No. 51 | |||||||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||||||
Personal information | |||||||
Born: | Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S. | May 27, 1956||||||
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||
Weight: | 235 lb (107 kg) | ||||||
Career information | |||||||
College: | Georgia Tech | ||||||
NFL draft: | 1978 / Round: 3 / Pick: 66 | ||||||
Career history | |||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
Reginald Wayman Wilkes (born May 27, 1956) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons. He attended university and played college football at Georgia Tech, graduating with a Bachelor of Science. Wilkes was drafted by the Eagles in the third round of the 1978 NFL draft.
Wilkes was all-state at Southwest Atlanta High School and won the 1973 Georgia AA State Championship, heading a defense that allowed 126 yards rushing for the whole season. He went on to letter for Georgia Tech football all four years of college. Upon graduation, he was granted membership into the prestigious ANAK Society, Georgia Tech's honor society, which recognizes exemplary student leaders. [1]
In his rookie NFL year with the Eagles, Wilkes recorded 88 tackles, and along with Pro Bowler Bill Bergey, co-led the team with five fumble recoveries. He was named to the UPI and Pro Football Weekly All-Rookie teams in 1978–79. [2] Wilkes played in every regular season game in his first three NFL seasons, and was a starting outside linebacker on the 1980–81 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl XV team. [3] After eight seasons with the Eagles, Wilkes finished his career with two years on the Atlanta Falcons. In 1989, Wilkes was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame. [4] In 2013, Wilkes was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. [5]
During his 10-year NFL career, Wilkes worked on the staff of Merrill Lynch advisory group in the off-seasons. Following his retirement from the NFL in 1988, Wilkes and two partners began a registered investment advisory firm, Pro Cap, which specialized in investment and lifestyle management services for professional athletes. [6] They later sold that business to Mercantile Trust Bank, based in Baltimore, and Wilkes maintained his position as senior vice president, heading up its sports and entertainment division. Wilkes returned to Merrill Lynch in 2007 and founded "The Wilkes Sports Management & Advisory Group", before moving to Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC, where he continues to specialize in wealth management of high-net-worth athletes in the NFL and NBA. [7]
Wilkes, and his group, has been featured by numerous news and media outlets, including The New York Times, [8] The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, [9] CNBC, Reuters, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel , [10] and the documentary film Broke, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. [11] The film is part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series of sports documentaries. Wilkes is a member of the NFL Alumni Association and is a NFLPA Registered Player Financial Advisor.
Wilkes operates offices in Philadelphia and Atlanta and lives with his wife in Philadelphia.
William Lewis Shaw is an American former professional football player who played as a guard for the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL). After playing college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was drafted by the Bills. Shaw was the prototypical "pulling guard" who despite his size held his own against much bigger defensive linemen like Ernie Ladd, Earl Faison and Buck Buchanan. He won three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965 with Buffalo.
Charles Philip Bednarik, nicknamed "Concrete Charlie", was an American football linebacker and center who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn Quakers, and was selected with the first overall pick of the 1949 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played his entire 14-year NFL career from 1949 through 1962. Bednarik is ranked one of the hardest hitting tacklers in NFL history, and was one of the league's last two-way players, so he was also known as "60 Minute Man".
Reginald Howard White was an American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. White played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, earning unanimous All-American honors. After playing two seasons for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL), he was selected in the first round of the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft, and then played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most awarded defensive players in NFL history.
Herbert Dorsey Levens is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and later the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Levens was selected by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1994 NFL draft. He helped the Packers win the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots.
Jeremiah Trotter is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He played college football for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft.
Keith Howard Brooking is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the first round of the 1998 NFL draft. Brooking was a five-time Pro Bowl selection with the Falcons. He also played for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
Eric Andre Allen is an American former football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, and Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2001. A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Allen retired after the 2001 season and is currently an NFL analyst for Pac-12 Networks. In his NFL career, he recorded 54 interceptions for 826 yards and eight touchdowns, while also recovering seven fumbles. His 54 interceptions is tied for 21st in NFL history.
Sheldon Dion Brown is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Brown was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft and also played for the Cleveland Browns.
Richard Albert Vermeil is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Louis Rams for three, and the Kansas City Chiefs for five. Prior to the NFL, he was the head football coach at Hillsdale High School from 1960 to 1962, Napa Junior College in 1964, and UCLA from 1974 to 1975. With UCLA, Vermeil led the team to victory in the 1976 Rose Bowl. Vermeil's NFL tenure would see him improve the fortunes of teams that had a losing record before he arrived and bring them all to the playoffs by his third season, which included a Super Bowl title with the Rams.
Mark Lee Simoneau is a former American college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for Kansas State University and was recognized as an All-American. He was picked by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft, and played for the Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL.
The 2001 NFL draft was the 66th draft annual of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on April 21–22, 2001.
Maxie Callaway Baughan Jr. was an American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, and the Washington Redskins. Baughan played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The Tennessee Volunteers football program represents the University of Tennessee (UT).
Larry Cleo Morris was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Chicago Bears. The 1950 graduate of Decatur High School became an All-American playing college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets before his NFL career. "The Brahma Bull" was named one of the linebackers on the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team. He was sentenced to probation for his role in the Savings and loan crisis.
Xavier Oyekola Adibi is an American football coach and former player. He is a defensive analyst at Virginia Tech, and was previously the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M University–Commerce. He played college football at Virginia Tech. He was selected by the Houston Texans in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft and played professionally as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) with the Texans (2008–2010), Minnesota Vikings (2011), Chicago Bears (2012), and Tennessee Titans (2012). He was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Calvin Johnson Jr., is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. Nicknamed "Megatron" after the Transformers character of the same name, he is regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award as a junior, and was selected by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL draft.
Donald Lee Evans is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers & New York Jets.
Paul Eric Worrilow is a former American football linebacker. He played college football for the University of Delaware where he was recognized as an All-American, and became one of the program's most decorated athletes. The Atlanta Falcons signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2013 NFL Draft.
Nakobe Rashod Dean is an American football linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, winning the 2021 Butkus Award before being selected by the Eagles in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.