Every year in the NFL there is a story of an athlete who overcomes great odds to make his dream come true and be invited into the coolest club on earth: the National Football League. None of these guys’ stories are any less important or compelling than the others and any man who makes it to the NFL should be commended for his sacrifice and hard work.
One such man that must be mentioned within this context is Washington Redskins’ linebacker, Chris Wilson, who after not playing the 2011 season, burst (back) onto the professional football scene this off-season with speed and energy that cannot be ignored. Anyone who didn’t know much about Wilson before is certainly noticing him now and for good reason. Since returning to the team, he has displayed a fire that was not there before. It showed up in the preseason for all to see.
Here’s an example: in the third game against the Indianapolis Colts, Wilson was rotated in and out with the first team and landed hits on Colts’ rookie starting quarterback Andrew Luck three times. He also recorded a safety when he sacked Indy’s backup quarterback Chandler Harnish.
Wilson’s journey to the 2012 season is one that is a study in spirit and perseverance. The former Northwood Timberwolf has always had a strong faith but he has been through trials that would leave lesser men thinking, ‘why bother?’ An inner-city kid from Flint, Michigan, Wilson was tested first by his surroundings.
“It was extremely violent. Drugs, murder, constant break-ins…” he said of his hometown. “As a matter of fact, this year Flint was voted the second-most violent city and Detroit was number two. It wasn’t as bad when I was growing up because we at least had Motor City to keep a lot of people financially stable but it was always a tough town and it was always going to be a tough time.
“Sometimes it would get so demoralizing, so depressing…” he went on. “People did just not believe that they could make it. I remember looking at life through those types of eyes, not fathoming ever being outside those city walls until I started growing up and realized that I might be able to take a serious crack at this thing [football].”
It’s awful to imagine but, at thirteen years old, Wilson had a gun held to his head. The story is a compelling one of a confused young man working very hard to remember who he is and to lean on his faith.
“I remember, I was so mad,” Chris began, telling the story in a way only he can. “I was so upset because here I am, supposed to be a Christian and I’m getting guns pulled on me just like the next man and it was so frustrating for me. And I could have said, ‘OK… I’m going to go out and get myself a gun now because it’s dangerous out here. I almost got killed and I’m going to protect myself.’
“But at the end of the day, I prayed about it. And some would say, ‘What? You got a gun pulled on your head and you PRAYED about it?’
“And I was nervous. Because I was also thinking, ‘If people find out I had a gun pulled on me and didn’t do anything about it, then I could start getting bullied all the time. People could think they could rob me and I won’t fight back.’ So I had a serious talk with God and I said, ‘OK… You said You won’t put on me more than I can bear but I’m already way past that! But You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to lean on You.’ And I prayed for protection of myself. I got a younger sister and an older brother and I prayed for protection for them. I mean, this was in my own neighborhood.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about good or bad intentions. It’s just about, ‘Am I going to let Jesus be MY Lord, My protector, MY provider?’
“The kid that pulled the gun on me, he didn’t live two months after that and I realized that I didn’t have to do a thing. I didn’t have to lift a finger or take matters into my own hands. Out of the entire clique that kid ran with, all of them are dead except one who is serving a life sentence.
“I’m not saying I’m glad the kid died but I’m just saying: ‘Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.’ And, I didn’t have to go get a gun. I decided I wasn’t going to call any friends who could get a gun for me or call family members that I knew that would be happy to ride with me on this one. I just decided to pray.
“I didn’t have to go sell drugs,” Wilson declared as he ended the story. “The Enemy can tell you, ‘You HAVE to sell drugs.’ But that’s not the truth. Just tell God, ‘I’m going to lean on You.’”
Wilson battled through the challenges of his surroundings by taking his studies and football seriously in high school and making a conscious effort to surround himself with good people – people that he saw having a chance at life because they were going to college and trying to make something of themselves.
While he was trying making the right moves and good decisions however, Wilson made one big mistake… he missed the NCAA ClearingHouse deadline and so missed his opportunity to the scholarships needed to send him to one of the bigger schools that were actively recruiting football players.
This made things tough on the young man. He had an older brother that his parents had already put into college and a younger sister who would one day want to go. Fortunately, head coach Mike Sullivan of Northwood University recruited Wilson and he was able to get some partial scholarships. Once he got to school, he became a gym rat and a good student and took every bit of the experience seriously, knowing it was the best way to make sure he did not end up back in Flint.
Listening to Chris talk about his journey from the inner city, through university and into the professional football arena was a study in perseverance and a strong spirit, despite incredible odds.
“As the years [at Northwood] went past, I told myself, ‘I’ve got five years until my Pro Day,’” Wilson explained, “and prepared as such. I have to lean on God to make a way and I’ll be doggoned if that’s not what happened.”
As hard as Wilson worked in school, he had to overcome a serious illness that could have – but fortunately did not – removed any chance at a Pro Day. He contracted Mononucleosis after his junior year’s football season but that was not the worst of it. The Mono triggered the bile duct in his gall bladder to be swollen shut so he could not digest any food (the duct could not pass the substance to help break the food down) but even worse, the bile became absorbed into his blood stream and made him extremely ill. He ended up having to withdraw from school for an entire semester when he was also diagnosed with Hepatitis.
I almost couldn’t bear to hear Chris describe the symptoms of his illness.
“It made me so sick…” he said. “It was the bile in my bloodstream that was causing the worst feeling. First I was just itching a lot and extremely tired. But then I was itching on the inside.”
Can you imagine feeling itchy on the inside of your body?
“It was scary,” he continued. “I had lost about 40 pounds. My eyes were yellow. I remember I used to stay in the basement a lot because I felt better when I was extremely cold and it itched less. I had to lean hard on God just to come back.”
It’s no surprise that getting back onto the football field was not easy for Wilson. When he returned to the team, although he’d been a starter since joining it, the coaching staff put him last on the depth chart. Then they wondered why he was wreaking havoc on the practice field and hitting even his own teammates.
“You all don’t have to baby me,” he told them. “I’ve been cleared by the doctors.”
That following offseason, Wilson stayed at Northwood, took a roofing job and did nothing but work out hard and read the Bible. He gained the weight he’d lost back, getting back up to 235 lbs. (he’d gone from 240 down to 195), and the following year went on to be All-American, All-Conference and play in the All-Star game.
Unfortunately, the test of faith that had dogged Wilson for much of his life did not stop with that illness. Slated by professional football scouts to be drafted in the fourth round, he actually went undrafted and spent two years in the CFL. He did not stop working and did not stop praying, however, and the Washington Redskins signed him in 2007 where and he remained a special teams’ standout and defensive end there until 2010. He was not resigned for the 2011 season and once again, his faith and perseverance were tested.
“It was bad because, while I had saved money during the time I was with the Redskins, in that same timeframe I had also accumulated a family.” Wilson said, describing the situation (“accumulated!”) in his unique way. “And here is this year of having to spend money when there’s none coming in.”
The linebacker described last season as ‘trying’ and he spent the time applying the same equation that had gotten him through other tests in his life. That of leaning on God, living in His Word and remaining true to the desires of his heart: namely, playing professional football.
“I read the Bible like someone in jail,” he told me.
“There were days when it was hard for me to get up sometimes and go work out,” Wilson admitted. “I had to make a schedule for myself because I couldn’t see myself out of football for a week, let alone a whole year. And plans continued to change financially the longer I sat out. Each day I had to pick myself up, speak to myself and make sure I wasn’t getting depressed. Other days I had to pick my wife up when she got frustrated.”
Ever the optimist though, Wilson can’t help but also see the good side of things.
“My kids, they loved it,” he said on a chuckle. “They were laughing and playing… didn’t have a problem with it at all.”
“I learned to play the bass guitar and continued to anchor-down in the Word.”
Wilson challenged himself in a way this past year that has, in the end, made him stronger. He realized in the course of figuring out how to deal with the forced year off from football that he knew the entire Redskins’ playbook. If he could read, understand – even memorize – that, couldn’t he do the same with life’s playbook? He decided to read the Bible from front to back in order to understand as completely as possible not only God’s heart, but this life he has been given and what to do with it in order to glorify Him.
“If Peter walked on water with just a little bit of faith, just think of what he could do with a lot.” Wilson mused as we talked.
When I initially asked Chris if what he went through last season in some way sparked this lights out play of his that we’ve seen so far this season, he said that much of his motivation during the offseason came from the fact that, although he never missed a game playing for Washington from 2007 through 2010, he was not resigned by the team. The year he went through made him stronger.
Later in the interview, he said to me, “I didn’t mean to make this all about God but He’s part of the fuel and it’s no secret. It’s a simple equation. Plus, I dream to inspire.”
Going through the test of sitting out the 2011 season has fueled the veteran to seize this opportunity he has earned in 2012. But he has always been talented and people may forget his earlier seasons with the Redskins. In 2007 when then-starting linebacker Marcus Washington was injured, Wilson got a chance to show what he could do. He had four sacks that year and in 2008 he had the lone sack in the one playoff game against Tampa Bay.
This “Chris Wilson, Linebacker, 6’4”, 240 lbs.” that is playing for the Washington Redskins in 2012 is as fired up as any player can be. He has a great philosophy on who he is today because of the trials of his life:
“This year, it was a different fuel,” Wilson said. “It may not be so much just what I did [to prepare during OTAs, mini-camps and training camp to get signed] as what was going on while I did it. It’s almost like I was never even tired. I was ready work, ready to get better and I was getting better. It’s something that hasn’t left. Whether I make mistakes or whether I play flawless, I think, with that type of fuel and that type of drive, it’s like none other than I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m excited about what the future holds.
The linebacker believes in this 2012 team. With the drafting of rookie quarterback Robert Griffin, III and the way he sees this team crystallizing… well, as Chris says, “There’s no limit to what this team can do.” He is happy to be part of that.
There’s not much more you can say to that except that, with the high test fuel he’s currently got flowing through his system, there is no limit to what he can do.
“Is this the year?” he asks of no one in particular. “I hope so. I’m always praying for that. But, this new type of fuel is something different so I’m happy that people see that. But I’m just a person that’s leaning on God each and every day. I’m a person that doesn’t quite know what tomorrow holds but I know that if I continue to walk The Path, well, I know I’m going the right direction. And you can’t lose if you do that.”
Hail.