After record career with BYU, quarterback Zach Wilson declares himself for 2021 NFL Draft

PROVO – After a mad rush in the 2020 season and a three-year whirlwind at Provo, BYU quarterback Zach Wilson has made his decision.

Corner Canyon High School’s 6-foot-3, 210-pound product is officially headed for the NFL.

Wilson made his decision on Friday and announced it on social networks, a long-awaited moment since the Cougars’ QB1 stormed the college football season in 2020.

In a lengthy social media post, Wilson thanked BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, athletic director Tom Holmoe, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick and a host of other coaches and tutors. private and personal that helped him move from Corner Canyon to a projected NFL first-round pick.

He also thanked “the world’s biggest fan base” at BYU.

“Thank you for the best three years of my life,” Wilson wrote. “On our own ground, or on the road, there was no doubt the Blue Wave would be fierce. BYU is a special place. I am still blue.

“To all my boys on the team and to all those who participated in my stay here: without you, I am nothing. You never forget those who went into battle with you; they are a part of you forever. I am always grateful to my replica and receivers. The strength staff and training staff for their endless dedication to me.

COUGAR NATION pic.twitter.com/pEa9RUMCTQ

– Zachary Wilson (@zachkapono) January 1, 2021

The junior is the sixth Utah high school football product to declare early for the 2021 draft, joining Simi Fehoko (Brighton) of Stanford, Jay Tufele (Bingham) of USC, Penei Sewell (Desert Hills) of Oregon’s Dax Milne (BYU) from Bingham and left BYU tackle Brady Christensen (Bountiful). The latter is arguably the most important for Wilson, who will follow his confident tackle as he has done his entire BYU career – including the 11-win 2020 season.

Wilson capped his junior season with 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns with just three interceptions, propelling the Cougars to an 11-1 season with a performance that ends just outside the top 10 in terms of passing yards in the school history (Robbie Bosco ranks 10th with 3874 yards in 1984).

He fled the single-season passing accuracy record, completing 74% of his passes to break Steve Young’s previous record of 71% set in 1983. (He also set a new career passing efficiency record. of 162.91, a mark that has held up since Detmer posted a 162.74 during his career).

Wilson finished eighth nationally in the Heisman Trophy ballot, a top 10 score that is BYU’s best result since Ty Detmer’s second season in 1991.

Detmer. Bosco. Young. Jim McMahon. John Beck. All of them have penetrated the mystique of BYU’s quarterback, and Wilson has been 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 those picks came in 2019, when he battled multiple injuries in his sophomore, including his shoulder and thumb.

He also ran for 642 yards and added 15 rushing touchdowns. He’s only lost three fumbles in his career, all in 2019.

Wilson ended his career with a brilliant performance at the Boca Raton Bowl, a 49-23 victory over UCF – a team that entered the game with one of the best offenses in the country, led by the quarterback in sophomore Dillon Gabriel.

But the Corner Canyon product has outperformed its Hawaiian counterpart, whose father Garrett Gabriel has beaten Detmer and the Cougars twice during the former Heisman Trophy winner’s stellar career. Wilson completed 26 passes for 425 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair of scores to reliable first-year tight end Isaac Rex and a miracle throw to Neil Pau’u.

Wilson turned every one of his receivers into lethal weapons, led by former pedestrian Dax Milne, who caught 70 passes for 1,188 yards and eight touchdowns to become BYU’s first 1,000-yard wide receiver since

The Cougars compiled an explosive offense, ranking fourth in offense (43.5 points per game), fourth in passing efficiency (189.35), seventh in total offense (522.2 yards per game) and eighth in attack by passing (332.1 yards per game), through bowl games played on Dec. 26.

COUGAR NATION pic.twitter.com/BLQtiKWygT

– Zachary Wilson (@zachkapono) January 1, 2021

A season that was previously in danger of being played, with as few as two opponents on the schedule stricken by the pandemic through August, has turned into an 11-win tour de force – the Cougars’ best fall since 2009 or 2001 or even 1996., depending on who you ask (or what metric you use).

But the numbers aren’t what Wilson will remember from his 2020 squad. Like the t-shirts they wore in warm-ups, he’ll remember the “love” they had for each other.

“The excitement we got from playing this game was special,” Wilson said. “Just looking around and soaking it up was the coolest part. We’re never going to have the same team again, with guys taking off next year, and things are always different.

“I love these guys, and that was the best part about it, we came out with this excitement and energy, and the guys were so excited to play.”

Wilson has also had a successful career. He won his first start as a rookie in 2018 to help BYU to a 7-6 season, capped off with a perfect passing performance against West Michigan in the famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

A year later, Wilson suffered multiple injuries – namely his shoulder and thumb – before joining BYU for another 7-6 season. But former Utah defensive lineman Mike Wilson’s son has saved his best season for last, as he is expected to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft in the coming days.

Facing a season where all but two of the Cougars’ games have been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, Wilson has embarked on a frenzy against Group of Five football broadcast on ESPN. Instead of taking on Utah, Arizona State, Michigan State and Missouri, he presented garish numbers against a group that included Navy, Troy, Louisiana Tech and Houston, to fail. name a few.

He prompted BYU to his first-ever win over the Blue Turf in Boise, where he had previously committed to play, totaling 360 yards and three touchdowns in a 51-17 win over the then No. 21 Broncos and propelled his team to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25.

Instead of returning for a 2021 season set to kick off on September 2 against Arizona in Las Vegas – and which features six opponents from the Power Five, including the return of former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall to Provo with Virginia on the 30th. October – Wilson will take his talents to the NFL.

He is expected to be one of the top five quarterbacks selected by most analysts in the draft, a jump behind alleged No.1 pick Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and mixed with a squad that includes Justin Fields of Ohio State, Mac Jones of Clemson. Alabama, Kyle Trask of Florida and North Trey Lance of Dakota State.

The Jacksonville Jaguars locked down the No. 1 draft pick on Sunday with a 1-14 finish and one game to go for the 2020 season. Up to eight teams could select a first-round quarterback, according to most projections , including Jets (# 2), Falcons (# 3), Dolphins (# 4), Lions (# 8), Panthers (# 9) and 49ers (n ° 14).

Pictures

Related stories