DE Jake Wilson Finds Right Fit at Penn State as Preferred Run-On

Jake Wilson still couldn’t believe it.

Shortly after announcing that he’d chosen to continue his college football career as a preferred run-on at Penn State, the Nazareth, Pa., defensive end had trouble aligning his longterm goal with the reality of it coming to fruition.

“It's honestly still pretty surreal,” Wilson said. “I’m planning to go play football for Penn State University. It seems so insane, but it's coming true.”

Eighteen months earlier, Wilson’s trajectory likely felt significantly different.

Coming off a solid sophomore effort at Nazareth High School, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end entered the 2018 season with heightened personal expectations. The first padded practice of the Blue Eagles’ summer camp would quickly upend those aspirations, though.

Working through a tackling drill in which the team needed a tougher ballcarrier, Wilson opted to step out of his position to fill the role. And were it not for the awkward landing of a teammate on his leg, the otherwise innocuous decision might have turned out just fine.

Instead, Wilson suffered a fractured fibula, missed eight weeks of practices and six games of his junior season.

“It definitely was a big setback for me,” Wilson said. “I had really high hopes going into that season. I had been working all season, got the strongest I've ever been, and it just kind of crushed me a little bit.”

Quickly coming to grips with the challenge, understanding that the entirety of the season hadn’t been lost and his senior season could be played in full, Wilson refused to let his progression halt entirely. Returning to the gym the day after the injury for a team lift, Wilson did pull-ups and shoulder presses and whatever else he could to strengthen the healthy areas of his body. Focusing on his mental acuity, Wilson also dedicated himself to film work and hand-fighting techniques to be prepared as well as he could for his eventual, inevitable return.

The decision proved to be a prudent one when Wilson made a last-minute choice to return to Penn State’s final summer camp in July 2019.

Having attended Penn State’s camps in prior summers, Wilson was slated to go to a camp at Buffalo on the weekend of July 27. Changing his mind with the hopes of catching the attention of Penn State’s coaches for one more shot, Wilson’s performance featured improved testing numbers, solid one-on-ones, and ultimately, the opportunity he’d been angling to receive. Said Wilson, “They pulled me aside and told me they'd meet me afterward. I went and talked to Coach Franklin and Coach Spencer and, yeah.”

Offer secured, Wilson set out to back it up on the field for his senior season. He did so, earning The Allentown Morning Call’s 2019 defensive player of the year honors thanks in part to his 117 tackles, 18 sacks, and 39 tackles for a loss. Helping to propel the Blue Eagles to an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South championship, a District 11 Class 6A championship, and a PIAA state quarterfinals berth, ultimately ending the season with a 45-24 loss to eventual champion St. Joseph’s Prep, Wilson credited his preparation and improvements for the performance.

“I definitely feel like I was a good bit ahead of where I was going into my junior season and far ahead of where I was during my sophomore season,” Wilson said. “Some of those years, I didn't have a real big clue as to how to break down film or what to look for and what weaknesses there would be or watching for plays. That really just took everything to a new level, being able to recognize weaknesses and recognize plays right off the bat, just playing reactionary and not so much thinking.”

Holding off on making his college choice in December, with Yale, Lafayette, Brown, Army, Cornell, and Fordham still in pursuit, Wilson ultimately landed on the Nittany Lions on Jan. 28. The decision was one that, for a select number of individuals and their families, for a variety of reasons, makes sense, said Penn State head coach James Franklin.

“We've got a number of guys that had scholarships turn scholarships down to come based on opportunities, based on their love of Penn State, based on it made sense financially, based on maybe their major or the business school or the engineering school or whatever it may be, and this is a very attractive place,” said Franklin. “Now you take the university being so attractive nationally, and then you take what the program has been able to do over the last number of years, this could make sense.

“This could make sense for a few families that may say, ‘Hey, my son is going to, number one, get a great education at Penn State, and number two, chase his dream of being the best football player he possibly can be.’ And Penn State can offer that based on all the services we provide, the nutritionists, the strength and conditioning, the sports science, all that kind of stuff, where maybe other programs can't offer those types of things.”

In spite of the notable success stories of former run-ons Carl Nassib and Jan Johnson, among others, Franklin noted that Penn State works to dissuade its preferred run-on candidates from being too far drawn into the dream.

“We try to sell the worst-case scenario. Same thing with these preferred run-ons,” said Franklin. “We don't sell them the fairy-tale. This is going to be hard. This is going to be hard, and these are the exceptions.”

Understanding those ramifications and the challenges that exist in the months and years ahead, it’s still an opportunity Wilson felt strongly he needed to pursue.

“Just in my gut, I felt like this was the best option for me. No matter a scholarship. I mean, I'll be paying in-state tuition, so it's not even too bad on the financial side,” Wilson said. “But it was just, in my gut and my heart, I just felt like this was the right place for me and it had everything else I wanted other than that, so there wasn't much I felt like I was passing up on.”

Already accepted to Penn State, with his acceptance fee paid, Wilson was officially welcomed into the Nittany Lions' football family on last Wednesday’s signing day.

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