Emotion accompanies Payton's place in Wolfpack lineup

After two knee surgeries and more than a year away from football, LB Payton Wilson made a triumphant return to the field last week

Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports

Football is a game of emotion and no one at Carter-Finley Stadium for NC State's season opener against East Carolina last Saturday showed more of it than Payton Wilson.

It began welling up in the redshirt freshman linebacker's eyes as he waited to run onto the field for a Wolfpack debut delayed more than a year by two painful injuries to the same knee.

"He's so excited just to be playing right now," State coach Dave Doeren said. "Payton had tears in his eyes before the game he was so excited to be playing football again, just playing again, making plays."

Wilson, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound Hillsborough native, was one of the highest-ranked prospects in North Carolina before tearing the ACL in his right knee in October 2017 during his senior season at Orange High School.

At that point, he was committed to play at North Carolina and planned to enroll early. But he changed his mind shortly thereafter and decided to sign with State, instead.

Before he had a chance to play a game for the Wolfpack, the former U.S. Army All-American suffered another setback when he reinjured his knee and underwent a second surgery that forced him to redshirt.

"I guess you could say my luck was pretty bad, but God has a plan for all of us," Wilson said at State's media day last month. "When I got hurt for the second time I was like, there's only one thing do now, just get back. 

"At first I was mad, why me? But it definitely was the best thing that could happen because I was everything for granted. Now, football can be taken away just like that."

Wilson said he felt like he was finally back during the Wolfpack's first preseason scrimmage. He has since learned to trust his knee again and is well on he way to becoming the dominant defender he was projected to be before he was bitten by the injury bug.

The ultimate test, however, came on Saturday when for the first time in 22 months he took the field against a hostile opponent in a game that counted.

"Once I got out there after the first drive I was in," Wilson said. "I got more comfortable with each play I made."

Listed as a backup to junior Brock Miller at the BUCK linebacker spot, Wilson was on the field for 22 plays against East Carolina. He made the most of that limited opportunity by contributing six tackles to his team's 34-6 victory.

"That was the best part," he said. "It was a privilege to even be out there. I was glad I was making plays. I feel like I'm the player I know I can be. It was a confidence booster."

He figures to get even more opportunities as that confidence continues to grow.

 "He was real happy to be back on that field. I was happy he had success," Doeren said of Wilson. "He's got great reaction skills. Some guys have to see things and they have to process things and some guys are quick reactors. He's a quick reactor.

"His vision is really good. He can diagnose plays and his body knows what to do when he sees it."