DE Wilson's seen his fair share of hits too

After North Carolina's football season took a serious hit last week at Virginia it was junior defensive end E.J. Wilson who was rallying his teammates helping them try to recover and bounce back.

After all Wilson has come back from worse.

By the time he was a 12-year-old growing up in Emporia Va. he had become a regular customer at the local emergency room.

He's been belted in the forehead by a baseball bat; the injury required a half-dozen stitches.

He needed surgery to repair a broken nose sustained on the basketball court during his senior year of high school.

In sixth grade he was injured in a go-kart accident and a pin was inserted into his pinkie finger to reconstruct it.

And at age 7 he was slammed off his bike by a Cadillac he said was traveling at 70 miles per hour.

But as bizarre and scarring as his injuries have been" Wilson has always found his way back to the gridiron — sometimes much more quickly than expected.

""I always bounce back" Wilson said. Even after I got hit by the car I stayed in the hospital overnight I got the stitches out next week" and I was back playing football again.

""I guess God was watching over me. The only thing I had was a scar to show for it.""

Even when healthy" Wilson still has recovery on his mind.

He's taken on a leadership role in the locker room since the Tar Heels let one slip away Saturday to the Cavaliers ­— their 14th straight loss in Charlottesville" Va.

""I've been through a lot" and I'm not worried about myself Wilson said. I'm trying to make sure everybody around me is OK because if everybody around me is OK" I'm good.

""I find myself a lot" if a guy's had a bad practice or a bad game" I'm usually the one who goes up and talks to him.""

UNC's ability to bounce back this weekend against No. 23 Boston College will have a big impact on both the Tar Heels' 2008 campaign and the ACC leaderboard.

For this to happen" they'll need continued contribution from Wilson between the lines too. This season he's racked up 21 tackles a sack and a team-high six quarterback hurries.

A big reason for those numbers is that for once" he's been consistently healthy — he's started every game since the beginning of the 2007 season.

""All defensive linemen get beat up during the course of games and the season and stuff" and he sucks it up and plays hard every week UNC coach Butch Davis said.

I didn't know anything about (the accidents)" but obviously he must be pretty tough.

""Maybe he's walking around"" luckier than he thinks. He should go to Vegas.""

Perhaps all the healing Wilson has done was just practice for his future"" as he said he wants to be a physical therapist.

Whatever he pursues — be it his exercise and sport science degree or ACC quarterbacks — he's likely to keep doing it with reckless abandon.

""My mom said she thought it'd kind of slow me down" the things that happened when I was smaller" Wilson said.

But I just keep going.""



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.