Vrabel on Wilson Suspension: 'Love Isn’t Always About Hugs And Kisses.'
It has been one ugly rookie season for Isiah Wilson. No matter how you describe it, the optics aren’t pretty.
A day before a 41-35 loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Tennessee Titans placed their first-round pick in this year’s draft on the Reserve-Suspended by Club list. According to a release from the team, the 6-foot-6, 311-pound right tackle violated team rules.
It’s the most recent troubling news in a season that has been filled with it for the 21-year-old out of the University of Georgia. And it came at a time when he seemed to be rounding the corner, appearing on the gameday roster two weeks in a row.
Wilson was returned to the active roster Monday.
“I got a 20-year-old, I got a 19-year-old, to think that they haven’t made mistakes – they’ve made plenty of them,” coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. “So have I, and I would imagine so have a lot of other people.
“So, love isn’t always about hugs and kisses, it’s about holding them accountable and trying to make sure that they’re doing the things that help them and in turn, help the team. I know that Jon and myself and the organization are committed to help Isiah. We’ll see where he is this week after the suspension.”
Wilson, who has logged just three snaps on offense this season (plus one on special teams), has spent two separate stints on the COVID-19 Reserve List -- once in August, and another time from early September to early October.
In August, the 29th overall draft pick was named in an incident report filed by Tennessee State University police officers after they broke up a party at an off-campus residence. Police issued Wilson a trespass warning, while they charged other partygoers with drug, curfew and runaway violations.
Weeks later, police arrested Wilson and charged him with driving under the influence. He was discharged soon after. According to reports, Wilson “blew a 0.107 and 0.113 at the time he was pulled over.” The legal limit for blood alcohol content in Tennessee is 0.08.”
While Wilson’s latest round of bad news has surely raised more questions about him, Vrabel stressed that he, other coaches and the rest of the organization will put their best foot forward in an effort to get the promising prospect on the right track. There will also be no shortage of support for Wilson.
“That’s our job,” Vrabel said. “We have brought him on to this family and we have expectations for everybody that is associated with it, and we’ll continue to coach him, to teach him, support him, but hold him to a standard that we hold everybody else to.”
