The Chargers signed former Dolphins defensive back Jimmy Wilson to a 2-year contract on Friday. Smith, a graduate of Point Loma High School, is not the biggest name on the free agent market.
But he might have the most unbelievable life story of anybody out there.
Wilson spent the last four years in Miami, where he started 21 of the 60 games he has played, recording 153 tackles, 16 passes defensed, four interceptions and two sacks while playing both safety and cornerback. Before that, he was an All-American candidate for the Montana Grizzlies from 2004 to 2010. Yes, that's seven years, but he was not at school the entire time.
For one of those years, Wilson was a construction worker. For the other two, he was a resident of a Los Angeles County jail, fighting a murder charge.
In June of 2007, before going to Montana for his senior season, Wilson stopped in Lancaster, CA, to see his grandmother. His aunt, who lived nearby, called in tears, saying her boyfriend had gotten drunk and beaten her. Wilson volunteered to go pick her up. A short time later the boyfriend, Kevin Smoot, was dead from a gunshot wound. Jimmy Wilson was the main suspect.
Wilson pleaded not guilty based on self-defense, claiming Smoot had pulled a gun on him. Wilson says there was a struggle and the gun went off, killing Smoot. The district attorney's office claims the gun (which was not found) was Wilson's and he acted in cold-blooded vengeance, payback for his family member.
The first trial ended in a mistrial with 11 of the 12 jurors wanting to acquit Wilson. Prosecutors still thought they could get a conviction, so Wilson spent another six months in jail awaiting a second trial. This time it took the jury less than a day to find him not guilty.
That was when he spent a year as a construction worker because his NCAA eligibility window had expired. But, University of Montana officials successfully petitioned to get Wilson reinstated. After three years away from football, he got to play his senior season and showed enough ability to be drafted in the 7th round of the 2011 Draft by the Dolphins.
In 2014 as he started 13 of 14 games while setting a career high with 58 tackles.
Now, he's back in California, a professional football player for his home town team. He'll play safety and possibly nickel cornerback ... basically, wherever the team asks him to. When you go through what Jimmy Wilson has been through, you're just happy to be on the football field.
