By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Dylan Wilson will know at least one other player when he checks into the West Virginia State football locker room later this summer.

The Osceola High guard will join his good friend and Kowboys teammate, Matt Hedrick, at the Charleston, W. Va., school.

Wilson signed a letter of intent to the Yellow Jackets, coached by Ed Monroe, recently and he said that knowing Hedrick was going there influenced his decision.

“We were side-by-side (on the Kowboys offensive line),” he said. “When the coaches were looking at Matt’s tape, I was right next to him.”

Wilson played guard for the Kowboys, but his senior season was interrupted in week 8 when he suffered a concussion during the regular season meeting against Lakeland.

Wilson’s mother, Julie, and father, Richard, took their son to the Lakeland Regional Medical Center, located next to the Dreadnaughts’ stadium, for observation.

“They kept him and ran all of the tests,” Julie Wilson said.

Unfortunately for Dylan and the Kowboys, he was held out of action for three games as doctors made certain that there would be no after-effects from the concussion.

“It stunk,” Wilson said about being forced to watch his teammates play for a month before he could rejoin them.

Wilson finally got back on the field, again at Lakeland, during the regional semifinal round.

“He kept saying he felt fine, but that was when all these reports on concussions were in the news, and they wouldn’t let him play,” Julie Wilson said. “It was hard for him, but I’m glad they did it that way.”

Richard Wilson said Dylan played football since he was 8.

“He was always running around, we had to do something to keep him busy,” Richard Wilson said. “Baseball wasn’t good for him, he had to be active.”

Dylan Wilson said he considered several other offers before choosing West Virginia State.

“I’m going to have to get some winter clothes,” he said.

The Yellow Jackets, who play in NCAA Division II, were 3-7 overall and 2-6 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last year.

Joining Wilson and Hedrick as Kowboys football signees are Shaquille Bell, B.J. Butler, Marc Deas and Akeem Daniels.