Just so you know, Bryan County High School junior Ty Wilson seems to have his future all mapped out.
He’ll either kick in college and then the NFL or become a high school football coach like his father, BCHS head football and baseball coach Mark Wilson.
There’s just one thing missing.
Wilson doesn’t know yet where he’ll spend his college years. Though he’s drawn interest from a number of NCAA Division 1 schools, Wilson has yet to get an offer. That should change.
In the meantime, the Redskins are fortunate to have the 5-foot-9 kicker back in the fall. He’ll look to better last year’s performance, which was good enough to win him first-team All-Region 2-AA honors.
For the record, the left-footed Wilson hit 9 of 14 attempts in 2012. Included in that number was a 52-yarder and two were longer than 40 yards. He also had more than enough distance on a 57-yard attempt against Toombs County with time running out in the first half, but the ball began peeling right as it neared the uprights and just missed.
Wilson also made all but two of his extra point attempts and was a beast on kickoffs, with 33 of 36 going in to the end zone. That’s big in high school football where the tee is set up on the 40 and anything that goes into the end zone is ruled a touch back and winds up on the 20.
"That’s my favorite part of kicking," Wilson said, referring to kicking off and sounding like a junior golfer. "I’m probably hitting most of them in the 70s or better. In practice the other day I did kickoffs and the lowest one was a 72, the rest were better and I hit one 76. I’m killing kickoffs."
That may read like boasting, but hearing it from Smith and it’s anything but. He’s about as humble a kid as you could run across, just one who is clearly in love with the idea of kicking a football and kicking it at the next level and then the one after that.
I love the pressure moments, love the idea the game could be in my hands and I just fell in love with it," Wilson said. "I love the ball coming off my foot. I love that sound it makes. A lot of people think it’s boring, but not me. I’d kick every day if I could, but you have to let your leg rest a little bit."
Read full story in May 25 issue of the Bryan County News.