Jeff Wilson Jr. – November 3, 2022
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Wednesday, November 3, 2022
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
(What was that first moment like when you, Head Coach Mike McDaniel and RB Raheem Mostert got back together?) – “Man, it felt like a reunion. When I first came in the league, those were the guys I knew. Raheem – like nobody knows, but when I was undrafted, he was the person that took me out to breakfast and sat down and explained everything to me and talked to me and told me what to expect, how to work. So before I even played a down, before I even knew who he was, before he even really knew who I was – he took me out to eat, brought me in, just gave me that big brother feel. So that’s the type of person he is. And Mike (McDaniel), man. Mike is Mike. Y’all know, Mike, so we’ve been tied in ever since we met.”
(I was just curious, I mean is this a move that you saw coming? Obviously the 49ers traded for RB Christian McCaffrey a couple weeks ago. Did you have any inkling that you know, you might be headed somewhere else?) – “It was something that I asked (for). There’s a lot of love over there, so they understand. They understand the situation, so they knew where I was at and where I was trying to go. So it was a (mutual) agreement thing.”
(Did you have like, a list, maybe an idea in your head or like, places that would be good destinations for you when you asked to be traded?) – “No, not really. Because the type of person I am, I try to focus on the now. So I was still playing with them. I was still getting ready for games with them. So that was my concern. And once I asked where I landed, I had no clue. So that was something I couldn’t control, so I didn’t really worry about it.”
(You know this offense. What do you like about it and why do you fit so well into it?) – “Man, it’s just almost like riding a bike. I’ve been doing this since Day 1. Same run styles, same passes, the same one-on-one matchups to get you in the open field. So everything is the same. And you know, it’s something that I’ve been doing, and it’s something that I’m comfortable with now. So it’s very, very familiar to me and I’m excited to be in this offense.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel told us a story yesterday about when he flew out to Denton, when you were coming out of UNT. What do you remember about that workout with him?) – “Man, I remember everything. Like at first, I remember being so uptight, like palms sweating. I felt like, just nervous, like a nervous wreck. And the first thing Mike (McDaniel), comes in and y’all – like I said, y’all know Mike now – he makes a joke and I just bust out laughing. It was like the ice was broken so after that, it just felt almost if I’d been working with this guy all my life. It was just the vibe we had, how he was talking, going through the motions that he was taking me through. You just felt the love. We didn’t even know each other then, so that was real cool. I’ll never forget that day.”
(In this offense right now, is it some new terminology you might have to know or as soon as something, you see it kind of unfold in front of you, you kind of know exactly what it is because you’ve seen it so much?) – “Oh, yeah, you know, terminology has definitely been key and in this offense, it’s a lot of details. So it’s not the exact same. It’s similar, but it’s not the exact same at all. So I’ve got to hone-in on all those little details and things. That way I can try to be at my best to try to help this team.”
(How much have you been able to kind of watch this offense – obviously I’m sure you’re not watching the Dolphins film when you were with the 49ers, but as a football fan, what are your thoughts on this offense and its potential?) – “Explosive and fast. I mean, just seeing the highlights from them, obviously the NFL posts. To see all of the plays on there – obviously Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle) are top five receivers in receiving yards. So seeing all that and just watching those guys – obviously I knew Raheem (Mostert), Salvon (Ahmed), I knew him. He was with us before at the 49ers. Myles Gaskin – I grew up watching him at Washington. He was a person I kind of tried to compare myself with. Like his numbers are first, so I got to – you know what I mean? So all those guys, I already knew about them, heard about them and I’m just excited to be here with him and help them.”
(How would you describe your approach to running?) – “I’m downhill. I don’t like to play too many games. I like to get to where I’m going and get there as fast as I can. That’s how I kind of take it.”
(LB Jaelan Phillips and T Terron Armstead are two musicians in the Dolphins locker room. Armstead is a rapper and Phillips does the guitar and the piano. I heard you play drums?) – “Oh yeah, most definitely. I grew up in a church playing them, but I play all types of genres, man.”
(Do you have drums in the garage that you’re going to bring here?) – “I’m thinking about it. I might just go the electric way since it’s so quick. Electric way, you just play it out like that because I don’t want to – you don’t know how the neighbors and stuff are going to be about it. (laughter) We’ll figure it out though. We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”
(We asked LB Bradley Chubb about you, a little scouting report. What’s your scouting report on LB Bradley Chubb?) – “Oh, man. He’s a beast, man. He’s a straight up beast. Obviously, we played him earlier in this year and got to face him, but besides that, just to see the type of person he was working out, getting ready for the Combine – we were together out there in Carlsbad at EXOS. So just to get that connection with him (then), and he’s the same person he is now. Even after signing his contract, he’s still that same person and that’s what I love about him most. He’s never changing. I haven’t even been with him that period of time, but every time we link, he’s still the same (Bradley) Chubb. That’s what I love about him, man. Obviously, he’s a tremendous player and one of the greats in this league.”
(I read an article about how you grew up in a small town in Texas. East Texas or West Texas?) – “East Texas. No, don’t do that. (laughter) Don’t put me in a bad spot. No, East Texas though.”
(How does where you grew up, how does that play into who you are and where you’ve come from? How do you approach everything?) – “It humbled me. That’s what I would say more than anything, and then the city that I’m in, it’s a place where everybody knows everybody. Almost the half of the city is family. It’s just being around that love and that compassion and feeling all those feelings that they felt, seeing my family at the games and always being there, it’s great. And then, my father, he’s a real big believer, so God was instilled in me coming out the womb. My dad also was a gospel singer, so that’s how I grew up playing the drums. I used to play the drums with him. So it’s just my faith and that’s what made me the person I am today.”
(Talk about coming from a 2A high school. I mean that’s – 2A and then you go to North Texas?) – “That was definitely difficult. Everybody was like, ‘Y’all do this,’ or ‘You had this, this, this,’ but we would lose by 30 or 40 points every game. It turned around. We ended up going to the playoffs. We weren’t too too bad my senior year, but it was different. The players you’re around, if you go to a 5A (school), you’ve got everybody looking at scholarships. You’re seeing 20 or 30 scouts coming to the school. You didn’t see none of that where I was. You only saw one or two, and that was my senior year when they finally started to come. It was so small. Didn’t have a lot of offers because a lot of people told me they didn’t even know where I was. It was a graduating class of 67 people. I mean, that pretty much tells you right there. Like I said, beyond all that, I’ve got so much love in that town, so much love in that place, you almost can’t even go down there and say nothing bad about me – it’s that kind of love. I love that place, and I’m glad I was raised there.”
