Football coaches watch plenty of football players run track. How about a track star playing football... and not just any track star, but the youngest track and field gold medalist in the history of the Olympics?
That title was earned earlier this month by American sprinter Quincy Wilson who, when he's not burning rubber around a track, plays football for Bullis School in Potomac, Md.
Listed at 5-foot-9 and just 140 pounds, Wilson's future is no doubt running on the track and not the gridiron inside of it, but he takes football seriously enough to not only have his own Hudl page, but to update it before he left for Paris to run in the Olympics. I repeat: this high school junior updated his Hudl before he left for Paris to run in the Olympics.
Anyway, Bullis School runs a double wing, and reverses to their Olympic gold medalist sprinter are as devastating as you'd imagine.
16-year-old Track & Field Gold medalist @QuincyWilson5 has some unreal football highlights. 🔥
— NFL (@NFL) August 20, 2024
(via @Hudl) pic.twitter.com/jqNqOrIrwv
Quincy Wilson reached a max speed of 21.8mph on this play! pic.twitter.com/vEfQysIAAE
— Reel Analytics (@RAanalytics) August 20, 2024
Wilson started running track at eight years old, and by 14 he broke a 30-year-old national record in the 400. In June he made the Olympic team by finishing sixth in the Olympic trials with a time of 44.94; in July he set an under-18 world record with a 44.2; in August he won a gold medal; and next week he'll open his junior season against Gilman School in Baltimore.
And, in the interest of full disclosure, Wilson "only" ran in the prelims, and the US was in seventh after his opening leg, but he wast still part of a 4x400 relay team that won an Olympic gold medal.
Dang, I really got school in 2 and a half weeks💔 #Gold #OlympicGamesParis pic.twitter.com/58xEJBMQWi
— Quincy “Q” Wilson (@QuincyWilson5) August 11, 2024
Tiktok tried to ban me because they said I was too young💔💔.
— Quincy “Q” Wilson (@QuincyWilson5) August 12, 2024
— Quincy “Q” Wilson (@QuincyWilson5) August 14, 2024
Wilson's days in pads, with opponents diving at his legs, are no doubt numbered considering the future he has in front of him. But here's hoping we get to see him catch the corner with the pigskin in his hand at least once this fall.