SI All-American Live Evaluation: Kamari Wilson

SI All-American takes a live evaluation look at elite 2022 DB prospect Kamari Wilson

One of the many games attended by our SI All-American staff last week was Bradenton IMG Academy (Fla.) vs. Orlando Edgewater (Fla.). The game featured a slew of prospects, including SI99 members QB J.J. McCarthy, OT J.C. Latham and Slot WR Christian Leary.

However, a player who caught our eye was 2022 safety Kamari Wilson, who starred for IMG Academy. Below is a quick live evaluation of our thoughts on what he showed against Edgewater.

On the hoof, Wilson looks the part at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds. He has ideal length and appears to be wound fairly tight with solid body definition. In a game with high-end talent in the 2021 class, he moved with a confident on-field demeanor that told us the stage wasn't too big for him.

IMG appeared to deploy Wilson both to the field and in the boundary, along with much work rotating down in a robber-type role. Their two main coverage concepts appeared to be cover-3 and cover-1.

Vs. the run, Wilson routinely showed good mesh-point vision. He was decisive and trusted his eyes, consistently squeezing the line to play the run from depth. He did have 1 rep where he saw it late, but we liked what we saw from a mental-processing standpoint vs. the run from the junior DB.

While he does appear to have strength in his frame, it was still fairly surprising to see just how physical Wilson was at collision points. He was reliable in fitting up the run with linear athleticism, and delivered solid thumps upon his fits on ball-carriers before attempting to wrap and finish. Wilson also delivered a good hit using a knife technique on a tackle as well. 

There was a rep where Edgewater aligned in a 3x1 set, with trips to the field vs. IMG in a cover-1/single-high look. This forced Wilson to align on over the #3 receiver, and in space. Edgewater ran a quick-game concept to immediately get the ball to the #3 receiver in space, which forced Wilson to immediately drive down and settle/come to balance to match. Wilson did just that, laterally matching the head-fake and getting a good wrap, albeit high, before allowing his defense to rally and finish.

The receiver was Alabama commit Christian Leary, No. 42 in the SI99 and our No. 2 Slot WR prospect.

Also, another rep in the passing game we liked from Wilson showed him pedaling near the boundary hash vs. a vertical stem by the boundary-x receiver on a post route. Wilson showed some savvy and mental processing, as he was patient to not be fooled by the receiver getting his head outside his framework during his bam-step at the junction. He maintained his apex position vs. the route, and displayed recovery quickness and route-undercutting ability to almost produce an interception at the catch-point.

While he'll need to smoothen out his pedal some, decrease his pad level and continue developing more hip fluidity, Wilson flashed traits to factor in coverage.

Wilson, a player to watch for 2022 SI All-American candidacy and the 2022 SI99, has offers from the likes of Florida, LSU, Alabama, Miami, Georgia and Auburn among others.

Elite 2022 DB views a #Gators assistant coach as a "father figure", mentions Dan Mullen as one of the head coaches that contacted him on September 1st who stood out.

"It just feels like I have a bond with them, and they want the best for me."https://t.co/hrvCterITz

— All Gators (@AllGatorsOnFN) September 19, 2020

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