Safety Wilson comfortable in role at safety in his second year at WVU
For Anthony Wilson, his second year in the West Virginia program has a much different feeling.
Wilson committed to the Mountaineers at the end of April last off-season after a season where he recorded 101 tackles for Georgia Southern. The South Carolina native would play almost 800 snaps and turned it into a productive year where he finished with 80 tackles and an interception.
It took some time for Wilson to come in and learn how they do things at West Virginia, but he got things down and became a major factor in the backend.
“Toward the middle of the season I really started to settle in,” Wilson said.
Now, entering his final year at the college level Wilson is hoping to make an even bigger leap. And supporting that goal is the fact that he doesn’t need any sort of adjustment this off-season.
That comfort level with the defensive scheme, his teammates and Morgantown is already established.
“I definitely feel way more comfortable coming into my second year,” he said.
And as part of that, Wilson has evolved from trying to learn his role to being able to step into a leadership position and help teach those around him. Part of that responsibility is helping some of the young players understand things within the scheme to allow guys to play faster on the field.
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One thing that is different this year is the fact that the safeties and cornerbacks meet together under the umbrella of secondary coach ShaDon Brown instead of separately.
“I think that’s a plus because we’re all in the same room. We’re all hearing the same language,” he said.
Wilson also believes he has benefitted from what Brown brings to the table teaching those in the room the terminology in the scheme and how to attack.
And the focus of Brown for Wilson is to improve in pass coverage.
"Body positioning and understanding leverages and doing a good job of understanding the pass concepts. We know he can fit the box and know he will put his shoulder pads on a ball carrier but if he's going to take the next step for us he needs to cover that number two in the slot," Brown said.
Wilson is spending the spring cross-training at both the cat and free safety positions and has been learning how to become a better player in the backend.
“I feel like it’s going to help me and help us as a secondary because he’s teaching us different techniques and the details of playing different coverages,” he said.
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