Lawrence Jamel Wilson (born November 16, 1987) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. In both his junior and senior seasons, he led the Big East in tackles and was selected to the All-Big East First-team. He finished his collegiate career second in tackles all-time at UConn. Lawrence was selected in the sixth round of the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual National Football League draft, NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Rad ...

at pick number 166 by the

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 ...

. He was also a member of the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

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 ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

and the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

Early life

Despite playing

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

at Paul W. Bryant High School, Wilson received only one scholarship offer; from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, partially because his father lived in the state. He committed to play football for the Huskies on January 16, 2006.

College career

After red shirting during his freshman season at Connecticut, Wilson began his playing career as the starting weakside

in 2007, due to an injury to incumbent starter, Ryan Henegan. He would start all 13 games and set a freshman UConn record with 113 tackles. His sophomore season was highlighted by a game winning

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

returned for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

against

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 ...

. He would earn

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance in that game.
Wilson led the Big East in tackles and was named to the All-Big East First-team during both his junior and senior seasons. He scored his third career touchdown off of a tipped pass against

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. It was the only touchdown the Huskies scored in the victory, and helped them clinch their first trip to a

BCS BCS may refer to: American football * Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013 * BCS conferences, the six FBS conferences with automatic major bowl bids under that sys ...

bowl game.

Professional career

After his senior season, Wilson was invited to play in the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

where he was fourth on the north team with six tackles. In preparation for the

, Wilson was also invited to 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 ...

. Wilson was selected by the

in the sixth round (166th overall). On September 5, 2011, he was signed to the Panthers' practice squad. On November 8, 2011, after being cited for speeding and marijuana possession, the Carolina Panthers released Wilson from the practice squad and team. Lawrence would eventually end up with the

before being cut May 1, 2012. Two weeks later, he was signed to the

. By July, the NFL suspended Wilson one game and fined him an additional game check for violating the league's substance abuse policy attributing to the November 2011 incident. On August 31, 2012, the Saints released Wilson during final cuts. On January 10, 2013, Wilson was signed by the

. He was waived on August 25. On October 9, 2013, Wilson was signed by the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

to a practice roster agreement. He was released by the Argonauts on October 12, 2013. On November 19, 2013, the

signed Wilson again, this time to the practice squad. Wilson was cut by the Bears on June 5, 2014. On July 22, 2014, Wilson was signed by the

. He was waived during final cuts on August 30. 2014.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Lawrence 1987 births Living people American football linebackers Players of American football from Tuscaloosa, Alabama Players of American football from California UConn Huskies football players Carolina Panthers players New Orleans Saints players Chicago Bears players Tennessee Titans players Toronto Argonauts players St. Louis Rams players Canadian football linebackers Players of Canadian football from Alabama Players of Canadian football from California