Al Wilson was known for his leadership in 1998. It was born in 1997.

The Vols were trailing Auburn 20-10 at halftime of the SEC Championship Game in 1997 when Wilson decided, despite the fact that he was a junior, he needed to step up.

“He became Al Wilson that you know as the leader in the locker room against Auburn in the SEC Championship Game in 1997,” former UT safety Fred White said recently as he looked back on the 20th anniversary of UT’s national championship season. “For all the guys on the team, we already saw that leadership skill that he had. That night, it was like a changing of the guard.”

The previous regime of Vol leadership was headed by quarterback Peyton Manning and defensive end Leonard Little. It was formidable, but it wasn’t Wilson.

“They were leaders,” White said of Manning and Little. “However, that night the leaders needed to be quiet and shut up and let a young guy like Al step in and say ‘Man, this is it.’ He gave us the business that night. … What he said, everybody stopped to listen because all you had seen is that guy work his butt off. That was the right time for him to become the leader and show you he was the leader. When he did, you had to listen because he had never really said anything.”

Wilson wasn’t afraid to call out Manning or Little that night. He also wasn’t afraid to reminisce on the halftime fireworks. Wilson recently said that it seemed no one was excited to take the field in the second half as the Vols usually were. That wasn’t acceptable.

“Nobody was really standing up and saying anything,” Wilson said. “Me being a guy that is emotional and passionate about the game of football, I had never won a championship at anything before in my life. Maybe at the YMCA at basketball when I was like 7 or 8 years old, but other than that I had never won a championship before. That was the closest I had ever been to becoming a winner and becoming a champion.

“I just felt like if anytime is going to be the right time to stand up and say something, now is the time. I challenged Leonard. I challenged Peyton. I challenged everybody on the team to go out in the second half and let’s turn this thing around and see what happens. We’ll let the chips fall where they may, but we’ve got to go out and play better football in the second half. Everybody has to do their job. … I just told him and Leonard, ‘You guys are our leaders. Lead us.’ I remember specifically calling those two guys out. It was that simple.”

Photo courtesy of University of Tennessee Athletics.

The fiery, simple approach worked. UT outscored Auburn 20-9 in the second half to notch a 30-29 win and the Vols’ first SEC Championship since 1990.

White remembers when he caught Wilson’s ire. White held up to make sure not to hit a ball carrier as he was headed toward the sideline. Wilson didn’t like that.

“He grabbed me by the back of my jersey and pulled me all the way to the sideline because he went by me,” White said. “He said to me, ‘If I ever pass you again going to a ball, we’re going to fight right here on this football field.”

White, who was known as a tough, hard-hitting safety, had no desire to tangle with Wilson.

“I know one thing about him,” White said of the prospects of fighting Wilson. “He’s going to give it everything he has. He’s going to fight to the end. He’s going to go 100-percent all out. He’s not going give up. That’s not a guy I want to fight.”

"I challenged Leonard. I challenged Peyton. I challenged everybody on the team to go out in the second half and let’s turn this thing around and see what happens."
-- Al Wilson, on how a night in 1997 made him a team leader in 1998

Wilson’s leadership continued little more than a month later when the Vols returned from Tempe, Ariz. The Vols were hammered by Nebraska 42-17 in the Fiesta Bowl. Wilson wasn’t happy about that and knew that the Vols needed to squeeze every ounce of effort out of the 1998 team in the offseason. After all, UT was replacing eight NFL Draft picks, including Manning and two other first-rounders.

“We come back and he’s the first guy in the weight room,” White said. “Not only is he the first guy, but he’s on the phone calling guys, ‘Get your butt over here. Let’s go.’”

Wilson’s leadership style evolved. He learned that screaming at every teammate wasn’t the only way to lead.

“I started to see and understand what leadership was really all about, how to approach the leadership role, and one thing that really stood out to me that I learned over the years was the ability to lead each player individually,” Wilson said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all type of thing.”

Tennessee’s coaching staff saw Wilson’s leadership ability and felt it was important to encourage it in order to reach their full potential in 1998. Whenever leadership was brought up in team meetings, Wilson felt head coach Phillip Fulmer’s message was meant for one man.

“He was speaking to me indirectly and I took exactly what he was saying to heart,” Wilson said. “I felt like coach was counting on me to be that one missing piece that we needed as a team, to stand up when players weren’t feeling quite like they wanted to practice that day or guys didn’t feel like they wanted to workout that day.

“You always have to have that one guy that’s not only going to try to push you along but is going to lead you by example. That was the challenge I took from what Phillip told me in one of those early meetings.”

Said White, “You saw how hard he worked and he waited his turn to be the leader. You saw that leadership ability he had every day in practice. He went to work, kept his head down and when the older guys spoke, he listened and he paid attention. Then he relayed the message to the other guys.”

In 2009, the toughest guy in UT cleats faced a much more challenging than anything he had seen on the football field when his son, Carrington Wilson, was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 15.

“I’ve been blessed to have an amazing son,” Wilson said. “Going through the cancer thing was tougher than anything I’ve ever experienced. It was tougher than going against any fullback, any offensive lineman, playing any team. It was the toughest thing I could ever be a part of. Just to see him fight through that, push through it and not complain and just do it, whatever it takes to make it through.

“It was an eye-opening experience for me. It was motivating for me. It made me have more of an appreciation for life and understand exactly what my role is in this world.”

Carrington overcame cancer and graduated from Triveca University, where he still plays baseball. He’s pursuing his masters degree.

“He’s an amazing kid,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t ask for a better child. I’m just happy that I have him in my life.”

There are countless Vols that could say the same about the elder Wilson’s presence in their lives. Without him, UT’s national title run would have likely never taken place.

NEXT: Dwayne Goodrich went to prison, but the 1998 Vols never gave up on him

Al Wilson cover photo courtesy of University of Tennessee Athletics.