NJ.com: Giants running back David Wilson 'needs a miracle' to get back on the field, source says
For those keeping a close eye on this story, this might be about the worst news you could expect to hear. Sounds like his career is dangerously close to being over.
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So sad. :(
Hey David this is Whit Babcock when are you free to stop by and talk about VT football? ----> That would be amazing, if Whit reached out to DW4, he was a beloved Hokie left early and sadly hasn't had a great NFL career but it would be epic to see DW4 and KJ both working in the Hokies Athletics department.
Our Administration Flag Football team would be unstoppable.
Put Cornell and Torrian on the team defense? That's a natty champ team right there
Would be VT's first.
/Slaps self
As we said in the Old Corps, "Go haze yourself."
He said on twitter the other day everything was fine after the Dr looked at him and he passed the physical examination too. Finds out more Monday.
That's what "HE" said. However the Giants and their Dr's might have another opinion for sure. Sure he passed the physical examination but that's not even close to taking 10-20 hits a game. You have to think about the person's health as well. Would be sad to see him done but I'm sure he will find something else very quickly. May I suggest catching rabbits?
Rabbit catcher. That is incredibly insightful and hilarious.
So many contradicting stories...
Considering the positive one comes from a guy who's known to be overly optimistic, not really.
Very unfortunate :/
It's bad enough he is having these issues because he is a Hokie. It's worse because of the fact that DW4 is a great individual.
David doesnt drink. David doesnt even fart. Thats how good of a kid he is.
-Billy Hite
Wasn't meaning for what he said to be taken as fact. Just that he seems positive about it which is all he can really do. Hope for the best though. Neck injuries are no joke.
Of all the running backs we've had come through over the years, KJ, RMFW, and DW4 were the ones that I thought were sure fire successful NFL career guys. This is just too bad all around. I hope first for his health and then for whatever success he can be in football or otherwise.
Man, that's terrible news. I got so hopeful yesterday when I saw his optimistic take on things. Best wishes, David, for whatever happens. Hokie Nation will welcome you back with open arms if there's a role for you in the football program. You can have rabbit-catching contests with recruits and take them to Chik-Fil-A on Sundays - or would that be an improper benefit?
Or we could have him teach a class you know. Make it sound legit and then only allow athletes in it.
The Philosophy of Leporidae <--- the technical family name for rabbit. Use big words NCAA will never know.
Dat corse bout Leapords, I' be takin dat
- Every FSU football player.
Works with UNC too.
they walk in and it's really about rabbits. Mind= Blown
This gets you right in the gut after what looked like good news yesterday. DW is just the nicest guy. From what I read about him, as good as he is on the field, he really shines off it. Really hoping for that miracle. Or for #sources to be full of it.
Keep your spirits up DW! Hokie Nation is praying for you.
Until I hear something official, I'll always hope that DW will be back playing the game he loves soon.
See this is what's so effed up. Backs like DW and RMFW that have more talent in one testical hair have their careers cut short through the most bogus bs injuries by absolutely zero fault of their own. They deserve so much better than this. I propose that Virginia Tech puts together a focus group that seriously investigates and looks into this. Perhaps the results from the research found will help to find a solution and help prevent such things from occurring to our superior athletes in the future. Rant over.
I've heard that RMFW is having a great camp with the Cowboys. Don't give up on him yet or DW for that matter.
I don't think any players "deserve" to suffer career-ending injuries, and it is especially frustrating when it happens to players we've watched developed and followed closely for so long. Obviously we all hate to hear this for David, and are hoping for the best for him.
But I can do the research for you right now: Football is a violent sport and unfortunately injuries inherently part of the game.
Yes but would you consider DW and RMFW on the level with say Sanders, E Smith, W Payton (not in terms of style, no) in terms of talent? What about Marshawn Lynch, Frank Gore or any of the contemporaries? You never hear of THEM experiencing career ending injuries.
To have a hall of fame or all-pro career you can't have career ending injuries. That's how it works. So of course they didn't experience anything like that. But, I'm sure there are a bunch of non-Hokies who had plenty of potential, got hurt, and then never recovered. A few players isn't a big enough sample to say it's something about Virginia Tech running backs in particular. It's just really bad luck.
I have to admit, I have no idea what you're talking about but it sounds completely absurd.
Are DW and RMFW on the level as Sanders, Smith, or Payton? No. Even through the strongest prescription of orange and maroon glasses, that's an outlandish comparison.
And since when does talent have anything to do with injuries? Listing a bunch of good running backs who have been able to stay relatively healthy and have productive careers isn't evidence of anything. Bad luck can happen to anyone.
So true. The average length of an NFL career for an RB is like 3 years. They take a huge beating. Sanders, Smith, and Payton were (on top of being insanely talented) lucky. They're lucky no one hit them in such a way as to cause a career-ending injury. They got plenty banged up by virtue of their positions, but Sanders played for 10 years, Smith for 15, and Payton for 13. That's unheard of these days.
Don't forget Barry retired when he still had years left he COULD have played.
But I guess he preferred walking later in life than setting the all-time rushing record. Everyone remember that Emmit hung on so long he was wearing a Cards jersey when he suited up his last game. Different strokes.
Game has changed since that era. Now teams like to use multiple backs to get the best of speed and contact, and even hands. A lot of great college backs end up getting lost in the shuffle. It's rare for one back to get all the carries now.
Also, one thing I see many aren't pointing out is the O-lines. A lot of these RBs were great because their lines were beast mode in its own right.
Ok fine. I'll do it your way. Excluding said backs that are in the HOF, but what about Gore, Lynch and others? Would you consider them on their level in terms of skill and talent?
Based on their college resumes and when they went in the draft, one could make an argument that the talent level is comparable to guys like Lunch and Gore, but I'm confused on how that's relevant to an injury discussion.
Ok first, who's Lunch (now you making me strangely hungry) and second, don't tell me you haven't ever at least wondered about it for a passing moment.
It was a typo. He meant Lynch. The Y and U keys are right next to each other.
Haha yes, I meant Lynch. But I'm still confused about what connection you're trying to make between talent and injuries. Have I wondered how successful players like Williams could be if they can stay healthy? Sure. I also wondered the same thing about Bo Jackson. Or, for a more recent example, Johnathan Franklin. I have never for a second thought that good players should be less prone to injuries simply because they are good.
Btw, I was joking around with the lunch quip. I know what you meant.
the thing is, we follow former Hokies.. if someone from LSU, Stanford, Bama etc gets hurt in year one we don't notice because it's not national headlines, and it's not a former Hokie... the average RB in the NFL has an insanely short career, injuries are a huge part of it
I guess if I would hear of some it would help give perspective.
Marcus Lattimore
Double post.
Johnathan Franklin.
Tim Biakabutuka.
Jamal Anderson.
Terrell Davis.
And someone already mentioned Bo Jackson.
Thank you. But didn't Davis and Anderson have decent careers?
Decent yet much shorter than they should have been. Neither played past 8 years if memory serves.
They had more standout careers than Suggs and KJ, I remember that much.
Add Ki-Jana Carter to the list.
I also know that part of Suggs and KJs dilemma was their teams. Brownies and Lions of the early 00s were turrable
I'd say that neither of those VT backs you mentioned could touch Sanders, E. Smith, or Payton. That is what made those guys all timers, because they were a cut above.
As far as the others; those are big bruising backs that have had long careers in the NFL. Wilson was never going to be an everydown workhorse back, Giants haven't run that type of system in years, but I feel like he could have been productive and explosive just like in college. Shame about RMFW, I thought he had a shot to crack the Cards roster, but alas, injuries held he back and maybe he needed another year in college.
RMFW was very talented, but despite having what may be the best "vision" of any VT running back, RMFW had injury issues before he even came to Tech, so his situation is not exactly the best example to use if you are trying to insinuate that VT running backs get hurt more in the pros due to something that VT is or is not doing.
Additionally, didn't David Wilson's neck issues stem from a genetic, structural condition? So how again is this VT's fault.
Simply picking two of the best, bruising running backs who have managed to avoid career-ending injuries (both have missed games for less serious injuries) does not prove your point. You are not likely to have heard of very talented running backs that have had career-ending injuries because they have not been able to have careers that you would have heard of.
But if you need an example of an extremely talented back that suffered a career ending injury, then will I give you one that only played only four seasons in the NFL, counting the first season when he only played seven games. And no, RMFW and DW are not even in the same league as him talent wise.
Is it really that surprising that the RBs (even as talented as they have been here) coming out of a school that is known for riding the RBs as hard as they can while they're in school end up getting hurt pretty quickly in the NFL? When you have an offense that is overly dependent on running the ball to the point where passing is just to set up the run, you're not exactly setting your RBs up for long careers at the next level. If it were just one or two guys getting hurt, I wouldn't say this, but its literally EVERY RB we have sent to the NFL since... heck since I can remember.
Suggs - numerous injuries over 4 year career
Jones - Lisfranc in season 2
RMFW - ruptured patella in rookie preseason
Wilson - spinal injury in season 1
This is every single single RB we have sent to the NFL since our title season. This is a trend, and you better believe high school coaches and players are going to start to take a notice of this. We HAVE to get a more balanced offense going forward, because we're running players into the ground long before their time.
Sadly true.
I don't see those type of injuries happening to Ingram, Richardson or [insert any SEC back here] a whole lot if the other backs coming from a conference of schools that rely heavily on them. Also what happened with Cyrus Lawrence? Didn't he get effed up too? I KNOW that Lee Suggs would've been a pro bowler and multi 1k yd back if he hadn't got effed up.
Opponents aren't stacking the boxes every play every game against the likes of Bama because they have balanced offensive units that can and will punish you through the air. We don't have that, nor have we ever had that, and its been this way through a mix of scheme and lack of depth/talent. Our running game is and has always been our crutch. We lean on this crutch early and often every game.
This isn't the same as a school like Bama who will evenly distribute the ball between passing and running. And when I say that, I mean a legitimate distribution, and not just a 'we're going to run a screen pattern and consider it a pass'. These guys on other teams simply don't take the weekly pounding that our backs have taken over the past 15 years or so because teams have to respect Bama's passing attack. They're not having to run through 8-9 guys in the box every play, and while one extra tackler in there might not seem like a big deal, when you add that up over the course of every play over every game during the time where these guys are supposed to be finishing up their physical development, it takes its toll. The result being what we're seeing when our RBs reach the next level.
Yes they had better balanced lines and attacks. But they still relied heavy on the rush and faced Ds that were comparable (somewhat) to Foster's units.
Counterpoint: Marcus Lattimore. Shredded his knee against Tennessee, currently on IR with the 49ers.
Ok. Lattimore is ONE. Any others?
This is an absurd conversation. Tons of talented rbs get injured, have their strength/speed/whatever made them special sapped, and then flame out. It's brutal how fast their careers go.
Think about these guys, who maybe have had so-so careers, but have been hamstrung by injuries:
Jeremiah Johnson (placed on IR his rookie year after separating his shoulder - never really recovered)
Michael Bennett - starting career was only 4 years, before he was cut for "persistent injury problems"
Luke Staley - injured his knee his rookie year, was waived the next year
Jahvid Best - concussions (repeated ones) ended his career before it really even got going
Jonathan Stewart - the guy's whole career has been a walking injury
Beanie Wells - really bad turf toe, and then tore his ACL
Cadillac Williams - tore his patella tendon, never really the same since
Mike Hart - injured his knee on his first game, IR, cut the next season
Garrett Wolfe - Injured his second year in the NFL. Never came back
Marcus Lattimore - ruined his knee in college
Darren McFadden - has been dogged by injuries his whole career. Is now competing for his spot with a 31-year-old with a million carries.
Ok, now name one Tech back that it hasn't happened to (besides Ken Oxendine because he chose to be a coach).
Brandon Ore. Mike Imoh. Humes. It's irrelevant.
I meant that went on to have a successful pro career without major injury issues.
The problem with this line of reasoning is the success rate of NFL running backs is so infinitesimally small across the board. Even if you said the success rate is 10% (which is an arbitrary number that I think is conservative), the odds of four guys not panning out isn't statistically significant at all.
Flip it around and ask yourself how many schools consistently produce RB's that enjoy productive, 5+ year careers? Even at schools like Miami and Alabama, which I think would have the best success rates off the top of my head, the success rate is like 2 guys every 10-15 years.
The Bama RB's are usually one and done. They sit behind a loaded backfield till its their time to shine and then go to the NFL. They don't really play much except for one year.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not nor have stated that it's Tech's fault that it's occurred. This may seem trivial and irrelevant to the majoritah to the good folks of TKP. It just really steamed me that players like Mgahee, Portis, etc (not just being coincidental with U backs) had better and longer careers than Suggs and KJ. I'd have to say it started for me with Suggs & KJ. That's all. I think the only thing that will change how I feel about would be if just one of our backs breaks through and goes the distance. It feels kinda like one of those "Bambino curse" deals for me.
This is really a great point.
What was Wilson known for besides his speed?
Breaking tackles. Yards after contact.
As Alum points out -- every bit of that adds up.
His backflips
The worth of a RB is apparently dropping quickly in the NFL because of the positions problem of dealing with injuries from what I have read. Sucks that these guys work so hard to get to the next level.....
It's bad luck. Period
This is how I choose to remember DW - stiff arming BooHoo's!
This is how all of Hokie Nationdom should choose to remember him
But I don't like the Giants! lol