Wilson shines in breakout performance, leading Bombers to thrilling win

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This article was published 13/07/2024 (461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was one of the most competitive job openings in training camp.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers brought in over a dozen American rookie receivers to fill a hole in their starting line-up and Florida State product Ontaria Wilson emerged as the winning candidate.

But through the first five games, the 24-year-old from Ashburn, Ga., failed to show why he was the chosen one. Even with injuries to star pass catchers Kenny Lawler and Dalton Schoen, Wilson was an afterthought in the offence with just eight catches for 85 yards on 14 targets.

And then Friday night happened.

Wilson was targeted a whopping 16 times and exploded for 13 grabs for 201 yards and a touchdown in a thrilling 41-37 win at home over the Calgary Stampeders (2-3).

“I told him ‘Tonight, bro, you just had a career-changing game,’” said veteran receiver Drew Wolitarsky. “He broke through and had such a great game and I’m so proud of him.”

To put the performance into perspective, Schoen has never been targeted 16 times in a game and Lawler has only hit that mark once when 17 balls were thrown his way on June 18, 2022, against Saskatchewan where he had 12 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown.

“I’ve never been over 200 (yards). Over 200, that’s a milestone,” said Wilson, who only broke 100 yards receiving twice in five NCAA seasons.

“It’s really not all of a sudden, I’ve just been able to be consistent every day in practice and just been coming in every day to work. Ultimately, yes, I expected to have a couple of shots, so I expected to have well over 100.”

The last time the Bombers played the Stamps was a 22-19 overtime loss in Week 4 where Collaros had left the game at half with a chest injury. In those two quarters, he didn’t throw a single ball to Wilson.

“In the quarterback room, we’ve been saying we’ve got to find ways to get this guy the ball,” said Collaros, who completed 27 of 36 passes for 344 passing yards, two touchdowns, and two picks.

“I haven’t seen many guys like him be able to adjust to the football in the air the way he does. Kenny Lawler is probably the best I’ve ever seen at that. We’ve got Nic (Demski), who does the Willie Mays better than anybody, but Ontaria is really smooth as well.”

Wilson — whose nickname is ‘Pokey’ — showed off those skills on his 30-yard TD in the back corner of the end zone in the second quarter with a defender draped all over him.

It was the first touchdown toss of the season for Collaros.

“It was just an amazing adjustment to the ball. I was judging it in the air, then he tackled me, and I was like ‘I gotta grab it’ and I just grabbed it,” said Wilson.

“We just knew someone had to step in for Kenny and Dalton. We knew it could’ve been anybody, honestly.”

He had another clutch reception on the game-winning drive when Collaros launched a 42-yard strike down the sideline. Two plays later, the quarterback connected with Demski for a 10-yard touchdown, and then a two-point convert, to go up 41-37.

“At the end of the day, it’s great for our team. With some vet receivers out, we need some guys to step up and he obviously did that and more,” said Demski.

“He’s been doing this in practice, we just needed him to come and do it in a game. I knew he was capable of this.”

Wilson spent training camp with the Los Angeles Chargers last year before inking a deal with the Bombers in November. Despite the slow start, head coach Mike O’Shea said the signs were there.

The other rookie receivers — Kevens Clercius and Josh Johnson — combined for two catches for 22 yards.

“He goes up and gets the ball. He does it in practice, too, and he does it in warmups where he goes and attacks the ball,” said O’Shea.

“He obviously runs good routes, he has burst. It’s nice that Zach found him a lot today and he made good on it. With the ball in his hand, he was generating a lot of yards… It’s good for him, I’m sure he’s pleased.”

Wilson is confident this wasn’t a one-off. With Schoen out for the year with a torn ACL and Lawler healing from a broke arm, the Bombers are going to need more of this moving forward.

“There’s way more great things to come, most definitely,” said Wilson.

The Bombers (2-4) will head to Regina next week to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-0).

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31