Look for this to be a hot speculative topic for the next few weeks. Year2 ranks the prospective landing spots for Wilson. Here’s what he says about his top four:
Auburn: The Tigers have a couple of quarterbacks vying for the starting role, but landing Wilson would provide a star to buoy a team that lost more than two dozen players off of its national title team. He’s no Cam Newton, but he would do well there.
LSU: A lot of people seem to think LSU is a prime landing spot for Wilson, but I’m not so sure. Jordan Jefferson did well enough in Spring to hold onto the starting job, and they already have a splashy transfer in Zach Mettenberger. However, LSU might be a top QB away from being the national title favorite, and Wilson could be that guy.
Ole Miss: Houston Nutt seemingly has never met a transfer quarterback he didn’t like, but again, this seems like an unlikely landing spot. Randall Mackey got a lot of praise in spring, and like LSU, the Rebels got a highly touted transfer this year in Barry Brunetti. Still, you never can count Nutt out in these things, can you?
South Carolina: The Gamecocks got to see Wilson up close in their game in 2009, and with Stephen Garcia in disciplinary limbo again, they could use a reliable quarterback. Steve Spurrier seems fairly high on Connor Shaw as a backup, but Wilson would be a better alternate option to Garcia than the young Shaw is.
Of that bunch, I don’t see Mississippi as a likely landing spot, Nutt’s proclivities aside. And you wonder how much of a risk of rupturing team chemistry Les Miles is willing to take; LSU looks pretty solid right now, even with Jordan Jefferson as the starter.
But Auburn and South Carolina… yeah, I can see Wilson’s attraction at either school. Auburn could make good use of someone with his skill set and experience and you have to think Malzahn is the kind of coach who could do a bang up job with that. As for Spurrier, signing Wilson would be the kind of prickish move that’s second nature for the OBC. What he has to weigh against giving Garcia the finger is whether he could get a new quarterback up to speed in a month’s worth of practice; on paper, South Carolina has a far stronger shot at a return trip to Atlanta this season than the Tigers do.