Benjamin Lorenza Wilkerson (born November 22, 1982) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former player who is the assistant offensive line coach for the New York Jets of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

in the NFL for four seasons during the early 2000s and college football for

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, earning consensus All-American honors, and was recognized as the top college football center. He signed with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, and also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the

Florida Tuskers Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

of the United Football League (UFL).

Early years

Wilkerson was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He graduated from Hemphill High School in

Hemphill, Texas Hemphill is a city in Sabine County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,029 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Sabine County. It is located on State Highway 87 at the junction of State Highway 184, and is surrounded by the S ...

College career

He received an athletic scholarship to attend

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, where he played for coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Th ...

team from 2001 to 2004. As a junior in 2003, he was a member of the Tigers' SEC Championship team that defeated the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

21–14 to win the BCS National Championship. Following his senior 2004 season, he was recognized as a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and was awarded the

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best American football center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College ...

as the best college football center in the country.

Professional career

Wilkerson was signed as an

in 2005 by the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, and he was a member of the Bengals from to , but appeared in only three games during the 2006 season. He also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons from to , and appeared in twenty-nine games off the bench for the Falcons. He was a member of the United Football League's

for part of the 2009 season.

Coaching career

LSU

Wilkerson served as a graduate assistant for the LSU Tigers during the 2011 football season under

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

Grambling State

He served as the offensive line coach at

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Herita ...

from 2012–2013.

North Shore Senior High School

Wilkerson was a PE teacher and assistant football and track coach at North Shore Senior High School in Texas during 2014.

Chicago Bears

On February 11, 2015, Wilkerson was hired by the Chicago Bears as their assistant offensive line coach.

New York Giants

On February 5, 2018, the New York Giants hired Wilkerson to serve as their assistant offensive line coach. Even with the coaching change in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, head coach Joe Judge decided to keep Wilkerson on the Giants staff in the same position. Wilkerson coached the team's offensive line when

Dave DeGuglielmo Dave DeGuglielmo ( ; born July 15, 1968) is an American football coach who is the offensive line coach for the Boston College Eagles. He has previously been offensive line coach for the NFL's New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, I ...

missed their week 17 game against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

on January 3, 2021. He was not retained after the 2021 season.

New York Jets

Wilkerson was hired on March 7, 2022, by the New York Jets to be their assistant offensive line coach.

Personal life

Wilkerson and his wife, Angi, have four children, Brianna, Isabella, Jordan, and Benjamin ll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkerson, Ben 1982 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football All-American college football players American football centers Atlanta Falcons players Chicago Bears coaches Cincinnati Bengals players Florida Tuskers players LSU Tigers football coaches LSU Tigers football players New York Giants coaches Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Port Arthur, Texas 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people