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Thoughout the spring, Rex Ryan couldn’t say enough good things about Mo Wilkerson.
“He’s going to be hard to ignore (in 2012) – that’s for sure,” Ryan said. “The thing that you always look for in a young man, a rookie coming into the league, a lot of times he’ll hit that wall and they’ll do just the opposite. He actually got better as the season went on. He was playing at a super high level by the end of the season and he’s actually gotten better. I think he’s taking practice as an opportunity to get better.
“I’ll also throw in Kenrick Ellis, who’s another guy that’s improved by leaps and bounds. So those will give you three really young guys to go with two excellent veterans in Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito and then you have Marcus Dixon. This is a young group. We’re going to be really good up front for a long time. I hope I stay as long as they can play because it’s going to be a great run with those guys.”
Sione is 33, DeVito is 28, and Dixon is 27, so I don’t know how young this group is as a whole. but let’s get back to Wilkerson.
While the Jets’ coach has a tendency to embellish (like he did with how young the group is), it’s hard to argue with him on Wilkerson. The guy looks like the real deal.
And it was really impressive how he didn’t hit a wall last year. That is a tribute to the conditioning he did on his own before training camp last year. Remember, with the lockout, he was on his own, which isn’t easy for a 21-year-old rookie. But he took it upon himself to go to Washington D.C., and train with the Davis’ brothers – Vernon and Vontae. Anybody who knows Vernon Davis know he’s a workout warrior, and one of the best conditioned athletes in the NFL.
What is so impressive about Wilkerson is his athletic ability for a 6-4, 315-pound player. And considering he was an excellent basketball player in high school, this should not come as a surprise. NFL scouts love big fellas with a basketball background. Wilkerson was close to going to college on a basketball scholarship. He got into football late in the high school.
Considering his late start to football, and the fact that he came out after his junior year of college, he’s still somewhat raw as a player. The Jets new defensive line coach, Karl Dunbar, a great teacher, is going to work wonders with this kid.
Not only is he a excellent athlete for his size, he’s super tough.
As for his recent car accident at 4:30 am, I will give him credit for one things. According to the police, he was not drunk or on drugs. He had an accident. He was driving too fast, and that is wrong, but the fact that he was smart enough to not drive under the influence (which I’m sure what we all thought he was doing when we heard the report), that is a positive to come out of that story.
This could looks like a good one.
The defensive end combo of Quinton Coples and Mo Wilkerson has the potential to emerge as the best combo of 3-4 ends in football.
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