Bruce Alan Wilkerson (born July 28, 1964) is a former

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 with ...

player who played offensive tackle for three

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) teams from 1987 to 1997. He started in

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. Wilkerson played college football at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, where he was twice named All- SEC. Wilkerson attended Loudon High School in

Loudon, Tennessee Loudon is a city in and the county seat of Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 6,001 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located in East Tennessee, s ...

, where he played both offensive tackle and defensive tackle, and was named to the all-state team his senior year. He signed with Tennessee in 1982, though he was a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

his first year. Working with Tennessee offensive line coach (and future head coach)

Phillip Fulmer Phillip Edward Fulmer Sr. (born September 1, 1950) is a former American football player, coach, and athletic director at the University of Tennessee. He served as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1992 to 2008, compiling ...

, Wilkerson secured a spot in the second string during the 1983 season, backing up veteran tackle Curt Singer. By his sophomore season in 1984, he was a starter, anchoring a line that helped running back

Johnnie Jones Johnnie Henry Jones (born June 30, 1962) is an American former professional gridiron football, football player who was a running back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Though drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in ...

set career rushing records. Wilkerson was an integral member of the 1985 "Sugar Vols" squad, and was named All-SEC and 2nd-team All-American at the end of the season. In the

1986 Sugar Bowl The 1986 Sugar Bowl was the 52nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1985–86 bowl game season, it matched the independent and second- ...

, Wilkerson's block on

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

nose guard

Jerome Brown Willie Jerome Brown III (February 4, 1965 – June 25, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire five-year NFL career with the Eagles from 1987 to 199 ...

helped spring Jeff Powell's 60-yard touchdown run.Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles, game commentary, 1986 Sugar Bowl television broadcast, ABC Sports, January 1, 1986. After an All-SEC senior year in 1986, Wilkerson was drafted by the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

in the second round of the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Marq ...

. He spent his first eight seasons with the Raiders, and was a starter throughout the early 1990s. He was on the inaugural roster of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995, and closed out his career with Green Bay.

References

External links

Profile at NFL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkerson, Bruce Living people Los Angeles Raiders players Green Bay Packers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Tennessee Volunteers football players 1964 births People from Loudon, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee