Bryant’s Price is all right
Red-shirt senior quarterback poised for big season in Perry’s offense
SMITHFIELD — Price Wilson had reached a point in his college football career last summer where his only goal was to find a coach who would give him a chance to run a forward-thinking, fast-paced, wide-open offense.
Even if that meant moving to a state he’d never visited and was over 1,000 miles from his Marietta, Georgia home.
Wilson found a kindred spirit in aggressive, attacking football in Bryant coach James Perry, who was in his first season at the school after coaching Princeton’s record-breaking offense. After visiting Bryant’s Smithfield campus last summer, Wilson left Louisiana Tech and joined the Bulldogs at the start of training camp last August.
“I’d never been to Rhode Island. I knew it was in New England and I knew it was a small state that was hard to find on a map, but I did not know much about it,” Wilson said after practice Monday morning. “I wasn’t worried about finding a place, but Coach Perry’s name came across and I came up here to visit the school.
“The big thing was the offense I was looking for, and Coach Perry’s whole mindset was bar none. It was ridiculous how much he knew and what his thought process was when it comes to thinking about the game.”
The Price Wilson who commands the Bulldogs huddle this August after a record-breaking 2017 campaign, is a far cry from the Price Wilson who walked on to campus last summer not knowing a teammate’s name.
Perry estimates that Wilson and the Bulldogs ran just 50 percent of the formations and plays in his playbook. Now, Wilson has a graduate degree in Perry’s system and is excited to unleash the width and breath of Perry’s playbook on opponents.
“The big thing was the offense I was looking for, and Coach Perry’s whole mindset was bar none. It was ridiculous how much he knew and what his thought process was when it comes to thinking about the game.” — Bryant quarterback Price Wilson
“There’s more of an understanding this season for everybody on the field,” Wilson said. “Everyone understands the offense and it allows Coach Perry to put in more plays and we’re thankful for that.”
Wilson came to Bryant from Louisiana Tech where he spent three nondescript seasons backing up the likes of Florida transfer Jeff Driskel and Ryan Higgins. Wilson threw just six passes – completing four of them – in his three seasons at the Rustin, La. school.
While Wilson was looking for a new school – in the Football Championship Subdivision so he could play right away – Perry was looking for a quarterback. Former coach Marty Fine left plenty of talented players for Perry to coach, but there wasn’t a seasoned quarterback on the roster after Dalton Easton handled nearly every snap in his last three seasons on campus.
“We didn’t want to just bring him in because he had good high school film or played a little at La Tech,” Perry said. “With the connection we have at the school, we knew he was a good kid and a good worker – he’s just not going to start there. When he got on campus, we learned more about him and we didn’t make him any promises. He had to work to earn his spot.”
When training camp started last August, senior Devin Ray was taking snaps with the first-team offense because the dual-threat senior had gone through spring practice learning Perry’s system. By Aug. 15, however, Wilson was working with Tom Kennedy, Matt Sewall, Brendan Femiano and the starters.
Wilson struggled in the first two games of the season, throwing five touchdowns against seven interceptions with a completion percentage of just 50 percent (38-for-76). The offense continued to sputter into the middle of the season, where the Bulldogs lost five of their first six games against FCS competition.
“It’s a learning experience, so I’ll go back and look at those games and it’s bone-headed, Day 1 mistakes that we were making,” Wilson said. “You go back and look at it and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe we did that, that’s Day 1 stuff.’ It took a couple of games, you saw that. There was some rust I had to shake off.”
It was pretty obvious to Perry when his 6-foot, 2-inch transfer quarterback was struggling to grasp the offense and synthesize what the defense was doing.
“He throws the ball so fast and is such a talented thrower,” Perry said. “Early in the season, you see some of the throws he’s making, you can tell he’s not comfortable. When he throws it with conviction, it travels so fast and is such a crisp throw. At the end of the year, you’re seeing those throws on posts that are just going. It’s just comfortability.”
The turning point of Wilson’s season came in a 31-14 defeat to Northeast Conference champion Central Connecticut State on Oct. 21. After throwing multiple interceptions in the previous two weeks, Wilson didn’t have a pass picked off by the Blue Devils. The game also started a run of five straight where he completed at least 59.4 percent of his passes, something he only did twice in the first six weeks of the season.
Starting with the Central Connecticut game, Wilson threw 13 touchdowns passes against just four interceptions after throwing 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in the first six games. The second-team all-NEC selection broke the single-season school record in completions (257), attempts (431), passing yards (3,331) and total yards (3,263).
“He handled everything well,” Perry said. “I’ve coached some good ones, and he throws it as good as anyone I’ve every coached. That’s all about being comfortable.”
Wilson loves the marriage of his quarterbacking talent and Perry’s offense system, but the New England winters take some getting used to. Wilson remembers waking up before dawn in February and March, putting on layers of clothes and trudging past Beirne Stadium to the Conaty Indoor Atlhetic Center for offseason workouts.
“I made the right decision – great decision,” Wilson said. “The winter was tough. Getting up at 6 a.m., walking over to [the Conaty Indoor Athletic Center] in three feet of snow, that was tough. It is what it is. I’d seen snow before, I’d been skiing before, but waking up in the morning and not just throwing on shorts and a t-shirt, but sweatpants, a sweatshirt, a jacket over that and a beanie was a surprise.”
Those offseason workouts are also when Perry started seeing Wilson become one of the team’s leaders. Even though he isn’t one of the team’s four captains, Wilson runs the offense and leads by example – even when he’s asked to do something foreign to him.
“When we start doing our multiple-quarterback stuff and he has to run a route, he’s not saying, ‘Hold on, I’m the quarterback, I don’t run routes,’” Perry said. “That’s how you show you’re a leader. When I’m asked to run a 10-yard out, I’m going to run it like a man and capable of catching the ball. That’s what he’s shown.”
With a pair of preseason All-Americans – linebacker Tom Costigan and special teams maven Jean Constant – on the roster, Bryant is looking to take the next step and win its first NEC title. The Bulldogs, after winning their final four league games, were picked to finish third behind defending champion CCSU and Duquesne by the coaches.
Wilson believes the hard work the Bulldogs have put in this spring and summer, shows they’re ready to win a ring and earn the program its first playoff appearance since moving up from Division II a decade ago.
“We’re all excited. We’re excited,” Wilson said. “We’re here for one reason and that’s to get a ring. We’re working hard every day in practice because that’s what it takes to get a ring.”