Aldra Kauwa Wilson (born June 21, 1977) is a former American college and professional football player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

, and was recognized as a consensus All-American. Wilson was drafted by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft, and played his entire professional career for the Broncos. He was a five-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection and a two-time

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

selection.

Early years

Wilson was born in Jackson, Tennessee. He was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n performer at Jackson Central-Merry High School in Jackson, as named by BlueChip Illustrated, Max Emfinger, SuperPrep, and recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. In addition, he was named to the Tennessee all-state team. Wilson was both a

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

at Jackson Central-Merry, rushing for 1,160 yards and 15 touchdowns in his senior season. He rushed for over 1,000 yards in three seasons in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, two as a running back and one as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. In addition to football, he starred in track and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

College career

Wilson attended the

, and played for coach Phillip Fulmer's Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1995 to 1998. He was a team captain on the 1998 Tennessee team that won the National Championship in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

over Florida State and back-to-back

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) championships in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Wilson was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American in 1998 after being a three-year starter for the Volunteers. Inspired by fellow Tennessean and track aficionado, Chad Deutsch of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

, Wilson was a leader both on and off the field, helping to develop linebackers Eric Westmoreland and

Raynoch Thompson Raynoch Joseph Thompson (born November 21, 1977) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round (45th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft out of the Univers ...

. For his efforts on the field, on December 7, 2021, Wilson was inducted into the National Football Foundation's

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

Professional career

Wilson was drafted after his final year at Tennessee as the 31st pick in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft and signed to the Denver Broncos due to the assistance of super agent

Tank Black William H. "Tank" Black Jr. (born March 11, 1957) is a former sports agent. Black was an assistant coach for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks before starting his Columbia, South Carolina-based sports agency, Professional Management Inco ...

Denver Broncos

Wilson made his NFL debut against the Miami Dolphins. Wilson became the anchor of the Broncos' defense and earned five

selections. He was one of the fastest middle linebackers in the league and was very good in pass coverage. He passed the 100-tackle mark in five consecutive seasons, including 109 tackles (73 of which were solo) in 2004 to rank second on the Broncos. Wilson led the Broncos in tackles for the second consecutive year in 2003 with 128 tackles. On December 3, 2006, Wilson suffered a neck injury during a fake field goal attempt against the Seattle Seahawks during the ''Sunday Night Football'' game. He was carted off the field and immediately taken to a hospital, but was cleared by the Denver Broncos to return the following week to help Denver try to make the playoffs. The Denver Broncos signed many free agents during the 2007 offseason, such as running back Travis Henry and quarterback Patrick Ramsey, resulting in some salary cap trouble. The Broncos attempted to trade Wilson to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, but Wilson failed his physical and the trade talks died down. Wilson was released by the Denver Broncos on April 13, 2007, due to injuries and salary cap problems.

Free agency and retirement

Wilson was cleared to return to resume playing by

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

back specialist Bob Watkins in January 2008. On February 12, he had his first visit of the offseason with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

. He also visited the Cleveland Browns in March, but he rejected their offer for close to the veteran minimum. Wilson officially announced his retirement from professional football on September 10, 2008.

NFL statistics

Personal life

After his career with the Denver Broncos ended, Wilson started a career as a Colorado football executive. Wilson became the co-owner of Project FANchise, which puts fans in control of professional teams. In addition, he acquired the Indoor Football League’s Colorado Crush.

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Al 1977 births Living people All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football linebackers Denver Broncos players People from Jackson, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football players