Throughout spring football practice, ODUSports.com will do a Q&A with a member of the ODU Football team. Today's Q&A is with freshman linebacker, Derek Wilder .



Q: How long have you been playing football?

A: I have been playing football since I was in the third grade. I was on the flag football team. Since then, I have played every year.

Q: Which position do you prefer to play more, tight end or linebacker?

A: I never really had a huge preference in high school because I always played both sides of the ball. I liked playing offense when they would throw me the ball, not so much the run blocking, and I like playing defense just as much.

Q: What has it been like for you, growing up around ODU Football, watching the successes of the program through the eyes of the coach's son?

A: I definitely felt that it was a huge part of my life. I've watched them when they were successful and I felt pride and when they lost I was a little disappointed.

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your pursuit of football?

A: I would have to say my father. He played college football and I wanted to be just like him. I wore his number all the way up to middle school.

Q: What is it like for you now that you are actually playing for your dad?

A: I feel a sense of pressure feeling like you don't want to let him down but not only because he is my dad but I do not want to let the team down either.

Q: Why did you choose ODU?

A: When I was looking to make a decision on where I would go to school there were a few schools that hadn't offered me but I was still looking at because I wasn't sure what I wanted to major in. So I wanted to attend a school that had multiple majors and ODU had that. There are a lot of different majors and fields that I could study.

Q: What are your top-three contenders for majors right now?

A: Right now I am looking at an exercise science major with a business management minor as my field of study.

Q: As a fan and now as an athlete here, what are you looking forward to on game day?

A: I am definitely looking forward to the first game where I am dressing and running out on the field. Not just being out on the field on the sidelines but now actually playing in front of the thousands of fans there to support the team.

Q: Which game this fall are you looking forward to most of all?

A: The first game that I dress.

Q: What has been the hardest part about spring football practice for you?

A: There is a lot to learn on the defensive side of the ball, especially at the MIKE linebacker position where we have to know more than everybody else in a way. Coming from high school when things were a lot simpler to understand, where here we have a lot more coverage's and checks we have to learn that has been the most challenging.

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: My favorite is chicken fettuccini alfredo pasta; I love pasta.

Q: What are your three favorite movies?

A: My favorite movies are “American Sniper”, all of the “Fast and Furious”, and “Iron Man” and the Marvel movies.

Q: If you can travel anywhere around the world, where would you go, and why?

A: I've been a lot of places but the one I really want to go to would be Australia because it is a place where everything is a little different and it has the outback.

Q: Out of all of the places you have traveled to, what has been your favorite destination?

A: I would have to say Morocco, Africa. Being that it was an eye opener on life. I saw so many animals and it was a completely new experience for me.

Q: What is your favorite holiday to celebrate?

A: I like the Fourth of July because my birthday is two days before that. It is like one big celebration.

Q: Who is your favorite NFL football team and why?

A: The New England Patriots. We grew up in Maine and the New England area. Up there it was Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox.

Q: When you moved from Maine to Virginia, what was the biggest difference?

A: The biggest difference was the weather. It does not snow here like it does in Maine. Also in Maine, we lived on about 400 acres of land and we were able to go bike riding and we didn't have houses right on top of each other. So it was a bit of an adjustment getting used to having about 100 neighbors so close as opposed to maybe four or five in our neighborhood.

Q: Do you miss Maine at all?

A: I miss the outdoors and Acadia National Park was really nice. I also had some good friends up there but I really like it here.

Q: Post graduation, where do you see yourself? Do you envision yourself following in your father's footsteps as a coach?

A: I am not sure if I want to pursue specifically being a football coach. I am looking into going into exercise science. I'd like to maybe run a gym and helping young athletes involved in all sports. Then if I want to do football specifically then I can choose that route but you know I just like to help the youth in general.

Q: Did you play any other sports growing up?

A: Yes, the rule in our house was you either play a sport or an instrument and I didn't really want to play an instrument so I played basketball, baseball and football while living in Maine. Once we moved here, I let go of baseball and got involved with lacrosse.

Q: Who is your favorite super hero?

A: Superman, because he is the go to super hero. When I think of super heroes he is the first one that pops into my mind and he is the iconic super hero everyone wanted to be growing up.

Q: What advice have the upperclassmen provided you with and have found to be valuable?

A: What I have found to be very helpful is having a learning attitude. You can't go into this sport thinking you know everything because most of the time you don't and the coaches are here to try and help you so if you don't want to take their advice you better.

Q: What is one piece of advice that you have now and would have given yourself four to five years ago?

A: I would say to try new things and try more things. Growing up I liked to keep to the same stuff, I was not as open to trying new things and if we went out I would be very lenient and I wasn't going to go out and talk to people I didn't know. So I would just say be open to new opportunities.