GREENWOOD - Tyler Wilson was getting fidgety watching the fourth round of the NFL Draft at home, so he took off for his local Wal-Mart to buy some golf balls and was posing for a picture with a fan when Oakland Raiders Coach Dennis Allen called him Saturday.
The former Arkansas quarterback, who was the face of the football program during his two seasons as a starter, could hardly have been doing anything more like an Arkansan when Oakland made him the 112th pick of the draft.
“I was fed up with watching TV, so we just got out and get a phone call there in Wal-Mart of all places,” Wilson said. “It’s good being from Arkansas.
“Sure enough the phone rings and you’re high-fiving a bunch of strangers in Wal-Mart. I’m glad I could be here around town with friends and family.”
Wilson’s fourth-round selection as the sixth quarterback taken in the draft was lower than he had hoped. But the Raiders’ quarterback situation - with free-agent signee Matt Flynn and Terrelle Pryor at the top of the depth chart - would seem to give Wilson a shot at earning playing time.
Wilson will be joining former Razorback Darren McFadden, the No. 4 overall selection of the 2008 Draft, in the Oakland backfield. Wilson was playing at Greenwood High School when McFadden, Arkansas’ all-time leading rusher and a two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up, was breaking all of Arkansas’ rushing records.
“He’s a guy who has done a lot for the University of Arkansas and I was a big fan of his growing up,” Wilson said. “To have that talent in the backfield with you will be tremendous, and I think a guy in the locker room who can ease and bring you into the mold of the team.”
More than anything, Wilson was glad to have a team.
“Obviously it’s been a long process, a long three days,” said Wilson, who had held a party in downtown Fort Smith on Friday, anticipating a selection in the second or third round. “You hope to get picked a little sooner going into it.”
The same could be said for many of Wilson’s former teammates on Saturday. Receiver Cobi Hamilton of Texarkana, Texas, was taken in th esixth round at No. 197 by the Cincinnati Bengals, and tight end Chris Gragg of Warren was picked No. 222 overall in the seventh round by the Buffalo Bills.
“I’m going to show everyone that I should’ve been drafted way earlier,” Hamilton said on a teleconference with media.
Hamilton, the 22nd receiver chosen, had the second-highest draft grade (72.9) given by the NFL Network of all the sixth-round picks, behind Clemson running back Andre Ellington (79.7).
Gragg, whose testing ranked with the best among all the tight ends at the NFL Scouting Combine, was the 12th tight end picked.
“It’s been real stressful,” Gragg said.
“I’ve really been receiving calls since [Friday] and things that I just heard, people weren’t sure about my legs, I guess, is why I fell.”
Wilson, chatting with members of his group during the draft, summed up the experience for the Razorbacks available for this draft.
“We were talking about how the last 365 days have been so up and down,” he said.
Arkansas had four players taken in the draft, led by tailback Knile Davis’ selection in the third round by the Kansas City Chiefs late Friday.
Harding defensive end Ty Powell was a seventh-round choice, No. 231 overall, for the Seattle Seahawks. Arkansas State safety Don Jones went to the Miami Dolphins with pick No. 250 of the seventh round.
Powell, who was picked by the Seahawks on his 25th birthday, arrived at Harding from a California junior college as a free safety before being moved to defensive end. He recorded 15 tackles for loss, 8½ sacks and blocked 4 kicks while helping the Bisons to the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time.
He became the first Harding player drafted in 30 years and he could become the second Harding player to play inan NFL regular season game.
“I’m speechless,” Powell told Seattle reporters. “It’s kind of the best [birthday] so far.”
Jones’ selection with the fifth-to-last pick in the draft extended Arkansas State’s streak of players drafted to seven consecutive seasons.
He had 74 tackles, 5½ for loss and 1 interception while helping the Red Wolves to a second consecutive Sun Belt Conference title as a senior. He started his career at ASUas a running back, went to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for a season because of academics and returned to Jonesboro as a defensive back.
He told Miami reporters Saturday that he can play cornerback or safety, but he’ll likely be a corner for the Dolphins. With the Dolphins, he’ll join former ASU safety Kelcie McCray, who joined Miami last year as an undrafted free agent.
Jones said he felt good about the Dolphins picking him after visiting Miami and when they visited Jonesboro for his pro day workouts.
“I think I showed them how explosive I can be,” Jones said. “I think I showed them I can be a guy who can go out there and get the job done.”
Wilson, Arkansas’ first All-SEC first-team quarterback in 2011, took an analytical approach to his selection, noting that perhaps he and former Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley, taken with the first pick of the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles, might have wound up in better circumstances than the quarterbacks taken higher.
“You could see the trend and the way the draft was going and … see they weren’t taking quarterbacks in the first round,” he said.
“You could see on Thursday it was not headed in a positive direction as far as quarterbacks.”
Speaking on a teleconference with Oakland media, Wilson was asked if he had regrets about returning for his senior season after being considered a potential first round pick after the 2011 season, when he passed for 3,638 yards and 24 touchdowns and led the Razorbacks to an 11-2 record and a Cotton Bowl victory.
“After things pan out and you kind of look back and go, ‘You know what, that wasn’t necessarily business wise maybe a smart thing,’ ” he said. “I know that’s probably the way everybody else looks at it and questions my judgment, but my thought is I want to be the most ready, prepared football player I can be and the only way I can do that in the NFL would be to go back to school for my senior season.
“I think regardless of what happened and maybe where you go in the draft, I think I’m a more prepared football player by staying in school. So in that regard, I’m extremely happy that I got that opportunity and still have an opportunity to play in the NFL.”
Don Wilson, the quarterback’s father, was asked if he had any animosity toward former Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, who talked Wilson into returning for his senior season, then was fired after his April 1 motorcycle wreck.
“No,” he said. “I think it would be easy to do, but no. It is what it is. Life kind of deals you lemons sometimes and you make lemonade.
“You just play it as it comes and … things turn out for a reason. Tyler’s going to get an opportunity to go play and compete and get a good situation in Oakland. You couldn’t really ask for a better situation.”
Tyler Wilson said he chatted with Allen, Raiders owner Mark Davis, offensive coordinator Greg Olson and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo in his phone conversation.
“Obviously it’s good to have a chance anywhere you’re at, [and] you’re not behind a guy that’s been solidified for a number of years,” Wilson said. “You’ve got a little bit of an ability to compete there with the nature of it.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 04/28/2013