Ben Wilkerson

Benjamin Lorenza Wilkerson (born November 22, 1982) is an American football coach and former player who is the assistant offensive line coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played center in the NFL for four seasons during the early 2000s and college football for LSU, earning consensus All-American honors, and was recognized as the top college football center. He signed with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent, and also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL).

Ben Wilkerson
New York Giants
Position:Assistant offensive line coach
Personal information
Born: (1982-11-22) November 22, 1982
Port Arthur, Texas
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:313 lb (142 kg)
Career information
High school:Hemphill (TX)
College:LSU
Undrafted:2005
Career history
As player:
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games Played:32
Games Started:0
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

Wilkerson was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He graduated from Hemphill High School in Hemphill, Texas.

College career

He received an athletic scholarship to attend Louisiana State University, where he played for coach Nick Saban's LSU Tigers football team from 2001 to 2004. As a junior in 2003, he was a member of the Tigers' SEC Championship team that defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 21–14 to win the BCS National Championship. Following his senior 2004 season, he was recognized as a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and was awarded the Rimington Trophy as the best college football center in the country.

Professional career

Wilkerson was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2005 by the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, and he was a member of the Bengals from 2005 to 2006, but appeared in only three games during the 2006 season. He also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons from 2007 to 2008, and appeared in twenty-nine games off the bench for the Falcons.[1]

He was a member of the United Football League's Florida Tuskers for part of the 2009 season.

Coaching career

LSU

Wilkerson served as a graduate assistant for the LSU Tigers during the 2011 football season under Les Miles.

Grambling State

He served as the offensive line coach at Grambling State University from 2012–2013.

North Shore Senior High School

Wilkerson was a PE teacher and assistant football and track coach at North Shore Senior High School in Texas during 2014.[2]

Chicago Bears

On February 11, 2015, Wilkerson was hired by the Chicago Bears as their assistant offensive line coach.[2][3]

New York Giants

On February 5, 2018, the New York Giants hired Wilkerson to serve as their assistant offensive line coach.[4][5] Even with the coaching change in 2020 Joe Judge decided to keep Wilkerson on the Giants staff in the same position.[6][7]

References
  1. Lester, Ryan. "Offseason Analysis: Atlanta Falcons". Bleacher Report. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  2. Wright, Michael C. (February 11, 2015). "Ben Wilkerson joins Bears' coaching staff". ESPN. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  3. Wiederer, Dan. "Bears name Ben Wilkerson assistant offensive line coach". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  4. "Report: Giants' Pat Shurmur adds Deshea Townsend, Ben Wilkerson to staff". Giants Wire. February 5, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  5. "Report: Ben Wilkerson, Deshea Townsend join Giants' staff". profootballtalk. February 5, 2018.
  6. "Report: Giants, Joe Judge will keep Ben Wilkerson on staff". Giants Wire. January 25, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  7. "The Latest on the Giants Assistant Coaching Staff". SI.com. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
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