Prep notebook: Syracuse OL Eric Wilder weighing college football options; Davis’ Ferguson commits to BYU
Wilder
Davis running back Spencer Ferguson (24) runs the ball as Roy's Cooper Valencia (5) attempts a tackle during a game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Kaysville.
Eric Wilder remembers the feeling from last November when he talked on the phone with Fresno State football offensive line coach Roman Sapolu and received a football scholarship offer to FSU.
“It was an awesome moment because I was like, wow, these people think I can play football really well,” Wilder, a senior at Syracuse High, said.
Fast forward several months and Wilder, a three-star offensive lineman according to 247sports, has narrowed down 12 offers to four: UCLA, Cal, Washington State and Boise State.
Wilder narrowed it down to four schools in May after the recruiting process became overwhelming, with dozens of text messages, phone calls and other communication from college coaches each day.
Wilder, who’s listed at 6-foot-5, 270 pounds, is a two-year starting left tackle for the Titans — he also plays some defensive line occasionally — heading into his senior year, which ostensibly will be a third year starting.
He was Syracuse’s most consistent blocker last season and was trusted enough as a sophomore to come in as left tackle, protecting the quarterback’s blind side in what ended up being a Region 1 title-winning season.
“I constantly eat, sleep and think football. During the season, I’m watching film all the time,” Wilder said. “I’m lifting, training, doing sets, whatever I have to do to get better and be better than the person in front of me.”
Wilder was a first team All-Region 1 selection last year and is expected to anchor the offensive line for an experienced, but young, Titans team seeking to improve on last year’s 3-7 record.
He’s done enough in a Syracuse uniform and on the camp circuit to attract college attention, made a little trickier by the COVID-19 pandemic and the NCAA’s rules on in-person recruiting that expired on June 1.
Wilder’s recruiting process has been conducted almost exclusively over phone calls, virtual tours of college campuses and Zoom calls with coaches.
For him, the COVID-19 restrictions on recruiting have been the only thing he’s known, so he said the virtual recruiting hasn’t really bugged him as much as it has with some other recruits who did visits and in-person recruiting activities before the pandemic.
This weekend, the in-person recruiting resumes — or, in Wilder’s case, it begins.
“I’m headed to my first official visit this weekend at Washington State and then for the other three of my top schools which are UCLA, Cal and Boise State, I’m gonna be waiting for fall so I can go to a game,” Wilder said.
Once those visits are done, he wants to narrow his choices more before putting pen to paper by the early signing period in December, which will be about a year after receiving his first offer that made the prospect of playing college football that much more tangible.
FERGUSON COMMITS TO BYU
Davis running back Spencer Ferguson announced on social media he’s committed to BYU and will enroll after serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Ferguson rushed for 1,692 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2020, averaging 6.7 yards per carry and helping Davis to an 8-4 record and an appearance in the 6A state quarterfinals.
Ferguson ranked first in 6A and second in the state in rushing yards.