John Parker Wilson
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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John Parker Wilson (born October 17, 1985 in Hoover, Alabama) plays quarterback for The University of Alabama Crimson Tide in the NCAA college football tournament. Wilson, who comes from a family of athletes, has broken several school records even before his career as a Crimson Tide has concluded. The Alabama native has tucked the yardage, TD, completions, and attempt records under his belt, besting the stats recorded by the likes of Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Brodie Croyle, Andrew Zow and Jay Barker during their time at UA. However, despite his eye-popping numbers, Wilson has still so much to prove in terms of growth and consistency which has been his Achilles' heel since he took over the starting spot a few years back.
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[edit] Personal Life
John Parker is the son of Parker and Susan Wilson. A member of a sports-oriented family along with his three siblings namely, Ross , Marlo, and Peyton, John Parker's father was a quondam professional baseball player for the Boston Red Sox while his mother was a cheerleader at Alabama who was around when the Tide went undefeated in 1979. His brother Ross meanwhile, an All-American back in high school, is on route to following his father's footsteps in baseball and is suiting up for Alabama's baseball squad as an Infielder. His younger brother also starred on the popular reality-based MTV mini-series, "Two-A-Days" back in 2005 and 2006. One thing he shares in common with Ross is that both won state championships at Hoover High School. But the "sporting blood" doesn't end there, since his uncle Thomas also played collegiate baseball at Livingston before joining the Cincinnati Reds in the pros.
[edit] High School
Wilson played high school football at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama where he played under head coach Rush Propst. During his junior year in 2002, he led the Buccaneers to its first of four consecutive state championships in Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 6A after passing for 2,800 yards and 27 TDs with just 10 interceptions. Hoover repeated the following season with Wilson completing 314-of-467 passes for 3,821 yards and 40 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions. His performance won him the 2003 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year and the Alabama Sports Writers Association and The Montgomery News Player of the Year awards while earning Parade High School All-American, All-State, and Super 6 All-State selections. The Birmingham News also picked him to be part of their Super Senior list.
[edit] College
After graduating from Hoover, Wilson had a choice of playing professional baseball but decided to forgo it to play college football. Wilson received scholarship offers from Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech but decided to sign with Mike Shula's class of 2004 in February. Along with offensive tackle Drew Davis, Wilson agreed to grayshirt and delay their full-time enrollment until January of 2005 in order to maintain their full allotment of eligibility. Although not officially part of the team, Wilson moved to Tuscaloosa and took classes part-time to get a head start on his academics while watching from the sidelines during Bama's practices.
[edit] 2005
As a true freshman, Wilson served as a back-up to Croyle and played in five games. He made his collegiate debut against Middle Tennessee State and completed his first career pass for 2 yards in the 26-7 win. He threw his first career touchdown pass in the road-opener at South Carolina, a 36-yard pass to Keith Brown in the 23-point blow-out victory. He also threw a 3-yard pass against Florida then completed one-of-four passes for a 9-yard touchdown to Glen Coffee in the homecoming victory over Utah State. In his last game of the season, he went 3-for-4 for 48 yards and recorded his first career rushing touchdown on a 1-yard run in the 10-point loss to the Tigers. He ended his freshman year completing 7-of-11 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.
[edit] 2006
With Croyle's departure, the starting QB position was open and Wilson was able to win the job during the spring. Wilson made his first career start against Hawai'i and completed 16 of 29 passes for 253 yards and 1 TD to lead Bama to a 25-17 win over the Warriors. He led the Tide to three straight wins to start the season, throwing for 207 yards and 1 TD on 18 of 29 completion with his first career interception in the 3-point win over Vanderbilt then went 13-for-21 for 210 yards and 2 TDs in the 34-point win over Louisiana-Monroe. In his first SEC road start, Wilson put up an impressive outing by throwing for 243 yards and 3 TDs on 16-of-20 completion in Alabama’s double-overtime loss to Arkansas, where he connected with DJ Hall for a 78-yard score, the 10th-longest passing score in UA history. He also suffered his second straight loss at Florida when his completion rate dipped to 52.5 (21-of-40) while throwing a career high of 3 interceptions with no touchdowns. After the two-straight setbacks, he revived the Bama offense and led the team to two straight victories over Duke and Mississippi, averaging 213 passing yards and 2 TDs on a combined 34-of-58 passing with only 1 interception during the two victories. His 4 TDs in that span include his 2-yard strike to Le'Ron McClain in overtime against Ole Miss for the decision. In an SEC showdown against Tennessee, he threw for a season low 44.8 completion rate and was shut-out by the Vols' defense in the 13-16 setback. Against Florida International, he put up season lows in completions (8), attempts (13), and passing yards (72) with 1 TD in Bama's 38-3 victory over the Golden Panthers.
The win over FIU turned out to be the team's last as the Tide sustained 4 straight defeats including the 3-point loss to Oklahoma State at the 2006 Independence Bowl. One of those setbacks that stood out was the loss to Mississippi State where he threw two interceptions and no touchdowns in the 8-point loss to the 3-7 Bulldogs. He did post decent numbers against LSU and Auburn, throwing for 200+ yards and 2 TDs on both games but the Tide still came up short on both outings. Against the Cowboys, in his first bowl game appearance, Wilson completed 18 of 33 passes for 168 yards and 1 TD with 1 INT as the Tide lost via a last second field goal. By season's end, Wilson established seven single-season school records, including most plays (461), total offense (2,790), attempts (379), completions (216), passing yards (2,707) and touchdowns (17). He also became the seventh UA quarterback to pass for over 2,000 yards in a season and set a school record by throwing for over 200 yards in each of the first seven games of the season.
[edit] 2007
After his sub-par performances during his last few games in 2006, there were doubts on whether Wilson will get the starting job back but new head coach Nick Saban decided to stick with Wilson, and with good initial results. Wilson led the Tide to three consecutive wins over Western Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas. Against the Catamounts, he completed a season high 68 percent of his passes (17-of-25) then threw for 150 yards on 50% completion against the Commodores. His best game among the three however came against the Hogs when he recorded the first 300-yard game of his career, completing 24-of-45 passes for 327 yards and a career-best four touchdowns that include his 4-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Matt Caddell in the back of the end zone that secured the win for UA. He tried to duplicate his heroic efforts against Georgia the following game, completing 2-of-3 passes for 51 yards with a 6-yard touchdown run in the game-tying drive to send the game to overtime. Despite his numbers though, 17-of-35 for 185 yards and 2 scoring runs, his efforts were not enough as the Dawgs dealt Bama its first loss of the season. Against Florida State, he completed 28 of 53 attempts (2nd-most by an Alabama quarterback in a single game) for 240 yards and two touchdowns in the 14-21 setback to the Noles. After that defeat, he once again led the Tide to another 3-game winning streak over Houston, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. He had two touchdown passes and ran for another score in the first half of the homecoming win over the Cougars, then went 26-for-40 for 265 yards and ran for another touchdown in the win over the Rebels. But his best game of the season came against the Vols where he garnered Lindy's SEC Offensive Co-Player of the Week honors after throwing for a career-high 363 yards, completing 32 (tied the Alabama single-game record set by Gary Hollingsworth in 1989) of 46 attempts and three touchdowns in the 41-17 thrashing of Tennessee.
Many expected the Tide to turn things around after the win over UT, but two heartbreaking losses to LSU and MSU all but erased Alabama from any title contentions. Against the 3rd ranked Tigers, Wilson threw for 3 TD passes but only had a 35% completion percentage, had an interception, and a fumble in the closing minutes of the game that cost the Tide the chance for an upset. In Starkville, he was picked off twice, completed only 47% of his passes, and failed to lead the Tide in the dying seconds of the game in the 12-17 setback to the Bulldogs. In the upset loss to Louisiana-Monroe, he was 21-of-31 for 246 yards and 1 TD but was intercepted twice. At Auburn, he was held down to below 50% completion (12 of 26) for the 4th time in the year for a season low 113 yards and 1 INT with 1 scoring run in the season-ending 10-17 loss to the Tigers. In his second straight Independence Bowl appearance, he was able to make up for the atrocious performance in the last 4 games of the regular season, going 19 of 32 for 256 yards and 3 TDs to lead AU to a 30-24 win over Colorado and claim the game's Offensive MVP honors.
Wilson concluded his junior season completing 255-of-462 passes (55.2 percent) for 2,846 yards with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also averaged 218.9 passing yards and 226.9 yards of total offense per game which ranked fourth-best in the SEC in both categories. He also continued to break more records, this time eclipsing his own single-season school records in total plays, pass attempts, completions, passing yards and touchdown passes. He also joined an elite club headlined by Croyle and Walter Lewis as the only three UA quarterbacks with two or more 2,000-yard seasons. During the season, Wilson at one time had a streak of 132 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, a streak that was listed as fourth-best in school history.
[edit] 2008
Entering his senior year, Wilson was named as the recipient of the Johnny Musso Offensive Back Award for his performance during spring practice. Alabama, who practically were under the radar during the preseason, opened the year with an upset of no.9 Clemson with Wilson completing 22 of 30 passes for 180 yards and 2 TDs with 1 scoring run. His effort in that game made Wilson the school's all-time leader in pass completions and pass attempts. The following week against Tulane, he was only 11 of 23 for 73 yards but ended the game as the school's record holder for career plays. In the 41-7 victory over Western Kentucky, he surpassed UA's career total yards mark after completing 17-of-27 passes for 215 yards and 2 TDs. In the SEC opening win over Arkansas, he broke the Alabama career record for touchdown passes after throwing a 25-yarder to rookie Julio Jones. In the 41-30 victory over No.3 Uga, Wilson broke the Alabama record for career passing yards with his 205 surpassing Croyle on the Alabama list.
[edit] Career Stats
| Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||||
| Year | Cmp | Att | Yds | Cmp% | Ypa | Lng | TD | Int | Sack | Rat | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Att/G | Yds/G |
| 2005 | 7 | 11 | 98 | 63.6 | 8.91 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 198.47 | 3 | -6 | -2.0 | 1 | 0.6 | -1.2 |
| 2006 | 216 | 379 | 2707 | 57.0 | 7.14 | 78 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 126.51 | 82 | 83 | 1.01 | 0 | 6.31 | 6.38 |
| 2007 | 255 | 462 | 2846 | 55.2 | 6.16 | 67 | 18 | 12 | 25 | 114.60 | 81 | 104 | 1.28 | 5 | 6.23 | 8.0 |
[edit] Highlights
| John Parker Wilson Interview after the A-Day (2007). |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- AT&T National Player of the Week Candidate (vs. Georgia)
- Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List
- Johnny Musso Offensive Back Award (Spring)
- Phil Steele Preseason 3rd Team Offense
- SEC Player of the Week honorable mention (vs. Clemson)
- UA Co-Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Georgia)
[edit] 2007
- Lindy's SEC Offensive Co-Player of the Week (vs. Tennessee)
- Manning Award Watch List
- PetroSun Independence Bowl Offensive MVP
- UA Offensive Achievement Award co-winner
- UA Offensive Co-Player of the Week (vs. Ole Miss, vs. Tennessee)
[edit] References
- A Look At John Parker Wilson And Gang
- Grayshirts Suit Up
- John Parker Wilson Alabama Profile
- John Parker Wilson Cfbstats.com
- John Parker Wilson getting his due
- John Parker Wilson Scout.com Profile
- One more shot at love for John Parker WIlson
- Ross Wilson Alabama Profile
- The Legacy of John Parker Wilson
- Wilson looking to keep success going vs. Arkansas
