In an otherwise bleak 49ers performance in Seattle earlier this month, undrafted rookie running back Jeff Wilson Jr. sent a message.
Wilson, getting his first extended playing time with Matt Breida hobbled with an ankle injury, broke into the Seahawks defense and lowered his shoulder to deliver a bone-jarring hit against safety Tedric Thompson.
Wilson got up after the 11-yard run in the second quarter and flexed.
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SIGN UP HERE “It felt so good,” Wilson said on the 49ers Insider Podcast. “It felt like I’ve been waiting on that for all my life. I felt like that run was everything that’s been building up inside of me since the beginning of the draft process -- really since I got hurt in college, when broke my foot.
“I felt like that run was the relief I needed to get everything off my back and chest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going harder than ever, but it felt good and I needed that.”
Wilson sustained his foot injury during November of his senior year at North Texas. He still gained 1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior despite missing the final three games of the season. He went undrafted. The 49ers were the only team that gave him a pre-draft workout, and he signed with the club as a free agent.
Wilson grew up in Elkhart, a community of 1,300 in east Texas. A short distance away is Palestine, the home of Adrian Peterson. Wilson remembers drawing inspiration from watching Peterson play in high school.
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“I watched him do things that was like, ‘Wow.’ And that was in high school,” Wilson said. “It kind of gave me motivation because I wanted to be that guy who made the crowd go, ‘Oooh” or give that excitement to people who wanted to come see me play.”
In his first career NFL start, Wilson gained a career-best 90 yards on 23 carries in the 49ers’ 20-14 win over the Denver Broncos. He had a spot on the 49ers’ practice squad before getting promoted to the active roster for the Week 12 game at Tampa Bay.
The biggest lesson he learned from watching Peterson is easily apparent today. Wilson is known for his hard-charging running style.
“As the game went on, I saw players weren’t trying to hit him or attack him the way there were at the beginning of the game,” Wilson said. “He was breaking more runs later on.
“My dad sat me down and explained to me. ‘If you run hard, people don’t want to tackle you every play. People don’t want to make the hit. They look to the next guy to make the hit.‘ If you impose your will, eventually they’ll break. That’s what I try to do.”
Wilson is likely to remain in the starting lineup when the 49ers have their return matchup against the Seahawks on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. The Seahawks won the first meeting, 43-16, on Dec. 2. Wilson had 61 yards on 15 rushing attempts.