Back-flipping freshman high-gear addition to Tech’s offense

BLACKSBURG The 4-year-old boy's eyes caught the images flickering across his family's television screen: gymnasts back-flipping across a mat. He had never seen anything like it before.

A short time later, he snuck into the back yard, where his dad couldn't see him, and tried mimicking the gymnasts. By the end of that day, as the boy remembers now, he called his dad out to the yard, where, for the first time, someone watched David Wilson do a back flip.

Last month, Wilson and his fellow freshmen on Virginia Tech's football team finished a grueling session of weight lifting and running. "Most of us were dead tired," said quarterback Logan Thomas.

Apparently not Wilson. He walked onto the practice field and back-flipped five times in a row.

"It was the craziest thing I've ever seen," Thomas said. "Right there, my impression was set that he's just a freak. I'm sure there are people out there, but I haven't seen too many of them like that before."

Wilson is anything but a regular 18-year-old. His athletic ability -- at Tech media day yesterday, he performed eight consecutive back flips -- gives him an excellent chance of seeing playing time at running back this season. His maturity -- the guy wore a shirt and tie every day as a high school senior -- should allow him to handle the accompanying pressure and responsibilities.

In March, he won the triple jump at the Nike Indoor Nationals for the second consecutive year. His jump, 51-5¾, would have placed 13th at this year's NCAA national indoor meet. Last month, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds, the best freshman time during Tech's summer testing. During his final two years at George Washington High in Danville, he ran for 3,842 yards and 52 touchdowns.

"In person, he's one of the fastest people I've ever seen," said freshman free safety Antone Exum, of Deep Run High.

Wilson said he has run a 4.28 in the 40, during a weight-lifting class at George Washington earlier this year. He developed that speed at a young age. While other kids played on the jungle gym during elementary school recess, Wilson and a couple of friends found an open patch of grass and raced.

Wilson, who is 5-10 and 200 pounds, never lifted weights on his own in high school. Instead, he spent summers laying bricks, carrying 2-by-4s, lugging cement bags and tossing shingles up to a roof with his dad, Dwight, an elementary school teacher who also buys and renovates condemned houses.

Rare as Wilson's speed and fitness are, it might be harder to find a high school student who would chose to wear a shirt, tie, slacks and dress shoes to school -- and plans on doing it during college, too. Or a kid who spent two spring breaks fixing and building houses in Mississippi and South Carolina, as part of mission trips with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The mission trips stemmed from the role Danville's Bethel Baptist Church played in his upbringing. The formal dress code -- he dreamed that one up himself. "Teachers respect it more because they see a lot of kids wearing their pants down," he said. "For someone to not just wear their pants on their waist, but dress up -- it's different."

Now, Wilson doesn't stand out so much in Tech's backfield, at least not in terms of his skills. He is the third star running back recruit the Hokies have landed in as many years, following Darren Evans and Ryan Williams. Throw in sophomore Josh Oglesby, and Tech's backfield is as deep and talented as 32nd-year running backs coach Billy Hite can remember.

Williams redshirted last season because he struggled with blocking. Wilson is "ahead of that curve," Hite said.

Wilson knew why Williams didn't play last fall, because when Wilson visited Blacksburg over the winter, Williams explained the importance of mastering blocking.

Wilson gained experience with cut blocking -- a technique Tech uses, but Virginia high schools prohibit -- by playing in June's International Federation of American Football Junior World Championship, which allows cut blocking. He also stayed in shape because the United States team practiced twice a day for a week, once a day for the next two weeks and played three games the following week. As usual, he stood out, winning the tournament's most valuable player award.

All eyes watched him again yesterday as he flipped across Lane Stadium's field. Hite chuckled as he looked on, then got Wilson's attention when he finished flipping.

"You do that in a game," Hite said with a smile, "I'm going to kick you right in the [butt]."

Everything else about Wilson, though, he can't wait for everyone to see.