Countdown to 2020 IUFB Kickoff: 63 Days (Tim Wilbur)

Written by Nathan Comp

The Hoosier Huddle countdown to kickoff has begun! Nine weeks remain until the Hoosiers kickoff the 2020 season at Camp Randall Stadium against the Wisconsin Badgers. Today, we’ll highlight 1979 Holiday Bowl legend and all time Indiana career interception leader, Tim Wilbur.

Tim Wilbur (1978-1982)

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Position: Cornerback, Punt Returner

Taking a brief detour from the current Indiana roster, today we’ll highlight one of the best to ever be in the Hoosier secondary, Tim Wilbur. Wilbur joined the Hoosiers in 1978 after a stellar high school career for Ben Davis High School. He played three sports in high school: football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he co-captained the Giants to an 11-1 record in his senior year. He earned All-State Defensive honors three times and was a Marion County Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 1977.

Once Wilbur joined Lee Corso and the Hoosiers, he got right to work. His primary position was cornerback where he set all sorts of school records. To this day, he still owns the record for most interceptions in a career (19), an individual season (8 in 1979), and in a game (3 in 1979 against Illinois). He earned All-Big Ten honors in 1979 and 1980, and was also named a second team All-American in 1980.

Despite all this success, Wilbur is best known for a play he made as a punt returner. In the 1979 Holiday Bowl, the Hoosiers found themselves down late in the fourth quarter 34-31 to 9th ranked BYU. Wilbur went back to return a punt, and after the short punt bounced at midfield and then ricocheted off teammate Craig Walls, Wilbur picked it up at his own 38-yard line and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown. The Hoosiers went on to claim victory in the bowl by just one point, 38-37.

“It was fantastic. Winning that game was the climax, along with scoring that touchdown and winning MVP. Again, we had a great group of guys that worked hard, and it all culminated in that one moment,” said Wilbur at his Indiana Football Hall of Fame Induction.

“Everybody called me slow,” Wilbur said. “I always tell them I never got caught from behind.”