Draper • It seemed like a solid plan for Corner Canyon quarterback Zach Wilson when his senior season started.
With a verbal commitment to Boise State, Wilson would graduate early from high school in December, then enroll at the university in January and get a head start on his Broncos career.
But the plan showed signs of cracking when more offers started arriving, and it was the interest of BYU that tilted the scales. Wilson decommitted from Boise State last week, reopened the recruiting process and on Thursday night at home with his family, Wilson signed a National Letter of Intent with the Cougars.
“I always knew the head coach at BYU [Kalani Sitake], and he was a great guy. When the offensive coordinator had changed and they found somebody who really wanted me [in Jeff Grimes], that was kind of what it was for me,” Wilson said. “If you can play in front of your family, there’s nothing better than that.”
At Corner Canyon, Wilson threw for 2,986 yards, ran for 752 yards and helped the Chargers to the No. 1 ranking in Class 5A and a spot in the state semifinals despite an ankle injury that hampered him the second half of the season.
“When a new school offered, I wanted to hear what they had to say,” Wilson said. “After a while, Boise wanted to know for sure what I wanted to do. They wanted me to be one hundred percent, and I wasn’t.”
During the season, Wilson tweeted about receiving offers from the likes of Syracuse and Minnesota. When he decommitted from Boise State, BYU appeared to be the front-runner — yet Wilson put off announcing his choice Tuesday, wanting to consider late offers from California and Oregon State.
“There was a lot of schools coming in late, losing their quarterbacks. A lot of schools you really considered growing up. When you get those opportunities, you have to consider all of them,” Wilson said. “I just wanted to kind of reconfirm that BYU is where I wanted to be. That’s kind of what I was doing.”
Wilson said his decision to graduate high school early did not put additional pressure on him to decide on a college immediately.
“Graduating early was something I always wanted to do. I worked at it for the last two years,” Wilson said. “It is too bad I didn’t get to go out there on an official (visit) to Oregon State or Cal. I had been to both on unofficials before, so I had a pretty good clue on both. I kind of wish I could have, but at the same time I think I knew BYU was the right place for me.”
