Jonah Wilson made a catch in the Kansas State game for 0 yards that barely registered with fans or the media. It was his first action of his freshman season.
On Tuesday, Wilson told Joseph Duarte and me that he has a slight tear in his patella tendon and has been dealing with tendonitis for the entire season. He’s still growing, too, and currently stands at 6’3″. Those issues have prevented him from playing most of the season. Before the injuries, he thought he could contribute this year. The UCF game will be his fourth game, which means his redshirt is preserved.
He got in early in his third collegiate game and made a play. Wilson’s number was called after Joseph Manjack IV caught a pass for 16 yards to reset the chains. It was a skinny post route that they’d practiced all week. Let him narrate it from here:
When he streaked across the open field, hauled in Donovan Smith’s pass, and got to the end zone, he was excited his family was there; even better, they were in the corner where he scored.
“Crazy thing is, (my mom) didn’t even know I was in the game,” Wilson laughed on Tuesday. “They didn’t know that was me. They thought it was Sam Brown, actually.”
After the game, Jonah was happy he could put a smile on her face. “She was telling me she was proud of me. My brother told me she started crying up there, so that was a great thing to hear.”
A relationship with his position coach was vital in getting him to UH. WR coach Daikiel Shorts Jr. would text him “every single day,” often about things outside of football. “He cares about me off the field just as much as he does on the field. It’s great having him be there on my side,” Jonah said about Shorts.
“It is about football, but it’s not always about football. It’s about, what’s going to happen after and who can help you after and all those things. So yeah, (Coach Shorts) did play a big role in that. And I trust him with all my heart.”
Shorts on Jonah Wilson:
As for choosing to go to Houston, Jonah’s explanation was simple.
“It was just love at first sight. This is the first college I’ve ever visited so just being here and it’s home. I just always just pictured myself playing here in front of my hometown and that fanbase.
It just kinda always stuck to me, (Houston) always had that little place in my heart. So I was like, ‘yeah, this is where I want to be.'”
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