Cedrick Wilson Sr. (born December 17, 1978) 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 ...

wide receiver in 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 was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the sixth round of the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

. He was picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005. Wilson earned a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

, beating the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

. With that achievement, he became one of very few football players to earn a championship ring at all three levels of football - high school, college, and professional.

Early years

Wilson played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Melrose High School, in Memphis, where he earned a state championship in 1997 as the starting quarterback topping off a 12–3 record. In high school, he was teammates with Kindal Moorehead, who made it to the NFL and played for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

and the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

.He was also teammates with

Andre Lott Andre Marquette Lott (born May 31, 1979) is an American football safety most recently with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Tennessee and was selected by the Washington Re ...

in high school and in college, who also won the National Championship and was drafted by Washington.

College career

Wilson played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

under 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 ...

. Wilson played with the Volunteers from 1997 to 2000. At the University of Tennessee, he converted to the wide receiver position from quarterback. He earned a national championship in the

1999 Fiesta Bowl The 1999 Fiesta Bowl, the designated BCS National Championship Game for the 1998 season, was played on January 4, 1999, in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium. The teams were the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida State Seminoles. Tennessee entere ...

defeating

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

by a score of 23–16, topping off an undefeated season, 13–0.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Wilson was drafted in the sixth round with the 169th overall pick of the

by the

. After being used primarily as a

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

in 2001, Wilson's role in the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

offense expanded throughout the next three seasons. Wilson posted career highs in receptions (47), receiving yards (641), and receiving

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

(3) for the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Pittsburgh Steelers

On March 8, 2005, Wilson signed with the

and had considerably less success in the 2005 regular season. Wilson's breakout for the Steelers came during the 2005 NFL playoffs. Having caught only 26 passes for 461 yards and two touchdowns during the regular season, Wilson became a reliable option for the Steelers on their path to

. In the Wildcard Round against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, he had three receptions for 104 yards. In the AFC Championship against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, he had five receptions for 92 yards. In the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

against the

, Wilson had one reception for 20 yards on three targets.

Assault incident

Wilson was charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend at a Pittsburgh restaurant on March 19, 2008. According to the complaint, Wilson allegedly entered the restaurant and, upon seeing his ex-girlfriend, approached her, pushed her and punched her in the face. Wilson was to be arraigned on charges of

simple assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

, and

disorderly conduct Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to " disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain are ...

. On March 20, 2008, the Steelers released Wilson just hours after the incident. The next day, Wilson's ex-girlfriend said Wilson only pushed her, not punched. She added, "It was misconstrued apparently by the people around us."

Personal life

In 2008, Wilson began serving as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

at Douglass High School in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Dee Montgomery, Wilson's former coach at Melrose High School, is also on the staff. Wilson's son, Cedrick Wilson Jr., is currently a wide receiver for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

of the

. Wilson later moved to

White Station High School White Station High School is a four-year public high school located in Memphis, Tennessee. White Station High is a member of the Shelby County Schools system and is recognized as one of the best high schools in the state of Tennessee. U.S. New ...

in Memphis as a volunteer coach, and became a substitute

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher in the

Memphis City Schools Memphis City Schools (MCS) was the school district operating public schools in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was headquartered in the Frances E. Coe Administration Building. On March 8, 2011, residents voted to disband the cit ...

system. However, in October 2012, Wilson was indicted on federal charges of fraud for hiring two people to take his teacher certification exams in his place. This was part of a massive scam orchestrated by longtime Memphis educator Clarence Mumford in which dozens of teachers in Tennessee,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

paid Mumford as much as $3,000 to hire people to take teacher certification exams for them. Cedrick is now the head football coach at Melrose, his old high school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Cedrick 1978 births Living people American football wide receivers Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Memphis, Tennessee San Francisco 49ers players Tennessee Volunteers football players