Former Cincinnati Bengals safety Brandon Wilson was ambivalent about whether to hold his annual football camp recently when he lifted a prayer asking the Almighty if he should host despite being retired from the NFL for about a year.
“My prayer said that if anyone asked me if I was going to do it, then I would,” said Wilson, who welcomed a couple hundred campers Saturday to Lee Hedges in conjunction with the Caddo Parks and Recreation Department. “Within 30 minutes two people texted me asking me about it. So, here we are.”
Wilson, who was a standout both for Calvary Baptist and Houston before his NFL career, held a camp that wasn’t much different from hundreds of others held annually around the country in the summer by NFL athletes. Saturday’s attendees were put through their paces of various drills by Wilson’s talented array of volunteers on a day when the heat index soared well above 100 degrees.
But what sets Wilson’s efforts apart from other camps is what he’s able to relay to young athletes that could serve them well in the future. He spent five seasons with the Bengals before injuries put an early end to his pro football career after he was released in 2023 by the Indianapolis Colts.
“Injuries. And I just felt like it was time to transition out,” Wilson said. “I miss it a little bit, but I’m good. I have no complaints.”
Instead of NFL retirement being the end, it was the beginning of a new career for Wilson, a family man with three children.
“I was on the fence about retiring, but I decided to go ahead,” Wilson said. “And now I’m into financial advising. It took me about a year to get all my licenses. I want to get into NIL and NFL space just helping athletes and guiding them on how to build wealth and help their families out.”
Wilson wasn’t in the NFL long enough to accumulate massive amounts of wealth, but he did quite well, thank you very much. He managed his paychecks sufficiently and invested solidly, which is something he can pass along to the youngsters under his tutelage.
“I’m doing okay, and I’m here because I wanted to give back to the kids, give back to the community,” Wilson said. “I want to give hope to the kids. That’s why I’m out here.”
Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jw*****@*************es.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Brandon Wilson camp offers a different element to football camping
