Aug. 29, 2005

Charleston, SC - "Let's find the fastest player in this program!" Citadel coach Kevin Higgins shouted as he put the Bulldogs through their post-practice wind sprints last week.

When the series of 100-yard sprints was finished and 6-2, 235-pound defensive end James Wilson had emerged as the Bulldogs' fastest football player, a bystander approached the first-year coach and said, "You know, James Wilson came here as a running back."

"I know," Higgins replied with a wistful look.

The sight of the hulking Wilson out-running receivers and defensive backs conjured images of former Bulldog running back Nehemiah Broughton, who has turned his combination of size (5-11, 240) and speed into a shot at the NFL.

"I watched James run, and I said, 'Wow, this kid could have been a special running back,' " Higgins said.

But after trying his hand at tailback, fullback, linebacker and safety with the Bulldogs, Wilson found a home at defensive end and, along with sophomore Trevar Broughton, gives The Citadel one of the speediest pairs of ends in the Southern Conference.

"I don't miss running back at all," said Wilson, a junior from North Myrtle Beach. "I'm happy I'm on defense. I found a spot that's working for me, and I wouldn't change it for the world."

Wilson has been timed at 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash, but says, "It was rainy and muddy that day. I claim faster than that."

At North Myrtle Beach High School, Wilson rushed for 1,725 yards and 23 touchdowns and was named offensive player of the year by the Myrtle Beach Sun News. When Wilson committed to the Bulldogs after receiving recruiting attention from Maryland and other Division I-A schools, former Citadel coach Ellis Johnson and his assistants thought they had a steal. But Wilson spent his freshman season as a redshirt, searching for a position to play. When running back didn't work out, the coaches tried him at linebacker and even safety for a day.

"I just couldn't get adapted to running back," Wilson said. "It was different for me coming into college, getting redshirted and going through all that."

Wilson's height may have worked against him at running back.

"Some guys just don't have a feel for the position," Higgins said. "They don't have the vision, or they are long-legged and don't have the quick feet. I'm sure James was probably one of those two."

As defensive line coach Roberto Pinilla watched Wilson search for a position, he thought, "Let me have him."

Said Pinilla, "The whole time I was watching him, I felt like the one thing you can't coach is speed. This is a guy who was hungry and wanted to play. I told Coach Johnson that I would take him, and if he wants to play, that's half the battle. The other half is coaching him up and showing him some technique, but you can't coach that speed."

Wilson weighed about 195 pounds back then, but in 2003 broke through with 46 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks. He followed up last year with 32 tackles, five tackles for loss and four more sacks, and Higgins expects even bigger things this season.

"At our level, often times your best players come from another position," Higgins said. "Your best linebackers come from the safeties, your best defensive linemen are from the linebacker corps. That speed and explosive power he has is going to make him awfully hard to block out there on the edge."

With the 6-2, 219-pound Broughton at the other end, the Bulldogs have a pair of speed rushers. Broughton had seven tackles for loss and six sacks last year as a true freshman.

"I think we are going to cause some havoc this year," Wilson said.