Al Wilson: The heart, soul and enforcer on Tennessee's 1998 championship team

#1
dduncan4163

dduncan4163

Have at it Hoss
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#1
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-1998-national-champions-al-wilson/


“He became Al Wilson that you know as the leader in the locker room against Auburn in the SEC Championship Game in 1997,” former UT safety Fred White said recently as he looked back on the 20th anniversary of UT’s national championship season. “For all the guys on the team, we already saw that leadership skill that he had. That night, it was like a changing of the guard.”

The previous regime of Vol leadership was headed by quarterback Peyton Manning and defensive end Leonard Little. It was formidable, but it wasn’t Wilson.

“They were leaders,” White said of Manning and Little. “However, that night the leaders needed to be quiet and shut up and let a young guy like Al step in and say ‘Man, this is it.’ He gave us the business that night. … What he said, everybody stopped to listen because all you had seen is that guy work his butt off. That was the right time for him to become the leader and show you he was the leader. When he did, you had to listen because he had never really said anything.”

Wilson wasn’t afraid to call out Manning or Little that night. He also wasn’t afraid to reminisce on the halftime fireworks. Wilson recently said that it seemed no one was excited to take the field in the second half as the Vols usually were. That wasn’t acceptable.


There is no 97 SEC Championship or 98 NC without Big Al. One of my favorite Vols hands down.

GBO
 
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#2
#2
My claim to fame was as a freshman in HS attending Phil Fulmer Football camp, Al Wilson was in my Defensive Backs group at camp. Lovie was our coach / instructor for camp. He was a man amongst boys even then.

Al is hands down one of the top 5 Vols in my book.
 
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#4
#4
give_him 6 said:
My claim to fame was as a freshman in HS attending Phil Fulmer Football camp, Al Wilson was in my Defensive Backs group at camp. Lovie was our coach / instructor for camp. He was a man amongst boys even then.

Al is hands down one of the top 5 Vols in my book.
Click to expand...

My claim to fame...my first catch in HS was against Jackson Central Merry. I was a freshman and he was a senior. I caught a little crossing pattern and I saw him barreling towards me. Since I had enough yardage for a first down, I made a business decision and went down before he got there.
 
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#5
#5
dduncan4163 said:
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-1998-national-champions-al-wilson/


“He became Al Wilson that you know as the leader in the locker room against Auburn in the SEC Championship Game in 1997,” former UT safety Fred White said recently as he looked back on the 20th anniversary of UT’s national championship season. “For all the guys on the team, we already saw that leadership skill that he had. That night, it was like a changing of the guard.”

The previous regime of Vol leadership was headed by quarterback Peyton Manning and defensive end Leonard Little. It was formidable, but it wasn’t Wilson.

“They were leaders,” White said of Manning and Little. “However, that night the leaders needed to be quiet and shut up and let a young guy like Al step in and say ‘Man, this is it.’ He gave us the business that night. … What he said, everybody stopped to listen because all you had seen is that guy work his butt off. That was the right time for him to become the leader and show you he was the leader. When he did, you had to listen because he had never really said anything.”

Wilson wasn’t afraid to call out Manning or Little that night. He also wasn’t afraid to reminisce on the halftime fireworks. Wilson recently said that it seemed no one was excited to take the field in the second half as the Vols usually were. That wasn’t acceptable.


There is no 97 SEC Championship or 98 NC without Big Al. One of my favorite Vols hands down.

GBO
Click to expand...
From my home town!

I remember talking with a few of his high school teammates at JCM and the story that sticks out the most is when Al would carry the ball all of the linebackers would just say " O Snap here comes AL just get down "
No one wanted to tackle the big guy.
They coaches had to tell him on defense to ease way up in practice because he had the offense scared to death!
Al sure was a special player.
 
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#8
#8
BigOrangeMojo said:
My claim to fame...my first catch in HS was against Jackson Central Merry. I was a freshman and he was a senior. I caught a little crossing pattern and I saw him barreling towards me. Since I had enough yardage for a first down, I made a business decision and went down before he got there.
Click to expand...

Smart move on your part. A little common sense goes a long way.
 
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#10
#10
give_him 6 said:
My claim to fame was as a freshman in HS attending Phil Fulmer Football camp, Al Wilson was in my Defensive Backs group at camp. Lovie was our coach / instructor for camp. He was a man amongst boys even then.

Al is hands down one of the top 5 Vols in my book.
Click to expand...

HAHA! This is funny. I wanted to say lower your shoulder and hit somebody you chicken! Then I remembered we were talking about Al coming towards you. I think I would have done the exact same thing. Smart decision. What school did you play for?
 
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#12
#12
All the jcm high school talk reminds me of '94, 95 west Tennessee football.

You had several great backs/linebacker secondary guys that year. Gerard Arnold from Lexington, Robbie Locklear from Hardin County, and Al Wilson at JCM. A guy from lake county named Jewell Flowers too if irc.

Locklear and Arnold went to Memphis State...arnold ended up setting their career rushing record. Locklear was a bruiser and never had the speed I guess.

Al, of course, made history.
 
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#13
#13
DaUndergroundMan said:
All the jcm high school talk reminds me of '94, 95 west Tennessee football.

You had several great backs/linebacker secondary guys that year. Gerard Arnold from Lexington, Robbie Locklear from Hardin County, and Al Wilson at JCM. A guy from lake county named Jewell Flowers too if irc.

Locklear and Arnold went to Memphis State...arnold ended up setting their career rushing record. Locklear was a bruiser and never had the speed I guess.

Al, of course, made history.
Click to expand...

You also had Corey Moore (Va Tech) who went to Haywood within that same time period..
 
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#16
#16
BigOrangeMojo said:
My claim to fame...my first catch in HS was against Jackson Central Merry. I was a freshman and he was a senior. I caught a little crossing pattern and I saw him barreling towards me. Since I had enough yardage for a first down, I made a business decision and went down before he got there.
Click to expand...

I may have asked this a while back to some other poster, but did he play QB that game?

He was too big to be able to move so quick and so fast.
 
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#18
#18
stevenrich2003 said:
HAHA! This is funny. I wanted to say lower your shoulder and hit somebody you chicken! Then I remembered we were talking about Al coming towards you. I think I would have done the exact same thing. Smart decision. What school did you play for?
Click to expand...

I think you mean to reply to BigOrangeMojo who actually played against him in a game. I went to football camp with him. It was the same summer that OJ and Al Cowlings were running from the police in the white Bronco. Memorable summer. For what its worth, I played at Hendersonville.
 
#19
#19
give_him 6 said:
I think you mean to reply to BigOrangeMojo who actually played against him in a game. I went to football camp with him. It was the same summer that OJ and Al Cowlings were running from the police in the white Bronco. Memorable summer. For what its worth, I played at Hendersonville.
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I will proudly admit that my 14 year old, 150 lb (at that time) self was chicken. It was my first significant action in a game that wasn't already decided so I wasn't going to fumble the ball or end up de-cleated (or worse) on my first reception....
 
#21
#21
BigOrangeMojo said:
My claim to fame...my first catch in HS was against Jackson Central Merry. I was a freshman and he was a senior. I caught a little crossing pattern and I saw him barreling towards me. Since I had enough yardage for a first down, I made a business decision and went down before he got there.
Click to expand...

A business decision. LOL
 
#22
#22
Best player (other than Ed Jones) to ever hail from Jackson, TN.
 
#23
#23
He was also a stud for the Broncos until his neck injury cut his career short!

Definitely one of my favorite all-time Vols!
 
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