Feb. 3, 2012
Signing Day Central | Signing Day Blog | 
Franklin Press Conference
As a high school senior in 1982, Will Wolford signed his name on a piece of paper to become a Vanderbilt Commodore. It’s been 30 years since that day, and a lot has changed in the recruiting process since then. Today, every recruit is looked at under a microscope and players hold national press conferences to announce their college decisions.
The recruitment experience may have changed, but the feelings shared by recruits on signing day in 2012 are the same as they were in 1964 when the National Letter of Intent program was first established to add finality to the recruiting process.
“The recruiting process is night and day from what I experienced,” Wolford said. Players nowadays by the time they get to high school, they know or are at least are told how good they are or maybe how bad they are. Now, with the Internet, Twitter accounts and cell phones there are not a lot of secrets out there. But even with the changes, it still certainly feels good to be able to sign your name on that piece of paper, and that will never change.”
As a prepster at St. Xavier in Louisville, Ky, Wolford earned First Team All-State and was an Honorable Mention All-American, before coming to Vanderbilt, where he developed into arguably the best offensive lineman ever to don the Black and Gold. He started every game from his sophomore season on and was a unanimous First Team All-SEC selection in 1985.
His play was so dominant on the field that former Commodore Head Coach George MacIntyre fittingly bestowed Wolford with one of the better nicknames ever given to any offensive lineman: “The Tractor.”
“The Tractor” left Vanderbilt as a first round draft pick – No. 20 overall – in 1986 to the Buffalo Bills and continued to plow through defensive fronts, helping to pave the way for running back Thurman Thomas. He would play in three Pro Bowls (1990, 1992, 1995) and three Super Bowls (1990, 1991, 1992) during a career in which he also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts.
Throughout his NFL career and since his retirement from the league after the 1998 season, Wolford has kept a watchful eye on the Commodores’ football program. On Wednesday, Wolford was amongst a handful of guests who got a closer look at the inner workings of Vanderbilt’s program by experiencing National Signing Day with the football coaching staff in the war room.
“It was my first time to experience something like that and it was a pretty cool event,” Wolford said. “It was nice to see it from the inside out and see the genuine excitement and feel the electricity in the room from Coach Franklin on down and all around.”
Wolford stands in the back of the war room directly behind Franklin’s right shoulder.
Wolford played his last game in the 90s, but he’s never been able to remove the sport from his blood and has no plans on doing so. After retiring in his native Louisville, Ky., Wolford moved into a broadcasting career, where he’s spent the last 12 years as a member of the Indianapolis Colts radio broadcast team. In his first eight years, he did pregame and postgame shows for home games only and the last four years he has served as the team’s color commentator. His broadcasting resume also includes co-hosting the Bob and Will Show in Louisville with Bob Valvano until the fall of 2008.
Outside of his broadcast duties with the Colts, Wolford is a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. It is a job, Wolford credits his education at Vanderbilt to. Wolford spent his first two semesters as an engineering student and then switched to liberal arts, but his football career prevented him from graduating in four years.
“When football became a thing that could be a career, I shelved my academic career for a long time. After my first year in the NFL, I came back and took two classes to graduate,” Wolford recalled. “I’m grateful I went back and graduated. I wouldn’t have my job if I didn’t graduate.”
On Sunday, Wolford will make the trip to Indianapolis to watch Super Bowl XLVI, but on Wednesday he spent his morning watching and mingling with Vanderbilt’s coaches and staff members as they welcomed a new crop of freshmen … one fax at a time. As he witnessed the genuine excitement of the coaching staff with each new name, Wolford’s mind shifted back in time.
Things were different then when Wolford sealed the envelope and mailed his Letter of Intent to Vanderbilt in 1982. But just as it was 30 years ago each new name that was announced on Signing Day brings potential … potential that at least one of these names could be as successful on and off the field as Will Wolford.
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