to train him like he has been with me since the seventh grade. I have had him for one spring and he is doing a good job. He is very intelligent and has picked up everything we have thrown on him. We put it on fast forward for him. He makes his fair share of mistakes because of that.
“The thing about the quarterback position, when you make a mistake, everybody in the stadium sees it. Everybody knows it. Just like you get all the pictures and the glory, you get the bad stuff, too.”
Wilson’s tenure as the starting POJO quarterback officially begins Friday in Mineral Wells against the Rams at Miller Stadium at 7:30 p.m.