David Wilson, the former New York Giant who ended his career earlier this month due to a neck injury, announced yesterday in an interview with Yahoo Sports that he's planning a return to track and field.
"That would be my aspiration: to be in the Olympics," Wilson said. "To compete in track again and be in a field where I could be at a high, competitive level. To be in that field again and maybe in the Olympics would be amazing."
He certainly has the pedigree. At Virginia Tech, Wilson competed in track as well as football, and in the former was an All-American in the triple jump in 2011, finishing sixth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He was also a two-time state champion in the event in high school.
There are plenty of ifs that still have to be answered for Wilson's comeback to be a reality. First, his best triple jump of 53 feet, 1.75 inches (16.20 meters), set in 2011, wouldn't get him into the top 100 athletes this year. Another question is weight: at 205 pounds, he'll need to slim down to compete. (For comparison, Will Claye, the U.S. number one this year in the event with a jump of 17.75 meters, is listed at 160 pounds.) The final question is whether he can progress fast enough. London gold medalist Christian Taylor is only a year older than Wilson, but he's jumped farther than Wilson's best every year since he was 19. Wilson has a lot of catching up to do.
But what Wilson does have is youth—a mere 23 years old—and an NFL base fitness. Those two factors are just tantalizing enough to allow the potential of a comeback. And then there's desire: his departure from the NFL wasn't from lack of heart, and track is the perfect place for it to find a new home.
[Photo: AP Images]