Valencia linebacker Jay Jay Wilson is a force on the field

At 6 feet 3 and 230 pounds, with a goatee and six tattoos scattered around his body, Jay Jay Wilson of Valencia High hardly resembles an ordinary 17-year-old senior who walks around campus with a backpack.

In fact, if five NFL linebackers were lined up side by side and Wilson happened to join them, he’d fit right in.

“He’s so physically gifted and physically mature,” Coach Larry Muir said.

Since he was a freshman, Wilson has been starting on varsity, mostly as a receiver and defensive back. This season, he has been switched to linebacker, and that might cause a few panic attacks among quarterbacks when they see an intimidating presence staring right at them like a leopard preparing to snatch his prey.

“From a physical standpoint, the sky’s the limit. It truly is,” Muir said.

But, as everyone eventually finds out, talent alone isn’t enough to keep moving up the football ladder.

Wilson has made major strides since he arrived three year ago. Back then, he had a quick temper and attending class wasn’t a priority. Muir has given him more than half a dozen serious talks describing the importance of school and a commitment to education. Slowly, the words are getting through, but the question is whether Wison can correct mistakes of the past enough to get to college next year.

“He’s still a work in progress,” Muir said. “There’s a lot of things he has to do to make up from earlier in his academic career.”

The good news is that Wilson understands the challenges ahead.

“I can’t go to college or can’t go to the next level without an education,” he said. “I know what I have to do. I’m going to get it done.”

Nothing has ever come easy except for perhaps football for Wilson, who said his mother has been in and out of jail through the years. His father is still in his life, but Wilson lives with a family in Valencia that took him in.

He started playing football at a young age because it helped take away some of his anger and he didn’t get into trouble for hitting people.

His size makes him a target, but he insists, “If someone doesn’t know me, if you ask them about me, they’ll probably say I’m intimidating. But for the people who do know me, they’ll probably call me a teddy bear.”

His combination of size, speed and explosiveness makes him a football player unlike few others at the high school level. Valencia is 2-1 and considered a co-favorite with Newhall Hart in the Foothill League.

He has lots of adults and teenagers rooting for him, but in the end, when he looks into a mirror, he understands that the person he sees will be responsible for the future successes or failures.

“I think the biggest part for me will be the person part, because everyone says I have everything you need to make it to the next level,” he said. “I have the physicality, I have the athletic ability, but at the end of the day, am I not going to waste that?

“You see a lot [of people who] waste that because they don’t have the academic part. I feel I’ve seen it enough to know that’s not the thing to do. If I don’t make it, it’s no one else’s fault but mine.”