Grant Wilson’s decision to transfer to the Indiana Hoosiers for the 2025 college football season turned out to be the right call.
The 2020 Yorktown High School graduate was a red-shirt senior and third-string quarterback on the undefeated (16-0) and season-long Cinderella-story national champion Hoosiers.
Though receiving little playing time on the Division I squad, Wilson believes he learned a great deal from the experience as he works toward his next dream: becoming an assistant college football coach.
“I have seen and learned so much in my college football career, and this was another great experience of learning about the process of what I need to do, and draw from that,” Wilson told ARLnow.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Wilson transferred to Indiana after being a starter at Division I Old Dominion University the previous two seasons. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance there, and is working on a master’s degree in finance at Indiana.
After suffering a season-ending elbow injury during the 2024 season at ODU, Wilson spent the rest of the campaign serving as a graduate assistant coach. That gave Wilson the bug to someday continue his college football career as a coach.
Wilson had transferred to ODU from Fordham University, where he initially played college football, making appearances in seven games.
He could have stayed at ODU and likely started again this past season. However, he thought the experience of playing for another college and head coach Curt Cignetti would greatly add to his overall football knowledge.
Cignetti “is a great recruiter and sold me on Indiana,” Wilson said. “He knows so much and is so big on all the details about the game.”
While head coach at James Madison University, Cignetti had seen Wilson play from the sidelines a couple of seasons before, and was impressed with the quarterback’s skills and performance.
Wilson accepted that he would be a backup at Indiana to starter and 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Part of his responsibility for the Hoosiers was helping prepare Mendoza prior to and during games.
“It all worked out, and much better than I could have thought,” Wilson said. “It still hasn’t hit me.”
Wilson already has a national championship hat and T-shirt for his season with the Hoosiers. He also could get as many as five various rings for the team’s accomplishments.
Wilson did get some playing time at Indiana this past season, completing one pass for five yards. He had six yards rushing in another game.
Going forward, Wilson has one more year of eligibility to play for Indiana. He plans to do so, expecting to be a backup again.
Then, the next year, Wilson would like to join the team’s coaching staff to begin that side of football.
“I want to stay in football,” Wilson said.
At ODU, Wilson started 11 games in 2023, then three in 2024, missing nine contests with the elbow injury. He threw for 2,149 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2023 and ran for 289 yards and four scores. He passed for 507 yards and four TDs in three games in 2024, with 47 yards rushing and one touchdown.
At Yorktown, Wilson was one of the most productive quarterbacks, passing and running, in the team’s long and rich history. He was a three-year starter.
Wilson was chosen as the team’s captain and Most Valuable Player as a senior and was a two-time Liberty District Offensive Player of the Year.
Wilson passed for 2,632 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior during the 2019 campaign. He led Yorktown to a district championship that season, a second place in the region tournament and 11-2 overall record.
In 2018, Wilson helped the Patriots finish second in the district when he threw for 1,770 yards and 15 TDs. In 2017 he rotated as a starter and helped Yorktown finish 8-3 and also second in the district.
In the three seasons for Yorktown, Wilson passed for some 5,000 yards and ran for more than 500.
Wilson also lettered in lacrosse for the Yorktown boys team, which competes during the spring.
