Redshirt freshman linebacker Payton Wilson was doing fine right up until it was time to get on the bus from the team hotel to Carter-Finley Stadium. That is when the weight of waiting almost two years to get back on the field and finally play for NC State’s football team began to get to him.

“That’s when it really hit me,” Wilson recalled. “I got really nervous, anxious. When I got [to the stadium] and we were getting taped and stuff, I was ready to go.”

Wilson’s journey to wearing a NC State uniform has been well documented. He was one of the most prized prospects in the country in the 2018 class coming out of Orange High in Hillsborough, N.C. — Rivals.com ranked him as the No. 166 player in the country regardless of position — and NC State had been one of the earliest schools to discover him.

Despite that, in the spring of his junior year in high school Wilson made a verbal commitment to nearby North Carolina, the Wolfpack’s archrival in football. But NC State did not give up, with head coach Dave Doeren and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Dave Huxtable even taking in one of his football games that fall with a defensive coach from the former UNC staff standing not far away.

It was during his senior season at Orange High that Wilson tore his ACL for the first time. While in the rehab process, Wilson made the decision to flip to NC State and enrolled in the spring with NCSU. Then that summer Wilson injured his knee again. He would not get a chance to play in 2018 for NC State.

Fast forward to last Saturday, where even Doeren noticed Wilson being emotional before the game.

“He was so excited to be playing football again,” Doeren noted.

Wilson admitted his pregame anxiety was not the typical form he experiences.

“I usually get nervous before every game, but not like that,” Wilson said. “I haven’t been that nervous since like ninth grade playing on varsity.”

Coming out of the tunnel, Wilson was almost in tears.

“First time in two years and it was actually about to happen, so it was really exciting,” Wilson noted.

“I don’t think the outside world really understands when a football player has an injury that costs them the season how hard that is for them mentally,” Doeren said. “It’s really hard, it’s really hard.

"For Payton, it’s two injuries. So when you get back and have success, it’s huge for him.”

What made Saturday a success story was not just that Wilson was back on the field, he was back to playing well. Wilson played 22 snaps and made them count with six tackles, including two for loss. Pro Football Focus gave Wilson the fourth highest grade among NC State’s defensive players.

“He did a good job,” Doeren said. “He was aggressive. Hux blitzed him a lot, which I think was good to let him play like that and not really have to diagnose a whole lot.

“It was fun to see him make those tackles for loss in the backfield and be productive. Had a lot of spirit about him.”

Wilson enjoyed being turned loose.

“I liked that a lot. … It’s something I feel like I can do well, and I really enjoyed it,” Wilson said. “I’m glad to hear he has the trust to send me on those blitzes.”

It helped that Wilson had also gotten over having to trust his knee again. He said that happened for him shortly after preseason camp began.

“I wasn’t thinking about my knee at all,” he said. “I just went out there and played.”

It took about a drive, but Wilson quickly became comfortable. For him the best part was getting into East Carolina’s backfield.

“It was a privilege to be out there, but I was just glad I was making plays. … It was a confidence booster,” Wilson said.

Saturday was probably a little bit sweeter because it was a family affair. Wilson’s mother and father are always at his games, but in a case of great timing his older brother Bryse Wilson was also there.

Bryse was a fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2016 and two years later capped a rapid rise to the majors by making his debut against the Pirates. He threw five scoreless innings in a 1-0 win, and in an interesting factoid he became the youngest pitcher to win a game by that score in his debut.

Bryse has spent most of this season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate Gwinnett, which happened to have a series at the Durham Bulls over Labor Day weekend.

Back on the field with family and friends watching must have felt like the old days for Wilson, before his long journey to get on the field in a college football game.

“It was a honor to be out there,” Wilson admitted.

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