Quirky Running Back Keeps Virginia Tech Loose NEW ORLEANS - It seems that everyone affiliated with the Virginia Tech football team has a favorite story about David Wilson. There was the time he did 10 back flips at media day. Or the time he showed up to fall camp in a souped-up 1978 Ford Thunderbird, complete with 24-inch rims and a custom stereo. Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer joked that he wanted a ride someday. Beamer may not have been as amused by the time Wilson climbed the giant wood arches that support Cassell Coliseum, the Hokies" basketball arena. He told reporters that he liked the view. "He's doing something every day to make me laugh or make me smile," the running backs coach Shane Beamer said, adding, "He enjoys life." Hokies quarterback Logan Thomas, whose hometown is about an hour from Wilson's in central Virginia, first saw Wilson play in high school when he punctuated a touchdown run with a front flip into the end zone. "Once I met him I said now I know where all this came from," Thomas said. For his part, Wilson merely said: "I ain't trying to be different. I'm just being myself. Being himself, in all of his energetic glory, has produced a standout season for Wilson. Having waited behind the future N.F.L. running backs Ryan Williams and Darren Evans, Wilson, a junior, entered Tuesday night's Sugar Bowl against Michigan with 1,627 yards rushing, 9 touchdowns and an average of more than 6 yards per carry this season. "The way he runs the football is kind of how his life is: full speed ahead, all effort," Frank Beamer said. A moment from his freshman year encapsulated both his athleticism and his inherent enthusiasm. Wilson chased animals for fun while growing up in Danville, Va. Still, of the "couple hundred" rabbits he chased, only once did he catch one, and it was a baby. So when a rabbit appeared on the Hokies" practice field, he took the opportunity to sneak up on it. "He grabbed it up by the tail," Thomas said. That's just David for you. Wilson wears a shirt and tie to class every day, a practice he started in high school when, just before leaving to sing in the choir at church one week, he looked in the mirror, thought he looked spiffy, and decided to dress that way for school. "I got so many compliments, I did it again," he said. While some of Wilson's quirkiness is on display during games, practice is where his personality is truly unfettered. The team often gets a laugh while reviewing practice film at the sight of Wilson somersaulting in the background. Wide receiver Danny Coale enjoys it when Wilson "rewinds." "We'll run a play, and go like 15 yards downfield, then he'll go in reverse the entire way back and get back in the I-formation," Coale said. He'll backpedal the entire way. He'll, like, juke backward, then line back up. It's pretty awesome. Frank Beamer said of Wilson, "I've never seen him have a bad day." If he ever did, it was Dec. 3, when Clemson smothered Wilson, holding him to a season-low 32 yards on 11 carries in a 38-10 victory over the Hokies in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. "Just seemed like there was an extra guy everywhere I went," he said. He sulked afterward and vowed to remember what it was like. That, he said, would be his motivation to work harder "so I never feel that way again." Wilson's coaches also regretted only getting him five carries in the second half. "We don't ever want to quit getting the ball into David's hands," Shane Beamer said. Despite the poor showing against Clemson, Wilson developed into a complete running back this season. Detractors point to his penchant for fumbling (seven this season) and how weak opposing A.C.C. rush defenses were (seven of the Hokies" conference opponents currently rank 50th or worse against the run). Others say that he tends to bounce his runs outside too much, but Shane Beamer recalled with pride how Wilson ran through a tiny hole in the middle of the line against Virginia this season and went 38 yards for a touchdown. It was the type of run that could persuade Wilson to leave Virginia Tech early for the N.F.L., a decision he said he would announce soon after the Sugar Bowl. Until then, he plans to keep the Hokies smiling. Just last week, Wilson hid underneath a table at a running backs meeting while his accomplices told Shane Beamer he was in the bathroom. Fifteen minutes passed and Beamer grew tired of waiting. When he started the meeting, Wilson jumped out and scared him. "Nothing he does surprises me anymore," Frank Beamer said. Both on and off the field.