Tustin’s football team has a simple motto “10 player’s block so onecan run” that has worked for years.
Now it looks as if the Tillers have found the “one” for the next two seasons at least thanks to the emergence of running back Anthony Wilkerson.
The sophomore tailback rushed for 1,211 yards and nine touchdowns in his first varsity season to earn Tustin News Football Newcomer of the Year honors.
“Believing in the system is what makes it successful,” Wilkerson said. “Everybody has to do their job and if everyone blocks then that one guy running the ball will get the touchdown. It’s got to be a team effort, even the quarterback has to block.”
Wilkerson varsity debut actually came as a freshman during the Tillers CIF-SS first round playoff game against Trabuco Hills in 2006.
“I got a little taste of what it would be like my freshman year,” Wilkerson said. “It was definitely a learning experience at first because I had to learn how to duck my shoulder down and get those extra few yards.”
Wilkerson started his learning process by going up against Rancho Verde, a team that had six DI prospects on the team, as he rushed for 137 yards.
Then Wilkerson was introduced to one of the biggest rivalry games in Orange County as his Tillers took on the Foothill Knights. Once again he broke the 100-yard marker, but failed to reach the endzone and even worse Wilkerson sprained his ankle.
After sitting out a game Wilkerson rushed for another 129 yards against Western, but still had not recorded his first varsity touchdown.
In Wilkerson’s next game against Arroyo he finally reached the endzone with a 28-yard run as he broke the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game.
“I don’t think people expected me to do much because I was a sophomore,” Wilkerson said. “But I came into this season thinking that if I want to compete at this level I have to consider myself a varsity player and not worry about what grade I am in because then I will play like one.”
After rushing for a season low 70-yards against El Modena, Wilkerson broke loose for 203 yards against Villa Park.
But the best was yet to come.
The following week Wilkerson stole the show with a career high 283 yards and five touchdowns in an upset victory over Canyon, 35-27.
“Everyone expected us to loose, but we all knew that if we played as a team that we could pull off the upset,” Wilkerson said.
“To get the big runs you have to be able to grind away with the little ones, eventually they got tired of us hitting them and that’s when the big run happens.”
Wilkerson’s season came to a screeching halt after losing to El Dorado and Brea Olinda in the final two games of league.
The Tillers fell one game shy of making the playoffs, but the good news is the rebuilding process also ended with that loss.
“We were a young team this year and I think we are only going to get better because of the great chemistry we have,”
“I expect to be bigger, stronger and faster.”
It’s scary to think that Tustin’s sophomore “phenom” is only getting better, no wonder Beckman doesn’t want to play the Tillers until after he graduates.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2007 1st Team Century League
2007 Football Scholar Athlete
Rushing Yards – 1,211
Touchdowns – 9
Game High Rushing Yards – 283 (City High)
Game High Touchdowns – 5 (City High)
