De’Runnya S. Wilson (September 14, 1994 – January 21, 2020) was an American football

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

Early life

Wilson attended

Wenonah High School Wenonah High School is a four-year public high school in Birmingham, Alabama. It is one of seven high schools in the Birmingham City School System. School colors are Old gold and white. The mascot is the Dragon. Wenonah competes in Alabama High S ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, where he was primarily a basketball star, earning first-team ''Parade'' All-American honors in 2013. He joined the football team in his senior season, when he caught 31 passes for 682 yards and helped lead the Dragons to a 10–2 season. On the hardwood, he helped lead the Dragons to three consecutive state championships and was named the 2013 Alabama Mr. Basketball. Wilson was rated as a three-star football recruit by ''247sports.com'', ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

'', and '' Scout.com''. He chose to attend

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

over offers from Auburn,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and

UAB UAB may stand for: *Uždaroji akcinė bendrovė, a type of limited liability company in Lithuania Organizations *Apostolic United Brethren, polygamist Mormon fundamentalist church *University of Alabama at Birmingham, a public research university ...

College career

Freshman season (2013)

Wilson made his debut in the first game of the 2013 season, catching 2 passes for 17 yards in a 21–3 loss to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff. Wilson's first touchdown came on a 59-yard pass from Tyler Russell against

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Wilson had a breakout game against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, catching 7 passes for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns. After the football season ended, Wilson played on the Bulldogs men's basketball team. He appeared in 7 games, scoring 6 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Sophomore season (2014)

Wilson started every game at receiver for the Bulldogs in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. He had four catches and a touchdown in each of the Bulldogs' wins over top 10 teams

, and Auburn, helping lead the Bulldogs to the #1 ranking. Wilson came on strong at the end of the season, having 8 catches each in losses to Alabama and Ole Miss. He followed it up with 9 catches and 2 touchdowns in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

. Wilson was the 2014 Bulldogs' leading receiver in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Wilson was listed on the 2014–15 men's basketball roster, but did not appear in any games. Wilson's career as a basketball player was over, as it turned out later.

Junior season (2015)

Wilson had 8 catches and a touchdown in a 21–19 loss to

. He had 102 yards and 2 touchdowns in a rainy 31–13 win over

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and a career-high 10 receptions in a 51–50 thriller over Arkansas. Wilson ranks 5th in school history with 133 receptions, 6th with 1,949 yards, and 2nd with 22 touchdowns.

College statistics

Professional career

On January 1, 2016, Wilson declared for the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL draft was the 81st annual draft of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. He had drawn comparisons to

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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

receiver

Calvin Johnson Calvin Johnson Jr. (born September 29, 1985) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Megatron" after the ''Transforme ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

receiver

Kelvin Benjamin Kelvin Benjamin (born February 5, 1991) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles football, Fl ...

, and

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

tight end Darren Waller. Wilson participated in the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

but went undrafted, gaining only a workout with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in October of that year. On March 20, 2018, Wilson joined the Albany Empire of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, but never played a game as the team placed him on recallable reassignment a week later.

Death

On January 21, 2020, Wilson was found shot to death inside his Birmingham, Alabama home. He was 25 years old. Wilson was the father of five children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, DeRunnya 1994 births 2020 deaths 2020 murders in the United States Albany Empire (AFL) players American football wide receivers American men's basketball players Basketball players from Birmingham, Alabama Deaths by firearm in Alabama Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball players Murdered African-American people People murdered in Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen Murdered American students