BigEastSportsBlog.com

Kion Wilson text-messaged me this morning to see if I’d gotten an e-mail he’d sent me with his younger brothers’ proper names. (I’d written a piece on him, I wanted to double-check something with him and he’s that kind of kid, he was following up.) I texted him back yes, and that he’d caused quite a stir up in New Jersey with his words. His response?

“Lol”

And I was reminded again how much flavor just a dash of candor can add.

It all started yesterday when down in Tampa, Kion was asked if there was any place South Florida could try to hope for an advantage. (If I believe in my team, I’m thinking I need to see an advantage everywhere. But I digress.)

Kion very frankly told Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times, “Their offensive line had extremely a lot of hype going into the game, but they’re second in the Big East in giving up sacks. They don’t handle stunts and pressure very well, so hopefully Coach Tresey (USF’s defensive coordinator) will be aggressive with the play-calling, and have our defensive line do a lot of stunting and a lot of blitzing and hopefully we’ll be able to get pressure on the quarterback.”

Oh boy, uproar in the Rutgers media den.

Now honestly, sometimes I think our sense of what’s inflammatory talk has been skewed because Rutgers kids NEVER say anything even remotely, imaginably controversial. Rutgers’ players get media training, Rutgers’ coach gets daily clips with every quote highlighted (in specially coded colors no less) and Rutgers’ players know it when their coach doesn’t like what’s highlighted. The Scarlet Knights are a very business-like group who play it straight, who focus on what happens on the field and who would NEVER have a member say what Kion said. Even if it’s true.

Which Kion’s words kind of are. Let’s be honest here. Rutgers’ o-line, with its five returning starters - two of whom are fifth-year seniors and one of whom is a likely first-round draft pick - was definitely hyped: it was billed as one of the league’s best, if not the best. Rutgers is indeed second in the Big East in sacks allowed. The line hasn’t handled stunts and pressures as well as it has in the past and yes, any aggressive defensive player would want his defensive coordinator to make aggressive play-calls, right?

Which is why when I said to Kion, “So you don’t want to tell me you were misquoted?” … he laughed again. And said, “Not at all.”

I very seriously asked Kion if he could get in trouble. I mean, Jim Leavitt looks hungry for a bite of someone’s head on a daily basis and here he was practically putting his head on a platter. He laughed yet again and said, no, “It’s perfectly fine to talk about” what his film study shows. He said he can’t think of Coach Leavitt calling out a player for something he said to a reporter and Kion said the only time he’s known Leavitt to call a player in to discuss an article was if a reporter was trying to make the player or the program look bad.

So Greg Schiano and Jim Leavitt have a different approach on something. Shocker. Now here’s a bet that that approach, and these words, count for absolutely nothing come Thursday.