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NC State’s Payton Wilson is Impressing the Steelers at the Jump of Fall Camp

Matthew Bradham

Published

1 year ago

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Former NC State All-American Linebacker Payton Wilson is unsurprisingly making quite the impression on the Steelers’ Players and Coaches since Fall Camp began.

His conditioning, hustle, freakish athleticism, smarts have all been complimented this week.

Coach Mike Tomlin

“He’s highly conditioned. I think it starts there, and it’s showing itself in the form of hustle and finish. And, sometimes, hustle and finish puts you in a position to do some of the things that you mentioned. And so, we don’t ask a lot of the new guys, but we do ask them to come ready for the work. He is highly conditioned, and appears to be in position in that regard, certainly,” Tomlin said.” (Link)

Safety Deshon Elliott

Earlier this week, Elliott called Wilson the “most mature rookie,” in the way he prepares and said: “He’s a freak athlete, he’s really smart, he learns from his mistakes and he doesn’t repeat them. So, down the line, I think he can be a great player. I’ve heard people say Luke Kuechly or something like that, but I think Payton is going to be Payton and he’s going to be a great player in the NFL.” (Link)

Linebacker Patrick Queen

“He turns into a whole other animal,” Queen said. “But, he’s been a sponge, soaking up everything he can and asking a whole bunch of questions. Sometimes, too many questions. He’s overthinking some stuff. But that’s how you are supposed to be as a rookie. You are supposed to try and get as much knowledge as you can.” (Link)

Wilson’s discipline has driven him to be the first member of the Steelers to hit the field at camp.

After practice he’s hungry for more, getting extra time in on the JUGS machine to work on his hands, or running extra sideline-to-sideline sprints with other teammates.

If the players and coaches have been impressed with Wilson thus far, they need to brace themselves for what comes next. The Steelers put the pads on today. Wilson’s tired of what Wolfpack Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson calls “underwear practices.”

Payton Wilson’s a Linebacker, and for the rest of camp, his coaches and teammates will get to see what he can do with pads on.

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