Virginia Defensive End Mark Wilson Commits To Cincinnati

After two weekends of hosting high school football recruits, verbal commitments are coming fast and furious. This time around the Bearcats are adding to the defensive front as Mark Wilson has switched his commitment from Old Dominion to UC. He had been a Monarch since last Summer but abruptly decided to decommit and role the dice with Cincinnati. Wilson is from Virginia so it’s no surprise that Robert Prunty was running point on this prospect as he also is responsible for nabbing Mike Tyson out of Hargrave Military Academy, also in the Commonwealth. But back to Wilson, the kid has an impressive resume. 23 sacks and 10 forced fumbles, per the BCL article above, would be flat out bonechilling if I were an opposing quarterback. His strong high school career earned him offers from Purdue and Illinois with NC State expressing interest. However Wilson opted to come to Clifton instead.

Overview

Looking at some of the highlights I’m not sure why opposing teams opted to let him run free or task a runningback at slowing him down. Of course it seems like assigning an offensive tackle to him yields only mildly better results. Wilson is a defensive end with a high motor that starts with a quick burst off the line that sometimes seems to overwhelm blockers before they have a chance to get in a ready position. He also seems to have 5 – 7 step speed around the edge to chase down ball carriers and quarterbacks. While he displays a solid bull rush he seems to have trouble with larger offensive linemen. Nothing a little time in a college weight room won’t fix. He would also probably benefit from keeping his body more horizontal to the ground in the first few steps off the snap as the more he stands up the more vulnerable he becomes to blocking. However, overall Wilson is an extremely intriguing prospect.

Outlook

Wilson has a ton of upside. That being said I don’t think he has a place on the two deep in 2013. While UC loses Walter Stewart, Brandon Mills, and Dan Giordano to graduation they return Silverberry Mouhon and Josh Posley. Plus, the Bearcats bolstered the short-term depth issues by adding JUCO’s Terrell Hartsfield and Jerrell Jordan. However Wilson provides a long-term solution to the defensive end problem. So he will probably be redshirted his freshman year in order to add size to his frame but could develop into a dangerous pass rusher in a few years.