Estimated read time: 15-16 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY β Over a 38-second period, Isaac Wilson was quickly introduced to college football.
It was an unorthodox position to be in for a freshman quarterback to get his first snaps, but not every situation is going to be ideal as a backup.
In an instant, Southern Utah's defense welcomed Wilson to the game with a 5-yard sack on his first snap. Two plays later, that same defense picked off Wilson in an obvious passing situation right before the first half came to a close Thursday night.
Wilson had a little extra juice on the pass and overshot his receiver, and the ball easily found its way into a defenders arms.
"It was a tough spot he got put in the first half β 38 seconds and trying to get us down the field," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game. "Maybe it was a little bit unfair to put him in that spot."
Starting quarterback Cam Rising agreed with his head coach's sentiment.
"I think he got put in a bad situation his first few snaps," Rising said. "When you go in there and you're in that two-minute situation, I think it's hard when you just get thrown into that. And that's kind of not the ideal way to start, but I think he did a good job responding and coming back. Definitely needs to clean some things up, but we all do pretty much."
It was not the ideal start to his career, but it put Wilson in a position to where he was able to showcase his resolve and fight β an all-too-public scenario, but one that brought to light the fight that Wilson has in him and what made him the ideal candidate to backup Rising, even as a freshman.
"It's hard, but, I mean, I can't make the mistake I did," Wilson told KSL.com a few days later. "People might say I'm a freshman, but I know I'm not supposed to do that. I've just got to take care of the ball."
The former Corner Canyon star returned after the break looking more confident, and eventually led Utah on a drive into the red zone. Unfortunately for the freshman, the drive ended with Wilson's second interception of the night on a shot to the end zone β a window that closed quickly.
On the ensuing possession, though, he connected with tight end Caleb Lohner in the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown β the first of what is expected to be many for Wilson.
"What usually happens is early mistakes, but not a lack of confidence," defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley said of Wilson. "His coaches trust and believe in him to work through those issues. That was no different than Alex Smith when I played. He threw some early interceptions, and he learned from that.
"But good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of experience comes from bad judgment."
Chalk it up as a learning experience, and one that hasn't shattered his coaches' confidence in what they have with the young four-star quarterback. It's all part of the journey as the most public figure on the football field.
The quarterback receives all the praise when things are going well, but that's often balanced out by the quarterback taking all the heat when things go bad. In some ways, it's a rite of passage that is unavoidable for quarterbacks at all levels of the game.
"I mean, it's part of the job," Wilson said. "You get all the love, you get all the hate. Gotta take it with a smile and a little slap on the neck sometimes, but it's our job. We've gotta be the leaders of this team, and I don't have nothing wrong with that."
Wilson's resolve is what offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig loved to see from his backup quarterback β a young player that recognized his mistakes, but one that doesn't let it impact future passing attempts.
"I thought the one thing with Isaac, he had some mishaps, there's no doubt, but he just kept battling back, battling back," Ludwig said. "I knew he had the turnover at the end of the first half, but then came back at one point and threw six consecutive completions, threw the interception in the red zone β that was unfortunate, bad decision, all that stuff β but came right back the next opportunity threw a touchdown pass.
"So he's got some real toughness about him, and I really respect that."
It's the type of make up that defines who Wilson is at his core. He's a competitor that isn't prone to dwell on the past as he looks to the future. What's the point of that, he says.
"I can't let that get in the way of who I am or the next play coming up, so I just think I could think about it later," Wilson said. "When I'm watching film, I can think about those mistakes, but right now, I've gotta be locked in."
The young quarterback recognizes there's plenty more to learn as he continues to progress through his collegiate experience, but like he showed Thursday night after his first few snaps, Wilson has the potential to be a great quarterback at Utah.
Follow the leader β an example set early
Isaac Wilson is the youngest son of Mike and Lisa Wilson, and the younger brother to former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson, who was selected No. 2 overall in the 2021 NFL draft to the New York Jets.
His two other brothers, Josh and Micah, also played at BYU, where they followed in their father's footsteps and played on the defensive side of the ball β though Mike Wilson played for the school's rival, Utah, from 1993-94.
As the youngest boy in the family β he also has two sisters β Isaac Wilson had several people around to help him in his football journey. But as the only other quarterback in the tight-knit family, the journey of Zach Wilson β the successes and failures β has been largely what has helped shape who Isaac Wilson is on the field.
"Isaac's benefited a lot from the learning curve we had with Zach," Mike Wilson said.
After his own playing career, Mike Wilson reluctantly β maybe gently forced is a better way of saying it β got into coaching when Zach Wilson was about 5 years old starting out in flag football.
"I'm not doing that," he said at the time.
But things quickly changed as he became the parent volunteer tasked with coaching his son's team.
"I kind of got hooked," Wilson said. "Enjoying your own kids success, and teaching them, and learning and having a lot of fun. So we just kind of started that journey."
He loved it so much that he coached Zach through high school, learning himself what it takes to teach his son to be a quarterback β "I'm trying to figure out, because I didn't play quarterback, as I try to figure out things with Zach, reads and coverages and plays and footwork and throwing technique," Wilson said.
Eventually, Zach enrolled at BYU, Isaac quit playing basketball after eighth grade, and Mike went all in on coaching his youngest son at an even higher level than what he did with his oldest son.
Instead of the occasional 7-on-7 tournament that Zach participated in while in high school β an estimated seven tournaments, Mike Wilson said β Isaac did about 12 tournaments each summer, with each tournament consisting of about four to six games. In all, the younger Wilson took part in an estimated 60 tournaments, which helped develop Isaac as a player.
"The experience and just seeing defenses and throwing against live people, it's huge right there," Mike Wilson said.
Isaac also benefited from having a quarterback coach β former BYU quarterback John Beck β starting around seventh grade. Zach never had a quarterback coach ahead of his collegiate career, and it wasn't until his freshman season with the Cougars that he decided to work with Beck.
When Zach started to work with Beck, the family felt it was a good idea to get Isaac in on the training sessions, too. All of that gave the him a jumpstart to his career.
"Isaac benefited from Zach's experiences. ... Isaac had a better situation than Zach did β more experience, more training, my better understanding of football so I can then relay it to Isaac, and so he's benefited by everything," Mike Wilson said.
Always being Zach's brother
The two quarterbacks are forever linked, with their journeys inseparably connected.
Though the two have different personalities and different traits β and different ways to how they each approach the game β the two will be undoubtedly compared throughout their careers. Fair or not to either party.
And though Isaac isn't directly trying to chase his brother's glory and success, it does serve as a reminder to where Isaac believes he can be as a quarterback who still hopes to carve out his own path.
"I mean, he set high expectations," Isaac Wilson said. "I'm trying to do my best to exceed those expectations. He left a good mark in Utah football, even though he went to the team down south. But it's not a bad thing. I might think of it like a bad thing sometimes, because I'm seen in his shadow, but I'm saying he left a good mark, and I'm trying to meet those expectations."
It's nothing new for the younger Wilson, who's always been driven to be better than his brother. But that's the nature of a competitive younger sibling hoping to best his older brother.
Some may see it as pressure, but that's not Isaac Wilson's personality.
"He doesn't care. He just does his thing," Mike Wilson said. "He's just a fun-loving, goofy kid. He's always got a smile on his face. He always loves his teammates. They always crack jokes and have a good time. They love to play Xbox and talk smack and he just seems to love everybody. And he's much more, I guess, relaxed than I'd say Zach was maybe. Zach's a pretty serious kid, and Isaac is much more goofy, fun-love, hangout kind of thing."
"He's gotten so used to the pressure of being Zach's younger brother and him basically just being referred to as Zach's younger brother and the expectations of what he's going to do and become. ... You just have to worry about yourself and be able to move on and grow that way, and it's been awesome to watch him," Corner Canyon head coach Eric Kjar said.
A new connection as a family
The game was always different for Zach and Isaac Wilson.
When Zach played in high school, Isaac was playing youth football. When Zach was at BYU, Isaac was still playing youth football. The games were entirely different and there really wasn't much overlap β outside of simply playing the same position.
That changed this year when Isaac enrolled early at the University of Utah to take part in spring football β a key piece to the freshman quarterback eventually being able to win the backup job with the Utes, according to head coach Kyle Whittingham.
As Isaac started to get into Utah's playbook, there were a lot more similarities to the NFL game and how a quarterback processes information.
The two quarterbacks who face similar experiences as backups for their respective teams now share almost daily conversations. The two will often connect on a three-way call with their father and talk through all the things they're working on. And the two help each other to get better within their own systems.
"They talk about scheme, they talk β I mean, Utah runs a lot of plays similar to the NFL, like a lot. ... So they go over stuff like that all the time, all the different concepts that they all run," Mike Wilson said. "They call them different things, but a lot of stuff is really similar."
In many ways, being a quarterback can be an isolating experience with it being such a specialized position group that only few can perform at a high level. But to have someone that's in the thick of it with you, it becomes a valuable asset. And when it's a family member, it's even better.
"I felt like in high school, I didn't understand much of what he was doing," Isaac Wilson said. "But ever since I got here, we connect on a whole different level in football. I understand what he's saying, what he's doing, and just the concepts. I've always been close to Zach, but now we're getting even closer. It's just a great thing."
Those regular conversations have been valuable learning moments for both quarterbacks for their on-field work. But in some ways, that's the easy part; it's the mental aspect of the game that has become a central tenet to the Wilson family.
It's learning that as long as they're doing the best they can on the field that day, that's enough β even if it's not good enough that day. There's always more work to do or ways to be better, but it's putting out the best work they can that day and living with the results.
"We just try and stack good plays," Mike Wilson said. "Like, just take one play at a time, continue to stack plays. If you can stack a bunch of good plays, and then you can stack a good day, then just keep stacking days. You're going to make mistakes out there, don't dwell on them too long, move on. Learn from them and move on. Everything has to be positive self talk. I know that sounds a little strange, but positive self talk is a big one in our family."
It's a lesson the family learned from Zach, especially during a sometimes difficult NFL career, in which he was put into a less-than-desirable situation in New York and forced to be the scapegoat for all the problems within the organization. He made mistakes, but he was doing the best he could in the situation.
At the end of the day, it's all about what each can control in their life β for both Zach and Isaac, and the way the family can react to the outside noise around their game.
"We try not to stress about it anymore. And the reason is, I can't control it," Mike Wilson said. "I can't control what Isaac's doing. Do I know he's worked hard and studied and got the right training and did everything the right way, and he's put himself in the best position to play and succeed? I know all my boys will just go out there and do the best they can; that's just how they're wired β most people are.
"Maybe it's just not good enough that day. He's always going to do the best he can. So how do you get upset or stressed about something when they're just doing the best they can?"
Easier said than done sometimes, but those regular conversations have a way of being a stabilizing force β and a place to improve.
"I think they both benefit from each other now, because they both just have different tools," Mike Wilson said. "For example, Zach is much more conscious of mistakes. Like, if he throws a pick, he's upset. If he misses a throw, he might dwell on that little bit longer than he should. Where Isaac is just like, 'Oh, well,' and just moves on.
"Isaac will throw a pick, and then two minutes later, he's cracking a joke, and it might rub some people the wrong way like he doesn't care β he does care β he just really has a short-term memory, and I think it benefits him a lot in football. Once the mistake happens and you learn from it, it doesn't do you any good to dwell on it. You just kind of need to move on. Otherwise that negative emotion could just kind of snowball."
It's already something that Isaac Wilson has benefited from, even as his journey is just starting in many ways.
"He had a hard path, I'd say, making it all the way up to where he is now," Isaac Wilson said of his brother. "And him just giving me a little easier path to pave my path. If he could do it, I could do it, that's my mentality. He's been through the worst of it, and if he could struggle through that and work just as hard as he did, I can do it, too."
"Isaac will go out and do the best he can; he'll try," Mike Wilson added. "He trained the right way. And if he goes out that day and he kills it, great. If he goes out there and he absolutely sucks, oh well, that's too bad, but he tried. He tried his best. It's never going to be a lack of effort or heart or caring. If that day he just wasn't good enough, then he just wasn't good enough."
It remains a process, and one Isaac Wilson will continue to work through. And though he has a family environment at the University of Utah, where his coaches and teammates have absolute belief in his potential, he always has a family that supports him no matter what happens on the field.
His journey is just starting.
"He'll learn from it. He'll grow. He's got all the tools," Whittingham said. "He's got a strong arm. He's very mobile, as you saw, he made some nice runs for us. But it's a process, and he was in high school just last year, so we still think β we'd be crazy not to think β he's got a big upside, because he does, so we'll see."
"Coach Lud explained it to me," Isaac Wilson said. "It's complicated until you get over the hill, then it's simple; and I need to get to that point."
