Emanuel Wilson was lined up in the backfield as the Green Bay Packers held a 10-point lead with 1:15 left on the clock.
Everyone at Acrisure Stadium knew what was coming. The Pittsburgh Steelers had one last chance to try to salvage a home game on Sunday Night Football.
The ball was going to Wilson. The Steelers needed to stop him on third-and-5 from the Pittsburgh 43-yard line.
They couldn’t do it. Wilson ran through traffic with a violent burst to pick up a first down and iced the game on a 6-yard run.
“We called an inside zone play and I just jumped cut right back inside off (right guard Sean Rhyan’s) block and ended up getting the first down,” Wilson told The Charlotte Observer in a phone interview this week. “Got up and celebrated and went to the sideline and had my guys cheer me on and tell me ‘good job’ — even the coaches.”
Johnson C. Smith head football coach Maurice Flowers was watching the game from home in Charlotte. Flowers wasn’t on the sideline in Pittsburgh, but he knew exactly what his former Fort Valley State running back was capable of doing with the game on the line.
He wasn’t surprised when Wilson put an exclamation point on the big win for Green Bay.
“Hey, that’s Emanuel,” Flowers said with a chuckle. “That’s what I said (after the play) because that’s what he does. Emanuel falls forward for yards — you very rarely catch Emanuel going sideways or backwards when he’s tackled.”
Green Bay’s Emanuel Wilson hurdles San Francisco’s Charvarius Ward during the 2024 NFC Divisional Playoffs at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Lachlan Cunningham Getty Images
Much like his running style, Wilson has pushed through the trenches of life. The 26-year-old running back is in the middle of his third season in Green Bay, and he’s a key part of a backfield that is led by Pro Bowl playmaker Josh Jacobs.
He didn’t get there the easy way.
The once-lightly recruited playmaker pushed his way from North Mecklenburg High to Johnson C. Smith to Fort Valley State while battling mental health struggles. He went undrafted as a college prospect and lasted just a few days with the Denver Broncos before being picked up by Green Bay, where he’s carved out a role as an effective backup running back.
Wilson looks at his winding road as a blessing, but he knows he couldn’t have reached the summit without help. And as he prepares to face off against his hometown team, the Carolina Panthers, on Sunday at Lambeau Field, he continues to appreciate the important voices back in Charlotte that helped develop him into the player and the person he is today.
Staying grounded through the grind
Eric Morman still remembers Wilson’s humility during his tenure as head football coach at North Mecklenburg.
“He’s probably one of the most humble kids that I’ve coached,” said Morman, who is now the head coach at Northwest Cabarrus.
Wilson was the best player on the North Mecklenburg squad, but he didn’t find his voice as a leader until his senior season. He credits Morman with pushing him out of his comfort zone.
“We would do sprints and stuff like that, and he used to tell me like, ‘Get out (of) the back. You’re different from all these other players. You gotta lead,’” Wilson said. “And I try to do that, but I’m not a vocal leader. I’m always a lead by example type of guy.”
Green Bay’s Emanuel Wilson runs the ball past Chicago’s Tremaine Edmunds during a Nov. 17, 2024, game at Soldier Field in Chicago. Quinn Harris Getty Images
That example was felt with how Wilson carried himself on the field.
“Even though he was one of the best running backs in the state whenever he played in high school, he was willing to do whatever the team needed to do,” Morman said. “There was a game against Mallard Creek where he had to go over and play defense while also playing running back. That was just his personality — he was willing to do whatever was best for the team, and that’s why we were successful.”
Wilson became one of Morman’s star pupils at North Meck. While he wasn’t heavily recruited, it was clear that he set the tone for the team, and he eventually found his footing as a role model for his teammates.
Said Morman: “Any time your best players are also the best leaders, it’s like having another coach on the field.”
Finding a father figure
Wilson enrolled at Johnson C. Smith in 2019. He had been offered a partial scholarship by North Carolina Central in Durham but chose to stay closer to home to be near his mother, who he said had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his younger sister.
Wilson won the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) offensive rookie of the year award as a freshman after gaining 1,040 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. Despite that on-field success, Wilson was battling depression.
Green Bay’s Emanuel Wilson runs for a touchdown against Tennessee during a Sept. 22, 2024, game in Nashville. Johnnie Izquierdo Getty Images
The running back, who was 10 years old when his father passed away, eventually made the decision to leave his family in Charlotte to grow as a man.
Flowers, who became Fort Valley State’s head coach in 2020, welcomed Wilson with open arms and served as the mentor Wilson had been yearning for.
“A coach, in my eyes, is someone who teaches and builds and develops,” Flowers said. “And then, within that, you’re always going to come across — there are some of your players that they’re going to build different relationships. We always tell our young men, ‘Everyone is going to get treated fairly, but you won’t get treated the same.’ And what that means is you’re going to get treated fair, you’re going to get what everyone else gets, you’re going to lift weights, you’re going to get taught and coached. But ‘you won’t get treated the same’ pretty much means that there are some that require a little bit more .... and that can mean a lot of different things.
“And with Emanuel, sometimes that little bit more is, ‘Hey, I’ve got to spend a little bit more time with you just for us to talk.’ And for me, it was making that time to make sure that we had that time to talk,” Flowers added. “And him being able to be OK with himself and being who he was, and not trying to be what others thought he should be, and just being comfortable growing in his own skin, and being comfortable in that, ‘Today might not be my best day, but that’s OK — I’m still going to treat people the right way. I’m still — with this not being my best day — I’m still going to get the most out of it that I can.’ And it’s also trying to find the positives when there looks like there are negatives. I think those are some of the things I tried to impress upon Emanuel.”
Johnson C. Smith head coach Maurice Flowers coached Emanuel Wilson at Fort Valley State. Matt Kelley For The Observer
The change of scenery in Fort Valley, Georgia, helped Wilson grow on and off the field. While his early years at Fort Valley State were stunted due to a shoulder injury and the COVID-19 pandemic, he found an important sounding board in Flowers.
“He had a major impact in my life,” Wilson said. “I could say he saved my life, honestly. And I’m so thankful for him each and every day. I text him here and there. ... But he really played the father figure role in my life once I was transferred and everything like that. He helped me out with stuff, and just made sure I stayed locked in on the little things.”
A Lambeau leap into the NFL
Wilson signed his first NFL contract with the Broncos in May 2023 after rushing for 1,371 yards and 17 touchdowns during his final season at Fort Valley State.
His stay in Denver lasted all of three days. He was cut immediately after rookie minicamp.
At that point, his NFL future looked bleak.
But the Packers and the Steelers quickly reached out with invitations to join their respective offseason programs. Wilson chose the Packers because he took a prospect visit to Green Bay before the draft.
He’s played in front of “cheeseheads” at Lambeau Field ever since.
“Walking into the facility, just seeing the G (logo), just seeing the championships is, there’s nothing like it,” Wilson said.
Green Bay’s Emanuel Wilson carries the ball against Miami’s Tyrel Dodson during a Nov. 28, 2024, game in Wisconsin. John Fisher Getty Images
In 31 career games, Wilson has produced 749 rushing yards, 128 receiving yards and five total touchdowns. And his early success hasn’t gone unnoticed in his hometown.
Morman and Flowers are proud of their former pupil, who still keeps in regular contact with the Charlotte-area coaches.
“I know that we have a different relationship — I’ve always known that,” Flowers said. “I’ve got a different relationship with his family, and he has a different relationship with my family. My wife and my three daughters all love Emanuel also. And he’s been a big part of our lives since we were recruiting him from Johnson C. Smith. And again, we know that he’s an outstanding football player, but everything with Emanuel has always been about just him growing as a young man, because he’s going to be an outstanding husband and father, and that’s really what it’s all about. He’s going to set examples for many people, about really, how you should carry yourself and be positive, and then also to help others grow.”
“We always knew he was a special player that had that type of talent to move on to the NFL,” Morman said. “But just to see him persevere through everything that he went through to get where he’s at now, and have the success that he’s having for the Green Bay Packers, that’s why us as head coaches, we get into this. Just to help other young men be successful and guide them on their way to that path.”
According to Pro Football Reference, Wilson is the first North Meck alum to play in an NFL regular-season game since 1988. He’s the first Johnson C. Smith player to accomplish that goal since 1993.
He’s also the latest Fort Valley State player to reach the league after punter Marquette King had a six-year run in the AFC West from 2013 to 2018.
“I take (those rare milestones) with very much pride, honestly,” Wilson said.
Green Bay’s Emanuel Wilson runs with the ball against the Chicago Bears on Jan. 5, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. John Fisher Getty Images
The 5-foot-10, 226-pound playmaker has become an example for Flowers and Morman with their current players. Wilson didn’t need to go to Alabama or LSU to make it to the NFL. He simply stood out at the HBCU level.
Now, the next generation is reaching out to Wilson for advice. He’s more than willing to offer words of wisdom.
Said Wilson: “I’ll be telling them, ‘You don’t gotta go to a big D-I school or a D-I school, in general, as long as you keep your faith in God (and) put up the numbers in college.’”