A Beacon Of Hope In San Diego: The Kion Wilson Story

[The Great 8]

Lights on? Lights out? It's been a strobe light in San Diego. Will Shawne Merriman return to form? Will he be traded? Will Donald Butler fill his shoes? One thing is for certain, in the mouth of the question asking  Charger fans, he's our last loose tooth.

With Tim Dobbins traded to the Miami Dolphins for an upgrade in the first round, Trading Merriman would become problematic right now for the Chargers, we would be light at the linebacker position. Something I didn't think I would hear myself say this year.

But before we go scouting around to look for a linebacker, assuming Merriman doesn't sign his contract, we have a pretty big fish that landed in our own free agent pool that just may shock a few people.

Introducing : Kion Wilson

6'2 240 pounds of lightning fast muscle put him on the consideration table for any Linebacker scout, but I can guarantee you wont see anybody with a story quite like his. He has crawled out through a cess pool of life that not many people could imagine.

Father murdered at age three, his brother Kellen, murdered, and in the wake of his funeral, his other brother was Darius murdered. Gang-banger right? Wrong! Try security guard shot in the line of duty!  With his mother raising him on her own working two jobs, Wilson was left with pretty much no guidance, when he needed it most.

Reaching out to anyone who would notice him , Wilson joined a local Miami street gang called the "191 boys". After a quick unsuccessful stint as a petty criminal, Wilson (13) was ordered to Bay point correctional institution  for 9 months. It was there that Wilson joined the gang that probably saved, or at least changed his life. A football team.

In football, Wilson found where he needed to be in life. He embraced football, and turned his back on not only gangs, but Miami entirely. His mom moved him to Jacksonville, and his football playing gave him a new lease on life.

Although Wilson had a great high school football career playing numerous positions,and being heavily recruited, his grades prevented him from scholarships at any big schools. Wilson attended Pearl community college and got his grades up.

He recorded 215 tackles, and was a defensive giant that received attention and eligibility to all Florida colleges. Miami tried hard to recruit him, but Wilson refused to go back to avoid the influence he fought hard to get away from.

Instead he joined the far less prestigious South Florida Bulls where his dominant performance continued, albeit to a much smaller spotlight;

The stats speak for themselves:

Last season Wilson led the Bulls with

105 tackles

18 tackles for loss

7 sacks

2 interceptions

2 forced fumbles

To any fan with football knowledge, that means in twelve games to accomplish this, the guy has to play like the "Tazmanian devil" regardless of the level.

But what cant be measured is heart, and Wilson swam through the lowest depths of tragedy and surfaced on the shores of San Diego. If AJ Smith is looking for quality people to fill the uniforms, he cant do too much better than this.

Its been a long hard journey for Kion Wilson, with football being his only beacon of hope. I sure hope the light doesn,t go out on him in the Chargers training camp!!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/387366-a-beacon-of-hope-in-san-diego-the-kion-wilson-story

Aside from the needless comments about our university it's a good, albeit overly optimistic, article.

[ajusf16]

wow hell of a write up, hope he makes it