New year, new school for this young man that has made his way from Auburndale over to Lakeland Christian to replace the Vikings’ QB Christian Alexander who is now off to Florida International University. Wilkerson has been camping with BCP since day one and has worked tirelessly to get his game ready for the next level and will have the benefit of working with Head Coach Wayne Peace who knows a few things about the position to say the least. Peace oversaw the development of Alexander and watched the young man grow into one of the Tampa Bay area’s most prolific passers last season, completing 60% of his passes and 2,896 yards along with 28 touchdowns.

While at Auburndale last season, Wilkerson completed 42-of-96 passes for just 490 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers are slightly skewed if you look at the fact that the Bloodhounds have three legitimate D-1 rushers in the backfield and as a team rushed for over 2,500 yards and was in the playoffs. The most important stat perhaps is the fact that as a starter for Auburndale, Wilkerson helped his squad to get over .500 for just the second time in the last decade.

Wilkerson isn’t the same size as Alexander, but that is far from reason to discount what the newest member of the squad brings to the table. In fact, their frames should be considered irrelevant at this point. Last year’s signal-caller for Lakeland Christian stood at 6-foot-3, and 205-pounds while Wilkerson is a little bit underneath that dimension at 6-feet, 190-pounds. The comparisons aside from their dimensions start to stack up after that however and the potential for Wilkerson’s success becomes seems as bright as the sun on a July afternoon when you start to look at the other factors involved.

Although Auburndale was a beast in the ground attack, the skills required to be a great run-blocking team versus pass-blocking team didn’t always match with the skills that Wilkerson possesses. Many times when passes were called, the protection broke down so quickly he was forced to improvise, which is tough to do when run-first teams get into situations they aren’t comfortable with in the first place. Tyler looks the most comfortable when he’s moving and has arm strength to go vertical or place the ball into tight windows that only certain QB’s can make. When you watch his instincts out at the camps and then watch him on film you get the feeling that Wilkerson’s ceiling has now been sent to the architect for redesign now that he’s on to Lakeland Christian which happens to be absolutely loaded at the skill positions of running back and wide receiver again this season.

Wilkerson and his squad will face Avon Park in their spring game on Thursday, May 21st.