Zach Wilson’s path to NFL Draft: ‘He doesn’t understand why he’s anything special’ (2024)

Banked alongside one another on the bench at a firwood farmhouse table, BYU quarterback Zach Wilson and his friend, Nixon Whatcott, meticulously worked through the details of their new playbook.

They drew up “Troy RT 61 Hank,” where the tight end was the primary target as he worked off the mike linebacker’s man coverage. Not open? Progress to the Z receiver’s 10-yard curl, then to the slot receiver’s route to the right flat.

As they sat with their backs to the windows in the Whatcotts’ sunlit kitchen, with dark hardwood floors that matched the table and whiteboard and batten that blended into the gray-painted walls, the pair designed man and zone beaters with blue and orange highlighters and labeled their plays with a navy marker before safely tucking each page into a binder.

Wilson, who is viewed as a near-certain top-five pick in next month’s NFL Draft, was midway through his three-year journey at BYU when he took a half-hour drive to the Whatcotts’ home in Bluffdale, Utah, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City. It was one of his numerous interactions with Nixon, part of a unique bond developed over the course of a year.

Nixon was a 7-year-old with bright blue eyes, a golden smile and a passion for sports or anything else that could get him outdoors. He was strong and resilient, having been diagnosed as a 6-year-old with stage 4 osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that took part of his left leg.

But when Nixon and Wilson were together, there was no cancer. None of the grueling treatments. Or the physical and emotional pain that shadows a disease that ravages the human body.

“Zach genuinely cared, and Nixon thought he was his best friend,” Janessa Whatcott said of her son. “In Nixon’s eyes, he loved him. He thought the world of him. And Zach made him feel like Nixon was equally important.”

Nixon was the third-oldest of Janessa and Nick Whatcott’s four sons. After his diagnosis in February 2018 and then as the prognosis worsened, Janessa and Nick created as many memories as possible. They went to Hawaii and Disneyland, set up a hunting trip to Missouri where Nixon caught a buck, attended an Eagles-Cowboys game in Philadelphia through the Haloti Ngata Foundation and a Navy-Tulsa game six days later due to Nixon’s love for the military.

And of course, the family helped coordinate a meeting between their BYU-crazed son and his favorite team. Wilson, who graduated early from Corner Canyon High School in nearby Draper, enrolled at BYU in the spring of 2018 and was among the first Cougars who met Nixon. The inquisitive, personable boy even pressed Wilson on why he wasn’t yet the starter.

Wilson gave Nixon a BYU pen that was used by the coaching staff. And then a second one when the Whatcotts lost the original on a family trip. Nixon would beg his parents to send Wilson a text or a video just to say hello. They spent time at the practice field, and Nixon would passionately scream coaching pointers at the TV during games.

“He thought he was one of the players,” Janessa said. “He loved watching them play. He was super intense and loved everything about them.”

When Wilson heard Zach loved to draw up his own plays, the quarterback couldn’t wait to head to his house to create their own playbook.

“When you have a kid who is going through something so hard, to be welcomed into this elite group of guys, it was great for him,” Janessa said. “It was awesome to lift him up and encourage him to keep going and keep fighting his whole battle.”

Nixon died June 25, 2019. Wilson has remained close with the family and a huge supporter of the NixonStrong Foundation. In fact, there have been countless examples of the ways Wilson has impacted the BYU community, visiting cancer patients in the hospital and spreading joy through acts of kindness.

“He doesn’t understand why he’s anything special,” Mike Wilson said. “He just thinks of himself as a normal kid, and he doesn’t grasp that maybe he’s something more to other people.”

‘He looked like a noodle, but he could zip it’

Zach Wilson ditched training wheels before his third birthday, so he’s been flying around for quite some time.

Mike Wilson, a defensive lineman at Utah from 1992-95, has six athletically gifted children with his wife Lisa, who teaches workout classes. Whitney, their oldest, is a professional dancer. Josh is a freshman linebacker at BYU. Micah, a junior in high school, is an all-state linebacker with an offer from BYU. Isaac, a freshman quarterback, was just recognized for a strong performance at a seven-on-seven tournament in Phoenix. Sophie, their youngest, is a cheerleader.

Mike has always kept a football in the car so they could play catch wherever they went. If Lisa pulled into the grocery store, Mike and the kids would hop out and take over the parking lot.

“Honestly, it was a way for me to connect with my boys,” Mike Wilson said. “We’d play catch, and we’d talk the whole time.”

In 2015, Wilson, whose blood was Utes-red, was at a Utah recruiting camp, where Fesi Sitake was scouting when the quarterback made his first impression on the man who’d later become the BYU passing game coordinator.

“He was real skinny,” said Sitake, who was at Weber State at the time. “He looked like a noodle, but he could zip it. You could see it in his arm. As I was watching all the quarterbacks, he just stuck out. I mean, from the first throw he made, I was like, ‘Gosh, man, who is this kid?’”

Sitake invited Wilson to Weber State’s camp and offered him a scholarship. It was Wilson’s lone offer for about a year because other programs couldn’t get over Wilson’s slender frame. Sitake said one glance at Mike Wilson was enough assurance Zach’s growth spurt was inevitable.

Wilson desperately wanted to play for Utah. The family had season tickets in the second row at the 50-yard line since Urban Meyer’s first season in 2003, but the Utes had no interest. Neither did BYU, even though Wilson was the MVP of its camp before his junior year.

Wilson traveled around the country to camps showcasing his arm, and he gained 21 pounds, shooting up to 197 pounds in two months through a 5,500-calorie diet. Still lacking offers from his preferred schools, Wilson committed to Boise State before his senior year.

His high school coach, Eric Kjar, loved Wilson’s confidence, swagger and passion.

“He’s hilarious,” Kjar said. “The defense, me, anything like that, we would banter back and forth. I’d give him sh*t about his arm strength and tell him I had a stronger arm than him. He was fun to have in practice because he would bring that competitive edge to it, but he’s also got that fun sense of humor.”

Wilson’s teammates thrived off his leadership and toughness. Kjar recalled one cold, rainy night in a rivalry game when Wilson unloaded a hard shot on a linebacker.

“I was like, ‘You can’t play like this,’” Kjar said, concerned Wilson was making himself unnecessarily vulnerable to injury. “He was like, ‘I know, but it felt so good.’ It just made me laugh.”

Wilson was no longer a hidden gem by the end of his senior season. With size concerns mitigated and the talent obvious, Power Five schools flocked.

And finally, so did BYU. Head coach Kalani Sitake, after firing coordinator Ty Detmer and the offensive staff, called Mike Wilson to apologize for failing to recruit his son.

“I’m glad they were open to listening to me, and that his mom and dad had a forgiving heart and were still willing to work with me even though I was late,” Sitake said.

Sitake revamped his offensive staff, hiring Jeff Grimes from LSU as his coordinator along with Aaron Roderick from Utah and his cousin, Fesi Sitake. By the time Wilson and his family got to campus for a four-hour meeting, Kalani Sitake had a plan to sell him on a quarterback-featured offense and an opportunity for playing time.

Then, Sitake convinced Lisa Wilson by telling her Zach could be home for dinner every Sunday night. Zach signed with BYU the following week.

Now a Cougars family, Mike Wilson shoved his Utah gear into a drawer, where it ultimately remained for two years until he threw it out.

“We’ve always just hated BYU fans because we were Utah fans our whole lives,” Mike laughed. “I hated them when I played there. I hated them after. And up until Zach started playing for them, I hated them.

“I couldn’t wear any BYU gear for the first year. I didn’t feel comfortable in blue for whatever reason. It was just a weird thing for me.”

‘You’re part of our family now’

Zach Wilson’s autographed jersey is still in Jake Martinez’s closet.

Someday, he’ll give it to one of his three daughters. For now, it’s still too soon.

It yields the memory of an excruciating time, as well as the way a kind gesture can change a life.

Martinez’s wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2014 while she was 12 weeks pregnant. She underwent surgery to remove 18 inches of her colon wall and endured her first five rounds of chemotherapy during the pregnancy.

Melissa, a nurse who cared for premature babies at Utah Valley Hospital’s Neonatal ICU, was declared cancer-free in 2016, but it returned without mercy in 2018. She was stage 4, as it metastasized to her ovaries, uterus, lungs and liver, and she had 50 rounds of intense chemotherapy and radiation, plus three clinical trials at Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.

“Just an amazing warrior,” Jake Martinez marveled.

Close friends and next-door neighbors with Fesi Sitake, the BYU passing game coordinator was always checking in on the family. Last fall, with Jake Martinez so enamored with his coworkers’ willingness to help around the house when he was spending time with Melissa at the hospital, he asked Sitake for a favor. Martinez planned to buy 15 footballs from the BYU store, and he wondered if Zach Wilson could sign them for his coworkers.

Sitake did him one better. He showed up the next day with a bag of 15 balls, all autographed by the quarterback.

Jake and Melissa celebrated their 15th anniversary Dec. 10. With Melissa on bedrest, they shared a great night together in their room with a good dinner and a nice conversation.

Her condition turned for the worse in the ensuing days. Melissa, always so high-spirited in such a grueling fight, grew frustrated that her body was shutting down. She wasn’t talking as much.

A week after their anniversary, Sitake knocked on their door at 10 p.m. He had an autographed jersey from Wilson and a BYU backpack filled with memorabilia from the team. Then, he passed along a video from Wilson.

“Hey Mel, it’s Zach Wilson, quarterback at BYU,” he said in the video. “Just wanted to say that we’re thinking about you. You’re in our thoughts and prayers. We’re hoping the best for you. You’re part of our family now, and we’re here for anything that you need. Go Cougs, and have a happy holidays.”

For a night, the pain was extinguished.

“I can’t explain it,” Jake Martinez beamed. “It was like a light just came in. It made her feel so special. That night, man, it was just so great. She was so herself again for like five hours after we got that. We stayed up late that night, and she was just herself again, looking through all this stuff, talking about how awesome Fesi is, how awesome Zach is.”

Melissa, 37, died Dec. 22. The gesture by Wilson and Sitake provided a shining moment in an unrelentingly difficult final week. It gave the Martinez family one extra conversation, one more memory for Jake to hold so dearly.

“He has got a heart of gold, just a total stud,” Martinez said of Wilson. “His life is just going crazy right now, and he takes the time out to get this backpack put together of BYU stuff, signed it. It made my wife’s night. She was just so pumped. It was the coolest thing. It was really awesome.”

‘Vengeance was about to happen’

Zach Wilson didn’t need his training wheels at BYU, either.

He doubled up on classes, graduated early and enrolled at BYU in the spring of 2018. By the first day of spring ball, Roderick said Wilson knew the newly minted offense better than a lot of upperclassmen.

It also took a while for Wilson’s teammates to accept his competitive personality. He was the first one on the field every day and warmed up by firing rocket after rocket. When All-American tight end Matt Bushman broke left instead of right on an incompletion, Wilson immediately wanted to know why they weren’t reading the defense the same way.

Wilson had high expectations for himself and everyone else, and he was eager to talk through miscommunications. He was also trying to coordinate throwing sessions after practices. None of these traits were harmful, but they required a bit more tact from an early enrollee who hadn’t yet earned his role as a leader.

“When the young guy, the newcomer is outworking everybody, the first thing people want to do is be defensive,” Kalani Sitake said. “Because he wants to do better, he doesn’t understand why people wouldn’t want to throw more and wouldn’t want to work harder. Maybe that rubbed people the wrong way, but I was OK with that. If you look at our team now, that culture of everybody doing more, that’s part of what we have. Well, who helped establish that? That was Zach.”

Wilson was confident, charismatic and unapologetically bold. He even brought a pair of BYU cheerleaders to Corner Canyon’s prom, as only Wilson could.

“That was stuff you’d expect from Zach a little bit,” Kjar laughed.

There’s also a unique dynamic at BYU, a deeply religious school with a higher percentage of married upperclassmen or older students who spent a couple years on a Mormon mission.

“We probably have more married guys on our team than any team in the country, so you kind of have this chasm between the younger guys and some of these guys who are a little older and married,” Roderick said. “He had to kind of find a way to bridge that.”

Grimes added, “Where it’s hard sometimes is a guy like Zach wants to do something, and another guy is going, ‘Well, my wife has dinner waiting on me. I’m going home to hang with my wife.’”

Wilson and senior Tanner Mangum were in a dead heat for the starting job, and the coaches went with Mangum’s experience. When the offense continued to sputter in their sixth game, an embarrassing, 45-20 loss at home against Utah State, Sitake put Wilson on the field for the final series. He went 3 of 4 for 52 yards, ran twice for 25 yards and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Gunner Romney.

Sitake and his staff knew it was time. Wilson was their most dynamic offensive player, and they could open up the playbook because of his athleticism.

“Man, we took such a huge jump forward with him offensively,” Fesi Sitake said.

BYU lit up Hawaii, 49-23, in Wilson’s first start, and he validated the coaches’ confidence in the first quarter on a third-and-15 quarterback draw, evading a tackle and scoring a 23-yard touchdown.

“Zach gave us a spark that seemed undeniable,” Roderick said. “His athleticism, his ability to make plays and create things that weren’t there, it gave us a different element.”

It wasn’t perfect, though. After a 7-6 loss to Northern Illinois the following week, BYU traveled to Boise State for a game that meant the world to Wilson, who had every intention of playing for the Broncos before decommitting. His dad still has Boise State cornhole boards in the garage, just one of many ways the family had become invested in the program.

Trailing 21-16 with 2:05 remaining, Wilson took over at BYU’s 17-yard line. He tossed a 59-yard pass to Matt Hadley and led the offense to the 2-yard line with 7 seconds and no timeouts remaining – enough time for two plays. Wilson’s first read was covered, but he didn’t throw it away because he thought he saw an avenue to the end zone.

Sack. Game over.

As the Broncos stormed the field, a dejected Wilson walked over to Fesi Sitake, who pulled up Wilson’s facemask to look him in the eyes.

“I promised him he would get better, and this was going to be a memory that he was going to learn and grow from,” Sitake said.

“But he had a look that vengeance was about to happen, like no one has any idea what this loss is going to do for me.”

Two days after Wilson went a perfect 18-of-18 for 317 yards and four touchdowns in a bowl game against Western Michigan, he went with his father and brothers for a workout and throwing session. But Wilson had severe shoulder pain. He returned to BYU for an MRI, which revealed a torn labrum that likely stemmed from high school. He had surgery in San Diego. The recovery from the injury, which once threatened Drew Brees’ career, would be arduous.

By mid-July, about two weeks before BYU returned for camp, he could only throw it 15 yards. He slowly increased his distance, was restricted in practice and then was still only 70 percent by the start of the 2019 season.

Roderick was blunt with Wilson and offered him the chance to medically redshirt the season. Another injury could eviscerate his path to the NFL.

“He was hellbent on playing,” Roderick said. “He was like, ‘No way, I’m playing.’”

He played five games and gutted out two overtime wins before anothersetback. Wilson threw an interception against Toledo and broke his right thumb while making the tackle. Doctors inserted a pin into his thumb, and he missed four games. When they removed the pin and cast, the muscle in his hand had atrophied and he couldn’t grip the ball, but he gutted through the final four games.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was his team and he wanted to be out there.

“I just appreciated that he was willing to do it,” Grimes said. “Some guys just say, ‘I’m not ready.’ The other thing is he never made an excuse. A lot of guys would say, ‘Well, my arm is not there. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.’ He never blamed anything on an injury. He just said, ‘I have to do better,’ and put it on himself.”

‘It creates memories’

Wyatt Page didn’t know how to have a bad day. One of his best involved Zach Wilson.

He was a fun-loving kid who adored BYU football, the Utah Jazz, riding his bike with friends, playing sports and watching Star Wars.

In March 2018, at the age of 10, Wyatt was diagnosed with ependymoma. He had two surgeries on the tennis ball-sized tumor in his brain, traveled to Seattle for radiation treatment and was cancer-free for eight months. But the cancer returned and spread to his lower brain, lymph nodes and scalp, and doctors determined it was terminal in October 2019.

In all, Wyatt endured five surgeries and 96 rounds of radiation – 34 during his fight and the rest as palliative care to extend his life. He had a goal to see “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” that December.

As Wyatt went through it all, he focused so much time on helping others. Before he found out his cancer was terminal, he put together 10 “comfort bundles” and donated them to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. They included a blanket, pillowcase and a beanie.

Then, when Wyatt and his parents, Doug and Emily Page, learned of his terminal condition, they decided to put together one bundle for each of his 73 rounds of radiation. And they added more from there.

When several family friends gave Wyatt a “giving tree” for Christmas, he decided to use half the money on more comfort bundles. He added action figures, Barbie dolls, Nerf Guns, Legos and stuffed animals.

“His whole point was to bring comfort and distraction to kids going through similar things as he did,” Emily Page said. “It’s amazing to see the impact that he’s had on so many people.”

A mutual friend shared Wyatt’s story with Kalani Sitake, who invited the Pages to practice. Wyatt watched a video of the BYU team chanting his name, and when practice was over, the team ran over to the 12-year-old to treat him like a king.

Zach Wilson, out of action with the broken thumb, was engulfed by Wyatt and his friends.

“He was kind enough to just spend the time talking with him and his friends,” Emily Page said. “Especially Wyatt, but all of the kids were awestruck with like, ‘Look who it is, it’s Zach Wilson!’ They’re enthralled with who they’re hanging out with.”

This was six days after the Pages found out the cancer was terminal.

“It creates memories,” Doug Page said, “of watching someone you care about just have a grin on their face, ear to ear, and have a little bit of a bright sunshine, happiness, in their life for that particular moment in time, and to forget about what, in Wyatt’s case, he was facing.”

In that sense, Wyatt and Wilson were aligned, recognizing the power and importance of prioritizing others.

Wyatt died Jan. 14, 2020. There was an hour and a half line out the door for his services.

His parents have since established Wyatt’s Comfort Bundles, and they’ve so far donated more than 2,100 bundles.

Wyatt Page hasn’t stopped giving.

‘How bad do you want it?’

While Wilson’s pro potential was apparent, no one was prepared for him to so dramatically dominate the college football landscape in 2020.

He had been working with 3DQB throwing coach John Beck in offseason spurts since 2018, but Wilson made an extended trip to California during the pandemic. He strengthened his shoulder, added muscle and significantly improved two on-field qualities.

First, Wilson made the easy completions become automatic by learning to efficiently read defenses and eliminate unforced errors. Second, Wilson improved his pocket mobility and began driving the ball with his off-platform throws, which increased his ability to create a completion when one might not otherwise be available.

Wilson had one particularly impressive session in July with an impromptu throwing competition against other college quarterbacks.

“When Zach left that session,” Beck said, “us as coaches are walking off the field saying you basically can’t throw it any better in a workout. We knew if NFL evaluators had watched that workout right there, they would say, wow, this kid has the ability to be a top guy.”

When BYU returned to campus, Wilson and the team had players-only workouts Monday through Friday, and he returned to Beck’s facility for the weekend. He would finish lifting weights Friday at noon, get in the charcoal-colored Mazda6 that his father bought him for high school graduation and make the 10-hour drive to California, where he’d stay with teammate Isaac Rex’s family. He’d often show up with food from a gas station so he wouldn’t impose on their refrigerator.

Wilson would work out Saturday morning with Beck, drive for DoorDash on Saturday night to cover his gas money, work out again Sunday then drive back to Utah. Wilson actually spent quite a bit of his free time in Provo working for DoorDash – frequently drawing hilarious reactions from BYU’s rabid fan base when the star quarterback unexpectedly showed up on the front steps with a pizza – just to get the extra cash. His employment wasn’t common knowledge, though. Grimes had no idea Wilson was doing it.

“He worked DoorDash, not because he wanted to but because he had to,” Mike Wilson said. “We needed the money to help pay, so he would go work and make $70-80 to help pay for his gas.

“I told him, ‘Hey, how bad do you want it?’”

That question, of course, was rhetorical. Zach Wilson was willing to do anything to make it, especially after a trying sophom*ore season. He was able to organize throwing sessions with his teammates, invited the offensive linemen over for poker nights and the team back home for pool parties and barbecues. He got with his teammates to watch “The Bachelor” or talk trash as they played video games, even though he didn’t play.

But then, go figure, Sitake and his staff put Wilson’s job up for grabs. Baylor Romney and Jaren Hall played well in Wilson’s absence in 2019, and Sitake wanted Wilson to prove he was the guy.

“I don’t ever want a quarterback who is afraid to compete,” Sitake said. “It’s not like Zach was afraid of it. He was like, ‘Let’s go.’”

The competition wasn’t close.

“That might be one of the rare cases when a top-five pick went into the season in a camp quarterback battle,” Beck said.

By late October, the secret was out. Through six games, all wins, Wilson was completing 78.3 percent of his passes, averaging 321.3 yards per outing and he had 16 touchdowns to one interception.

Roderick was particularly impressed with Wilson’s performance against Houston. After a flat showing in the first half, Wilson and Roderick scrapped the game plan for something new – Wilson calling from the sideline to Roderick in the coaches’ box – and Wilson went 25 of 35 for 400 yards and four touchdowns.

“This year was phenomenal,” Roderick said. “His zip on the ball was as good as I’ve ever seen. His accuracy is what sets him apart.”

The ability to improvise like that was easy for the football junky who tirelessly studied every NFL quarterback and texted with Beck at midnight. Wilson is always trying to learn.

Prior to last season, NFL teams casually checked in on Wilson. They soon began flooding BYU’s coaching staff with calls. Wilson wasn’t just putting himself into the mix as one of the draft’s top-four quarterbacks with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance – he was putting himself squarely in position to be the No. 2 pick behind Lawrence.

“He’s a confident kid,” Grimes said. “He had the same sort of swagger that I think most great players have. He knew he was good, but I think he also carried that chip with him from not being heavily recruited that said I’ve still got something to prove.

“In the back of his mind, I think all the time, he’s been playing in such a way to prove people wrong.”

Last month, Wilson invited Kalani and Fesi Sitake to California, where he’s been training with Beck alongside Fields and Florida’s Kyle Trask. Wilson even begged to pay for their trip.

That’s still Zach Wilson, after all these years.

“I had flashbacks of the scrawny little noodle who showed up in Ogden, Utah, at Weber State University, just hungry for a scholarship and to prove to some coach that he could play at the Division I level,” Fesi Sitake said. “To see it come full circle, the ups and downs he went through with his injuries, trying to find his space on the team, trying to reach out to his teammates, blessing people’s lives who are struggling, to being at the pinnacle of his career. It’s just a rollercoaster of emotions, but it’s really, really cool.”

‘Those families probably needed it like we did’

Zach Wilson is still the same person who was bopping around the grocery store parking lot catching passes from his father. Mike Wilson proudly noted Zach was cleaning up the family dog’s backyard deposits a few weeks ago with the rest of the group.

There’s no entitlement in the Wilson household.

Wilson has become a legend in his community. It’s been his willingness to oblige that has given him such a strong connection to the fans, who feel as though they’re on this journey with him. They know him.

Wilson is one of them.

As his star status soared in December, Wilson’s family was getting numerous requests for autographs. So Wilson reached out to Janessa Whatcott to set up an event for the NixonStrong Foundation. He wanted to sign autographs for free, only asking attendees for a donation.

People lined up out the door before Wilson even arrived. He made the 45-minute drive from campus on a Wednesday night, signed for a couple hours and conversed with everyone. Wilson then spent some extra time with 6-year-old Jett Whatcott, who was mesmerized by the Cougars quarterback and the best friend of his late big brother.

The event raised more than $3,000, which the foundation dispersed to 10 families who were overrun with medical bills from their own child’s fight against cancer. Nixon was always a helper, at times hiding presents around the hospital for other kids in similar circ*mstances, so his spirit shined through Wilson that night.

The following night, Wilson sent his video and the care package to Melissa Martinez.

“It makes you so happy because you know how much those families probably needed it like we did,” Janessa Whatcott said. “You know how much it helps and affects them.”

That week, Wilson was set to play the final game of his collegiate career. He could have easily devoted every moment to his last audition for NFL evaluators, but he preferred to carve out time for families in need.

Five days later, Wilson dominated Central Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl, throwing for 425 yards and accounting for five touchdowns in a 49-23 victory.

Wilson executed every play to perfection.

Just like he drew them up.

Sitting on the bench at the firwood farmhouse table in Nixon’s sunlit kitchen.