Travis Wilson is ready for whatever comes his way, or doesn’t, from this weekend’s NFL Draft.
The former San Clemente and Utah quarterback doesn’t know any other way to handle life’s offerings but to take on all challenges.
“I love playing this game … and my ultimate goal has been to make it to the NFL, so I definitely want to try,” Wilson said in a phone interview last week.
“I’m just trying to stay positive and hopefully I’ll get a chance somewhere. … I have a lot to offer a team.”
Wilson (6-7, 233) said he or his representatives, Paradigm Sports Management in Irvine, have talked to San Diego, Cincinnati, New England, the New York Jets and Houston.
He wasn’t invited to the NFL combine but participated in Utah’s pro day in March and continues to train with quarteback coach Mike Sheppard.
The draft started Thursday with the first round and continues today with the second and third rounds and concludes Saturday with rounds fourth through seven.
His former San Clemente teammate, offensive lineman Kyle Murphy of Stanford, is another prospect to track.
If Wilson doesn’t get drafted, he will pursue free agency, a route that former Servite and Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo followed last year.
“That is definitely a possibility for me,” Wilson said. “If I don’t get picked up in the later rounds, I think a lot of teams will be looking at me as a free agent.”
Fajardo signed with the Raiders but didn’t make the team. He reportedly has been in recent talks with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
Wilson continued to forge his resolve at Utah.
He played for four different offensive coordinators, discovered he had an enlarged intracranial artery in his brain after a concussion and felt “crushed” by the death of his best friend and former San Clemente teammate, Nick Pasquale of UCLA, in 2013.
“He always pushed me to be the best I could,” Wilson said of Pasquale. “He was always watching me.”
Wilson’s career was in doubt at one point because of his brain condition but he was cleared by doctors and produced a strong finish to his Utah career. He went 9-3 as a starter last season and passed for almost 2,100 yards and 13 TDs (10 interceptions).
“I definitely went through a lot,” he said of his time in Utah, which he enjoyed. “I look back at it now and all it did was just help me handle different situations better and mature.”
And count his blessings.
“For me to play football again was just a very grateful opportunity,” he said.
