Former Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson reveals how he nearly ended up at LSU

quote:

---

“I don’t know if I ever told that story,” Wilson said. “I always kind of — I always felt like maybe everybody at Arkansas would hold that against me, and this is before I had an offer from Arkansas. I was really close to committing and going to LSU.”

Wilson said he went to LSU’s camp and received an offer from Les Miles and OC Gary Crowton. During this time, LSU even hired a relative of Wilson’s, too.

“I come back from the camp and I was sold on LSU,” Wilson said. “I called Gary and said, ‘Coach … I was very impressed and would be interested in committing at this point.’”

Crowton then went to Miles and told him the news, and Miles revealed some unfortunate news that shaped some history.

“Les said, ‘I have put the brakes on accepting offers for quarterbacks currently due to E.J. Manuel,’” Wilson said. “It was E.J. Manuel and Terrelle Pryor; they were No. 1 and No. 2 in the class, and they were not going to accept a commitment from a quarterback until E.J. made his decision. Well, E.J. was not going to declare or commit to anybody until signing day because he had that luxury.”

Wilson then went on to discuss the risk/reward of taking a lower-ranked quarterback (Wilson in this case) over waiting on a higher-ranked quarterback (Manuel) at the time. It’s a game that college coaches play until they aren’t getting good indications from their top-ranked prospect on the board.

---