How UConn wide receiver Ky Wilson returned from his torn ACL in a ‘Flash’

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From Farrell, Penn., Ky Wilson’s football journey has been a climb.

He started in Division II, playing two seasons locally at Slippery Rock before taking a step up to the Div. I FCS level at Youngstown State last year and finally landing at UConn in January, where he’d finally get his shot to contribute as an FBS player.

Only two days into spring practice, on March 11, the speedy 5-foot-8 receiver nicknamed “Flash” went down with an ACL tear.

“I had never been injured my whole career,” he said. “It was kind of a heartbreak. I just wanted to be there with my teammates.”

Wilson had surgery on March 23 and was told his recovery would take seven to nine months.

On Saturday, exactly six months and 10 days post-op, he was back in pads at Rentschler Field as a full participant – and UConn’s most targeted receiver in the 42-41 overtime loss to Syracuse.

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“That kid tears an ACL on his second spring practice. Not challenging anybody’s medical credentials here, but do that timeline in your head really quickly,” said Huskies’ first-year head coach Jason Candle. “It’s incredible… Credit him and our medical team for getting that guy in position just to even be available.”

Wilson caught four passes for 52 yards, the bulk coming late in the third quarter as he turned around and made a 27-yard catch one-handed while falling forward into two defenders.

“I got that first catch (in the first quarter) and I just wanted to see, like, if I was still the same. And after I got that first catch, I wasn’t feeling hurt or anything, I was just like, ‘let’s do it,'” Wilson said. “It just felt good being out there with my boys. Even when I was injured I was on that sideline hyped for everybody, like that’s just the type of person I am… I like to bring the energy to the team.”

The truth is, Wilson felt like he was ready to come back a while ago.

It was kept quiet – Candle, like some other UConn coaches (Dan Hurley, especially), isn’t a fan of his players posting too much on social media or getting loose-lipped with information. But Wilson was taking any opportunity he could over the last few weeks to run routes and test his mobility.

“My surgeon, he didn’t want me to go too fast with it, like with contact, because you’re not really supposed to be doing all that that early. But my body was allowing me to do it, I was comfortable with doing it. He just kind of wanted me to get back into the (fold) with getting contact in practice and stuff like that. Once I got my first little hit and contact in practice, the coaches were like, ‘Okay, he’s ready,'” Wilson said.

He needed to hear that.

The desire to get back on the field, and the anger he felt every time he had to leave practice made him push harder throughout the rehab process. Crediting his surgeon, trainers, teammates and coaches, he learned to be detailed and take everything seriously in his recovery, while juggling the mental toll of missing football for the first time.

“It was kind of an uncomfortable position,” he said. “Sometimes you get in a mental state, like I used to get emotional just watching my highlights. But I just kind of put my head down and just went forward with it and just got through it.”

There are plenty of highlights to watch.

He could go back to the Farrell High days, when he accumulated 3,368 all-purpose yards and 57 total touchdowns in his career, along with six interceptions as a defensive back – the position his dad wanted him to play in college. Or he could put on tape from Slippery Rock, where he had 1,635 kick return yards over two seasons and was involved as both a receiver and a running back. It was more of the same at Youngstown State, where he had 883 kick return yards, plus 652 receiving and 101 on the ground, touching down in the end zone a total of eight times.

The highlights were good enough to make him emotional, and good enough to get the UConn staff rushing to contact him as a transfer portal target. He ultimately chose the Huskies over a top four that included Baylor, Cincinnati and Miami of Ohio.

“(They were) first to contact me. So it’s like, when you’ve got one school that’s already ready to be on you, that means a lot. And as far as like the connection, just getting a lot of phone calls from them every day even though they don’t gotta call me every day, but I felt the love so I chose UConn,” Wilson said.

After just one game where he was targeted seven times and not used as a kick returner or running back – both of which, in some capacity, could be added to the game plan as the season goes along – it was clear the Huskies were infused with some extra talent. And they will need it, especially in the coming weeks as Javon Brown progresses through concussion protocol.

“He’s a real talent,” Candle said. “He brings a competitive energy to practice every day, which I really appreciate. I’m sitting here mentioning draft picks that I had at my previous place, and all of those guys had one common thread: They had competitive endurance and they had a competitive spirit in practice where you’re just like, ‘Hey, he’ll take care of it.’ And that guy (Wilson) approaches practice that way. He approaches each and every day that way. So I’m happy for him and excited about what the future looks like for that young man.”

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