Wilson's passion made everyone a champion

Saturday Vol great Al Wilson will be honored as he will take his rightful place in the college football hall of fame in December.

The stories of the Jackson, Tennessee native are legendary as Wilson’s intensity, desire and leadership made him a force for the Vols.

Wilson arrived in the class of 1995. A class that featured disappointment leading up to signing day with the famous black Monday where the Vols missed out on multiple defensive linemen and lost highly coveted Derrick Chambers on signing day. Coming off a previous signing day national title in 1994, the 1995 class seemed to fall a bit flat.

But that class helped the Vols go 45-5, win 2 SEC Championships and a National Championship. It was far from flat.

At the center of that class was Wilson, the man who was loved and feared by his teammates.

“Al was the coach of the defense,” Billy Ratliff said. “We were more afraid of Al than coach Chavis.”

To the outside world, Wilson was low key, quiet and a man of few words. In the locker room and on the field, Wilson was intense, loud and often times full of bravado.

In 1998 in Athens, Georgia, Wilson lined up in the A-gap, told Quincy Carter he was coming and barked like a dog. And he did.

Wilson’s mantra was simple, you “ball to you fall”.

It was Wilson’s mentality. He believed he was tougher than you and he would be the last man standing. A mindset he learned growing up boxing in the golden gloves organization.

Al Wilson never had a doubt he would be the last man standing. His challenge was to convince his teammates to be there standing with him.

Wilson’s method of motivation was intensity and care. Every player in Wilson’s locker room knew he had their back. And everyone in the room knew there would be hell to pay if they give him everything or “ball till they fell”.

And Wilson spared no one from his wrath. His halftime speech in the Georgia Dome in the 1997 SEC Championship game is legendary in part because he directed much of it at Peyton Manning. It wasn’t Wilson’s first challenge to that team that year. But it was the most passionate and intense.

Wilson once told a teammate he better never pass him again on the way to a tackle. In a time out in the fourth quarter of the national championship game, Wilson asked Dan Brooks and Shaun Ellis why Ellis wasn’t in the game. Rotating lineman to get a blow, Wilson was told. Ellis immediately went back in the game after a star from Wilson.

I once watched Wilson ear hold Cedric Wilson with a full gatorade can because Wilson wouldn’t stop chirping towards him in practice.

For Wilson it was simple, the switch never had a problem being flipped on. In fact some would say it was never flipped off.

Wilson left everything he had on the field everyday. He expected his teammates to do the same in fact he demanded it.

Today, Wilson leads the Vols on he Volwalk and he will be front and center as he’s honored at halftime. For Wilson it’s a day of discomfort as he has long deflected any praise of himself to his teammates.

The reality is those teammates he praises actually shines the spotlight on the Jackson native because it was his demands, his expectations, his intensity that made them what they were.

And that’s champions led by one of the ultimate champions, Al Wilson.