Dakota Wilson is one-quarter of the strong senior contingent on Idaho State’s offensive line this year. Although the left side of the line has experienced some upheaval because of injuries, the right side, anchored by Wilson at right tackle and Preston Holfeltz at right guard, has been consistently strong. With just four games left in his career, the Idaho State Journal chatted with Wilson about going under the radar, Idaho pride and family life.

Idaho State Journal: The last two weeks, especially, have been tough, but what’s the mood around the team right now?

Dakota Wilson: We’ve still got four games left to play. That’s a lot of our season left, that’s a third of our season. Things haven’t gone the way we thought they would up to this point, but we’ve still got a third of the season left to finish, and I think we’re going to go out and finish that strong. There’s still a lot of positivity, if you were out at practice today, you’d think we were 8-0, the way the energy was out there. I think we’re going to finish the season strong and get things rolling into next season for these younger players that are coming up, and get them started off on the right foot.

ISJ: What’s it like playing on such an experienced offensive line?

DW: (Center) Dallen (Collins), (left guard) Jake (Molenaar) and I, we’ve all played together since our sophomore year. Preston was here last year. We’re a pretty tight-knit group, always spending time together, always around each other at meals and whatnot. I’m going to miss those guys once the season’s over and we all move on, go our separate ways and stuff. I’m just grateful for the friendship and brotherhood that we have together as an O-line.

ISJ: What’s it like hanging with those guys?

DW: It’s just a fun group. Everyone’s always smiling and laughing, having a good time. A lot of that carries out onto the field too. We’re out there, obviously, playing as hard as we can, but we have fun with it too. We’re out there communicating, talking and being good friends out on the field. And off the field, traveling, we’ll always be telling jokes or hanging out watching football together, watching movies on the bus, stuff like that. It’s just a tight-knit group on the O-line.

ISJ: What have been the best moments of the season for you?

DW: Right now, we’re 3-0 at home. We’ve got two more games left with a chance to go 5-0. Every time you win at home, that’s just a special feeling, so all three of those wins we’ve had so far at home, that’s awesome. You feel like you’re on top of the world when you win, especially at home, in front of your own fans. We’ve had some good crowds here, and so, especially our two conference games at home against Portland (State) and North Dakota, winning those ones big-time and our whole team just playing awesome and being the team that we know we can be in those home games, those two games have probably been the highlight of our season.

ISJ: The offensive line often doesn’t get a lot of recognition. How do you guys deal with that?

DW: The way you tell if an offensive line is successful is by looking at their skill players, the quarterback, the wide receivers, the running backs. And so seeing (running back) Ty (Flanagan) go for 100 yards and two touchdowns, to us, that’s success. When we can put Ty or (quarterback Matt) Struck or whoever in position to be successful, put up big numbers, make big plays, that’s kind of how we judge our success. At the end of the day, all we can really control on the O-line is our attitude and effort, and so we always try to give 100% effort, as much as we can, and just stay positive when things don’t go our way.

ISJ: What’s your career path been to get to this point?

DW: I played varsity my junior and senior years of high school at South Fremont. My junior year, we were really good, we went to, I think, the quarterfinals of the playoffs and ended up losing to the eventual state champion. My senior year, we struggled, and then after I graduated high school, I went on a mission for two years, and then came back. I got to ISU in 2015 and I redshirted that first year. Then 2016, my redshirt freshman year, I didn’t really play at all, I think I was on the extra-point unit for a few games. I didn’t really see the field that year, and then my sophomore year, I was the sixth man on the offensive line, so I had to fill in for injuries. I started a couple games at guard, a game at center, and got a lot of playing time. I was playing behind Skyler Phillips that year, who was one of the great O-linemen to play at ISU, so I learned a lot from him and from the veteran guys on that group, him and Brian Fineanganofo. They kind of took me under their wing and tutored me a little bit. I learned a lot, grew a lot, played a lot of different positions that year, and then my junior year, Roman Sapolu took over the O-line and he moved me out to right tackle, and then that’s where I’ve been ever since.

ISJ: It’s interesting that you had that year as a swing offensive lineman, because there are a few guys that have had to do that for ISU this season. Do you try to give them advice on that role?

DW: I always try to help where I can, tell people things, share the little bit of knowledge that I do have. But especially guys like (interior lineman) Terron (Carey), who’s the next guy in, I always just tell him, like, you’re one play away from being the dude, being the starter. So I just try to do what I can to keep them ready. I don’t know how effective that is, you’d have to ask them.

ISJ: What was it like going from 3A Idaho high school football at South Fremont, to taking a few years off, to jumping in at ISU?

DW: It was a learning curve coming in. Matt Troxel was our O-line coach in 2015, and he, luckily, he had the time and patience to sit down and teach me and a couple of the other new guys. He was teaching us the defensive fronts, the difference between a 4-3, a 3-4, different alignments on the D-line, how to target things in the run game and stuff. It was a steep learning curve that year in 2015, my freshman year. Luckily, coach Trox had the patience to kind of sit down and work over the areas where my knowledge was lacking, because it’s a completely different game going from 3A Idaho small-school football up to FCS, DI football. It’s quite the jump.

ISJ: There are a lot of Idaho kids on this ISU roster. What’s that been like?

DW: It’s awesome. You can definitely tell the difference around the community. There’s a lot of support, a lot of people coming out to see local guys, local Idaho guys. I think it’s also brought a lot of pride to the locker room, because this is where we’re all from. We all grew up here, we want to make something special here at Idaho State. I think we’re still in the early phases of getting on that track, of getting ISU to be a powerhouse in the Big Sky. One day, I mean, that’s our ultimate goal, and I think a lot of guys, especially from Idaho, take a lot of pride in that, trying to build things up here.

ISJ: Where did you take your mission?

DW: I went to South Korea. Busan, South Korea for two years. It was awesome. On my mission, I learned and matured a lot. That was a great two years. I came a long way as a person during that, and then just, I don’t know, it kind of puts things in a different perspective when you come back and start playing football, as far as setbacks, things like that. For me, it was a lot easier to keep a positive attitude, be like, yeah, this is hard, this is tough, but I lived in a different country, tried to learn the language, all this stuff, for two years. I can get through these things here, these difficult times, whatever you face. It helped me be more equipped to like handle life in general.

ISJ: There was a big feature on your family life on ISU’s website a few months back (Wilson is married with a young daughter). Does that also give you a different perspective?

DW: I got married the fall of 2015, so it was my first year back. I got married pretty quick after getting home, and then we had our daughter in 2017. So, for most of my career, I’ve been a dad. It’s just a different perspective, again. I don’t even really know how to describe it, but like, on bad days, I know as soon as I pull up in the driveway, my daughter’s going to be at the window and come running to the door all happy and excited to see me, whether it’s a bad day or a good day. So that helps a lot, kind of like a stress reliever when you finally get home. No matter what happened that day, that helps. (And I’m) just motivated, you have people relying on you. Like, I have two people at home right now relying on me to be successful, put food on the table, stuff like that. It’s just a different kind of motivation to do whatever I can to provide for them.

ISJ: How will you look back on your time at ISU?

DW: I got nothing but love for ISU and the time I’ve spent here. I’ve met some of my best friends here, my teammates. I’ll look back with a lot of good memories. I’ve been around here long enough to kind of see the good and bad of it all. My first two years, we were 2-9 both years, and then coach (Rob) Phenicie took over, and we started to expect to win and started to win games. There’s a lot to learn from being in both of those situations, you know, from being 2-9, and then last year I think we were 6-5. There’s a lot you can learn from both those situations, and I’m just grateful for my time as a Bengal. It’s definitely helped me grow as a man, husband, father, student, all-around. I’m definitely a better person because of ISU and the football program here.