Drew Wilder (55) played all 812 offensive snaps last season at center for Eastern Illinois. In the Panthers’ season finale Saturday, he will play against his father Bobby’s Tennessee Tech team. (Photo by Sandy King, GoPanthers.com)
By Barry Bottino
As the son of a coach, Eastern Illinois center Drew Wilder’s college football experiences were unique.
When his father Bobby was the head coach at Old Dominion University, Drew would take part in the “Monarch Walk” of players heading to the stadium on game days while being greeted by fans.
“When (10-year NFL veteran) Taylor Heinecke was our quarterback, Drew would walk with Taylor, right behind me,” Bobby Wilder said. “He was always in the locker room. He was always on the sideline. I’m really proud of the fact that I got to share that with him.”
Those experiences, which ran throughout Bobby Willder’s tenure at ODU from 2007-2019, have stuck with Drew.
“Being around the facility so much, I was learning terminology that I’m using now,” he said. “It was cool to have that experience of growing up around the facility, having players come over for the holidays when they couldn’t go home, traveling with the team. It was a blessing.”
On Saturday in Cookeville, Tenn., when the Panthers (3-8 overall, 2-5 Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association) face Tennessee Tech in their season finale, it will serve as a reunion for Drew and his father, who is TTU’s first-year head coach. (Noon, ESPN-Plus)
“I’m excited to get down there,” Drew Wilder said. “Winning is a lot more fun than losing, so that’s the main focus I have. Being able to hold that over him for a while would be nice.”
Nine days in Charleston
Since his departure from ODU after a 1-11 season in 2019, Bobby Wilder continued to coach.
“He was doing training for quarterbacks,” Drew Wilder said of his father. “It was that coaching passion that kept him in it. He wanted to keep teaching.”
Since 2019, Bobby Wilder said he’s played plenty of golf, visited coaching friends around the country, received some Power 4 job offers for off-field roles and “kept coming in second” for head coaching jobs.
His travels brought him to Charleston for nine days last September, where he spent time in staff meetings and with EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson and then-offensive coordinator Joe Davis, now the head coach at Western Illinois.
“I’m so grateful that Coach Wilkerson let me be part of it,” Bobby Wilder said. “None of us knew at the time I’d be the head coach at Tennessee Tech and coaching against Drew and Eastern Illinois.”
Along with taking Drew out to dinner many nights, Bobby Wilder took part in EIU’s preparations for its upset win against Illinois State and a victory the following week against McNeese.
“Bobby’s a great coach,” Wilkerson said. “He was here almost in a consultant role. We were able to sit down and talk about some different things organizationally, like practice structure. He sat in our offensive meetings, our defensive meetings.”
During his father’s time on campus, Drew Wilder noticed the coaching passion was alive and well.
“It was fun having him around here, but you could tell he missed it,” Drew said.
Three months later, he came in first for the TTU job and has the Golden Eagles – whose last winning season was in 2011 – at 6-5 overall and 5-2 in conference, including a current four-game win streak.
The TTU defense, which has allowed 49 combined points in the past four games, has piled up 31 sacks and 22 turnovers this season.
“They’re as active as anybody we’re going to play up front,” Wilkerson said.
Eastern’s iron man
At the same time his father is making waves at TTU, Drew Wilder has been a valuable piece of Eastern’s offense.
The redshirt junior played all 812 offensive snaps last season for the Panthers, a number matched only by quarterback Pierce Holley.
That number could go even higher this season.
“He’s probably one of the toughest players I’ve ever had the chance to coach,” Wilkerson said. “You’re talking about an iron man. That he’s played 1,500, 1,600 snaps the last two seasons, with bumps and bruises … he always finds a way to make his way to the field.”
As both a father and an opposing coach, Bobby Wilder admires what his son has accomplished and contributes to Eastern.
“I love him. I’m proud of him. I’m so grateful for Chris and his staff recruiting him,” Bobby Wilder said. “If I put my opposing coach hat on, he’s a good player who runs everything up front. He’s a good technician. He’s smart.”
Holley nearing history
Holley needs four passing yards to reach 3,000 this season, which has only been accomplished at EIU by three players – Sean Payton, Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Holley has had success despite the Panthers missing multiple receivers due to injury – including three of the top four returnees in the receiving corps — and while being sacked 39 times.
“His consistency with the different moving pieces is probably the most impressive thing to me,” Wilkerson said. “It doesn’t seem to matter who we surround him with. He makes those around him better.”
Bobby Wilder had high praise for Holley, who is a close friend of Drew.
“There are so few guys in college football – especially at the FCS level – that can be on the right hash and throw a 15-yard comeback across the field. Pierce is one of those guys. He can make every throw.”
Because of Eastern’s success throwing the football, Wilder said opposing coaches have presented Holley with a variety of coverages and defensive looks.
“Everybody has done it to him all year. And he’s figured it out,” Wilder said. “I’d like him to get his four yards and then stop right there and call it a day Saturday.”
This week’s opponent
Tennessee Tech – which Wilkerson called “the hottest team in the league” — could create a four-way tie for the Big South-OVC championship Saturday. How? If Tech beats Eastern, Tennessee State defeats Southeast Missouri and UT Martin beats Lindenwood, all four teams would have 6-2 conference records. However, Southeast Missouri would be the league’s automatic playoff qualifier based on tiebreakers. … Junior defensive lineman Daniel Rickert was honored as the national FCS defensive player of the week by Stats Perform. In TTU’s 10-9 upset of Martin last week, he had nine tackles, four tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and three quarterback hurries. … The Tech defense has been menacing this season, compiling 31 sacks, 15 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. …. Tech’s power on offense comes from its running game, which averages more than 162 yards a game. Eight different players have rushed for a touchdown this fall, led by five scores by leading rusher Jalen Mitchell, a Connecticut transfer who has a team-high 650 yards and averages 5.5 yards per carry.
Kickoff: Noon; TV: ESPN-Plus; Radio: WEIU.net/hitmix
Key matchup to watch
EIU RB MJ Flowers vs. TTU run defense: The Golden Eagles lead the conference, allowing only 83.2 rushing yards per game, while giving up only nine rushing TDs in 11 games. Flowers is the Big South-OVC’s third-leading rusher (76.6 yards a game). He also has a career-high 44 catches and three touchdowns as a receiver out of the backfield.
What’s at stake?
Eastern is attempting to win back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Quick hits
Eastern is coming off its best defensive effort of the season, allowing just 210 total yards in a 16-13 overtime win against Charleston Southern. “I was pleased with the way our defense responded with the number of short fields (they faced) in the fourth quarter and overtime.” Four of CSU’s five drives in the fourth quarter and overtime began at the EIU 42 or better. The defense produced eight plays of no gain or negative yardage on CSU’s final 32 offensive snaps. … In the last three weeks, EIU tight ends Alex Ginnever and Alex Herrera have combined for 16 catches, 229 yards and three touchdowns. The highlight was Ginnever’s two-TD game against Western Illinois, when he caught six passes for 100 yards. … Safety Nick Coates, who had four tackles and a pass breakup in the end zone last week against Charleston Southern, will not play this week, Wilkerson said. Coates has missed most of the season because of an injury. He was one of 27 players honored on Senior Day last week at O’Brien Field.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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