While 2013 DeSoto (Texas) running back Dontre Wilson waits to hear from the Oregon coaching staff, he’s had a wild 24 hours following the announcement that Ducks head coach Chip Kelly is now the new head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has taken the opportunity to schedule several visits:
Oregon RB commit Dontre Wilson will visit Ohio State, Oklahoma State, possibly Texas
Though the star all-purpose back is still committed to Oregon, he will take as many as three visits before Signing Day.
According to @rivalsjason Dontre Wilson will visit OSU next weekend. I was told he'd visit UT during the week. That from DeSoto HC C. Mathis
— EricInsideTexas (@EricNahlin) January 17, 2013
Mathis tells me Dontre Wilson will visit Ok St the weekend after the Ohio State visit (1/25). UT visit will happen during the week.
— EricInsideTexas (@EricNahlin) January 17, 2013
So there are now three potential visits set up for Wilson, who took his official visit to Oregon back in early October and received an in-home from Chip Kelly on Tuesday, just before Kelly took the Eagles job.
It’s not clear how many of those three visits will be official. Given that the trip to Austin would take place in the middle of the week, it could be an unofficial. So the schedule looks like this -- Ohio State official on January 25th, Oklahoma State official the weekend before Signing Day, and the Texas visit some time during the week either next week or the week after, if it happens.
The caveat is that the Texas visit is not mentioned in multiple other reports and the Oklahoma State trip was being billed as tentative ($) by ESPN’s Damon Sayles, so it sounds like the journey to Columbus is the only one currently locked in, and Texas the least likely. However. reports later in the afternoon were more concrete about Wilson making it out to Stillwater.
Follow all that?
Notre Dame and Clemson were initially mentioned as other possibilities for visits and though Wilson will probably have at least one and possibly two official visits left available, he hasn’t said that he’s going past Signing Day, so the Irish and Tigers are probably out of the picture.
The Buckeyes are putting on the full-court press, sending offensive coordinator Tom Herman to DeSoto to visit Wilson on Thursday, according to 247Sports.
But is there a need for Wilson? With Ezekiel Elliott already in the fold -- a bigger, lightly stronger all-purpose back -- there isn’t a pressing need for another in the class. Throw in Wilson’s versatility as a receiver, though, and it becomes clear why Urban Meyer is still in pursuit. Meyer never exactly had a problem distributing touches between guys like Percy Harvin, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps, either.
Oklahoma State has a bigger need with the loss of Joseph Randle early to the NFL and could offer the biggest role as a pure running back, something that has appealed to Wilson in the past. Despite his slight stature, he has plenty of experience between the tackles from his time at DeSoto and is a tougher runner than his weight would indicate.
As for Texas, the Longhorns tried to sell Wilson in the spring on playing a role similar to that of now-departed DJ Monroe. The problem, of course, was that Monroe didn't get the ball as a junior and hardly got it as a senior, with the story of freshman Daje Johnson unfolding in similar manner. Sure, there's a new playcaller distributing touches in Major Applewhite, but Wilson was already sold promises that didn't come true once and didn't buy them.
All that probably explains why he isn’t in a hurry to get down to Austin again.
And stay tuned for any possible changes in those visit plans.
