Summer practice will look much different for Tyler Wilson than the spring tune-ups
In case you live under a rock; Bobby Petrino has been ousted as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks as of late last night. Petrino’s motorcycle accident turned affair cover-up with a 25-year old female staffer is well documented. What were interested in is how this affects the NFL prospects, most notably Tyler Wilson on this talented team. Petrino leaves behind him an 11-2 team that returns a Heisman contending quarterback, a top running back talent returning from injury, and eight defensive starters. For all intents and purposes this was to be Arkansas’ year to compete with the likes of LSU, Alabama, and Florida.
Tyler Wilson’s magical 2011 season had some pining for him to enter the 2012 NFL Draft and be selected in the top ten back in January. Wilson spurned the NFL to return to Petrino’s pro-style offense for his senior season. The 6’3”, 230-pound Heisman contender passed for 3,638 yards with 24 TD’s and just six INT’s in 2011 following in the footsteps of Ryan Mallett.
Wilson’s decision to stay at Arkansas appeared to be a good one despite his enormous talents and numbers. With only one season as a full-time starter, Wilson could have used some more seasoning before taking his talents to the NFL playing field. This assumption was before the possibility of playing in a new system under a new head coach reared its ugly head. A possibility that sent Twitterverse on its collective head with the chance that Wilson could enter the NFL supplemental draft.
The problem with that chance is that it’s very unlikely that Wilson would be granted entrance into the supplemental draft given there is no change in eligibility. The NFL cracked down on applicants into the supplement draft after players, most notably Bernie Kosar, circumvented the regular draft to essentially handpick the city they would play in. Since the changes in entrance rules were implemented in 1993 no player has been taken in the first round of the supplemental draft.
Assuming Wilson wanted to forgo his senior season after the coaching change and by some chance he was granted eligible for the supplemental draft he most likely would be the exception to the rule. Teams would line up to take this talented signal caller with their first-round pick.
Wilson’s decision will have no bearing on April’s draft as any decision wouldn’t be made until the early stages of the summer months. It does, however, have a major impact on the QB talent-rich 2013 NFL Draft class. Matt Barkley, Landry Jones, and Tyler Wilson are expected to be the top senior signal callers with underclassmen Logan Thomas and Tyler Bray likely to push the three seniors.
It remains a very unlikely possibility that Wilson will grace the NFL ranks in 2012, either by his own omission or the NFL’s, but it should make for an interesting topic to ride through the boring summer draft months.
