By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — From steaming hot mini-camps to freezing cold first downs, C.J. Wilson has been through tons of long days pursing his passion of football.
On Thursday, all those years of hard work paid off as Wilson signed his first professional contract, a four-year deal, to play football for one of the NFL’s most storied franchises, the Green Bay Packers.
“I’m very excited and I’m very blessed, and I just want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to be here,” Wilson said. “Green Bay is a great organization, and a great team with great coaches and I just feel very blessed to be here.”
Wilson, a former Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year and a cornerstone during East Carolina’s back-to-back conference championships the last two seasons, was taking by the Packers in the seventh round of this year’s NFL draft.
For the last four years, Wilson could be seen sporting his purple-and-gold No. 95 jersey every Saturday, but this season he will be wearing No. 98 on Sundays.
The No. 98 was given to him by the team, but the former Northside star didn’t mind the number change one bit saying, “It’s not the number that makes the player, it’s the player that makes the number.”
While the move from Greenville to Green Bay is great in distance, Wilson said there are some similarities. Though Green Bay is a pro-sports town, it is known to have a very collegiate atmosphere.
“Oh yeah, it feels a lot like Greenville. It’s a good feeling, you just have to experience it,” Wilson said. “It’s just like back home, I guess you could say. Everybody is close, and they love the Packers.”
The environment off the field may be similar to Greenville, but once the pads were put on Wilson said the feeling was a little different.
“It was a great experience to practice with the greats in the NFL,” Wilson said. “It’s surprising just how good these guys really are. You see them on TV and watch them all the time, but when you are right up close with them practicing it’s a lot different. Just to see a guy like (quarterback) Aaron Rogers is amazing; the level of talent is so high.”
Wilson, who was a 4-3 end with the Pirates, will be asked to play a 3-4 end in Green Bay. Wilson said the differences are vast.
“It’s a lot different,” Wilson said. “In college in the 4-3 we were asked to do a lot more attacking, in the 3-4 we have to do a lot more reading.”
The Packers’ rookie is doing his best to learn on the fly and said that the veterans have been helpful in the process.
“All the veterans have been very nice,” Wilson said. “(Linebacker) Clay Mathews was really nice and (NT) B.J. Raji has given me some great advice. … It’s been a good experience so far.”
Wilson’s former teammate and New York draft pick P Matt Dodge signed with the Giants on Wednesday. However, former ECU DT Linval Joseph, the Giants’ No. 2 pick, is yet to come to terms with the team.