“I just found out two days ago (Tuesday) in the weight room,” one teammate, who preferred to remain unnamed, said Thursday. “Any details beyond that are so hush-hush. I read the newspaper this morning and that's about as much as I know.”
Wilson, a 20-year-old who was an All-America candidate last fall and ended up second-team all-Big Sky Conference, turned himself into the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department just after noon on Tuesday. He's suspected in the slaying of Kevin Isaiah Smoot, a 29-year-old who was shot on June 2 in Lancaster, Calif.
UM officials are mostly mum on the subject: Head coach Bobby Hauck didn't return a Thursday phone call; Griz athletic director Jim O'Day had associate AD Dave Guffey return a call from the Missoulian, to say O'Day had no comment. Wilson's teammates were told Thursday morning by UM not to talk to the media.
Details about Wilson's flight from California and subsequent return are scarce; a phone call to LASD detectives went unreturned Thursday. The LASD Web site has no preliminary hearing scheduled for Wilson, who is being held on $1 million bond.
It was a “You're-kidding” moment for the team.
“The second reaction is, you know, we really care about Jimmy,” said a teammate. “He's always been a good, respectable teammate to everybody. I hope things work out OK. It's going to be a long season without him and we'll miss him.”
Former teammate Chris Orwig was stunned to hear the news on Thursday.
“He's always been a fierce competitor and a great teammate,” said Orwig, a Griz offensive lineman (2002-05) who spent the past week guiding a fishing trip on the Smith River. “He and I came from different places, but when it came to working hard in the workout room and being a leader for his position group, we were alike like that.
“But man, that's unfortunate.”
The irony for UM is the story broke three days after Montana State hired coach Rob Ash to replace Mike Kramer. Kramer was fired following another arrest of a former player - Ricky Gatewood, who pleaded innocent to drug charges Thursday in Missoula.
One of Wilson's teammates wasn't happy to see the Griz and Bobcat programs linked in that way.
“We're not the same team,” he said.
Another former Griz player saw Wilson last Thursday, and had no indication then what had happened.
“I just heard about it when some of the guys on the team started rumbling about it,” said one former player. “That was two days ago.
“I was shocked,” he continued. “Everybody was saying Bozeman's so bad, but now we've got a guy who's charged with murder. My thinking is why was Kramer being fired for that? He shouldn't have been fired. You can't control what players do off the field.”
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