Dariyan Wiley Interview: Battling back from adversity, NFL and UFl interest
Wide receiver Dariyan Wiley had an up-and-down collegiate career that concluded with a hamstring injury that kept him out for most of the 2024 season at Vanderbilt.
Though his days playing college football ended on a sorrow note, Wiley is battling back from adversity and is ready to make a difference on the field once again, this time in a different setting.
Wiley sat down with Dharya Sharma of SharmSports on a Zoom call, and detailed his entire journey and next steps. The dynamic receiver from Atlanta is receiving interest from UFL teams, and even caught the attention of an NFL team earlier this year.
Interview conducted by Dharya Sharma
Founder/Owner of SharmSports. NFL contributor at The Sporting News
AUDIO RECORDING OF INTERVIEW WITH DARIYAN WILEY
FULL TRANSCIRPT
Football Journey
Sharm: Take me through your football journey
Dariyan Wiley: My journey was a little crazy. In high school, I started out playing defensive line, linebacker, safety, and didn’t start playing receiver until the end of my tenth grade year. My first interest from schools was from Tennessee. They gave me an offer before the coaching staff got fired, so my offer didn’t stand. But I started rolling with offers my 11th grade year. As it got closer to signing day, I was getting a lot of interest from Power 5 schools, and Walt Bell from Florida State was recruiting me. When I was in high school, I wanted to go to Florida State, but Bell ended up taking a job at UMass. I was the first person he [Bell] called and he said “Dariyan, I got an opportunity for you. I’m about to be the head coach at UMass, and you the first person I’m offering.” I told him I’m coming on a visit, I want to be your guy. So I choose UMass over all the other schools because of loyalty.
I ended up getting there, and Walt Bell is a great guy, but that program [UMass] didn’t seem like they wanted to win. I thought it was going to be a quick turnaround because of what my high school coach did with us. My freshman year (2019), I started four games. Walt Bell gave me an opportunity, I started in all four special teams on top of playing receiver. Covid happened and my mom got sick, so I hit the portal to go home to my family. I ended up getting an offer from ULM. I went crazy in the 2021 spring game, I ended up having like three catches, two touchdowns, and 65 yards against Josh Newton in the spring game.
I was developing during my time at ULM. We had a whole bunch of struggles with the quarterback situation, but I spent two seasons there and had my best season in 2023. I had a chip on my shoulder when we played Power 5 teams. I wanted to make sure that college and NFL coaches knew I could play at the highest level. I ended up leaving ULM after the coaching change. Hit the portal and played spring ball at Nevada. They gave me the opportunity to play X, slot, and running back. I wouldn’t say I would change anything, but me going there and leaving, I should’ve just picked a school. Spring ball is where you build chemistry with your quarterback.
I ended up leaving Nevada because I got the opportunity to play SEC ball. I ended up going to Vanderbilt. I ended up hurting my hamstring in spring ball at Nevada, but I didn’t tell the coaches and I pushed through because I don’t like missing anything. They noticed me limping early on, and the coaches were like “What’s going on? You just got here.” I told them I messed my hamstring up at my old school, and they were a little frustrated because they invested time and money in me. I ended up going through workouts, but wasn’t 100% in fall camp due to my hamstring. I ended up playing five games, but I re-injured my leg against Georgia State. It’s kinda been downhill since then. I missed the rest of the season because of that. I just trusted God and sat out.
Interest from NFL, UFL, and Titans
Dariyan Wiley: I got the opportunity to talk to a whole bunch of NFL teams this offseason. I did a lot of Zooms to get to know coaches, so I was still blessed with the opportunity to put my talent on show. I even did the Titans local day, and I killed that. The coaches interviewed me after practice to see who I was. That business is way more cutthroat than college. I ended up telling them what happened at the end of the season [2024 hamstring injury], and it raised some red flags. But they still like me, and I’ve been talking to the coach [Titans receiver coach Tyke Tolbert] and letting them know how my rehab is going.
Wiley also told me he is in contact with multiple UFL teams. Wiley’s old running back coach at ULM is currently with the Michigan Panthers, so there is mutual interest there.
Dealing with Adversity
Sharm: When faced with adversity, like a long rehab, how do you deal with it?
Dariyan Wiley: With adversity, I try not to let it beat me down. A lot of people, they’ll just sleep or run away from their problems. I like to attack it. Yeah the first two days, I was away from everybody. I’m human. After that, I picked my grind up, and grinded harder than before I was hurt. Doing more now than what you did before the adversity hit. Whether it be in school or a job. If school given me trouble, then I need to study more. If football given me trouble, then I have to train harder. If my body banged up, I gotta recover harder.
Everytime I get adversity, I just try to go harder than the adversity.
More on Titans Local Day
Sharm: You talked about the Titans local day. How was that experience and can you go into more detail about that?
Dariyan Wiley: It felt like first day of school. First day of fall camp. You walk in and introduce yourselves to the coaches. Everybody got fresh eyes. We had meetings at first, then we did position drills. I was confident in that because we’ve been doing that forever. We ended up doing top of the route drills. Coaches were trying to see who can get in and out of their breaks. That’s really one of my strengths, getting in and out of my breaks, but also being relentless. I want to win, regardless of what I’m doing. We also did routes on air and special teams stuff.
I stood out with the drills and the routes. I made sure to go first [in all the drills] because I never want to be last.
Conversations with Titans receiver coach Tyke Tolbert
Sharm: What conversations did you have with Tyke Tolbert?
Dariyan Wiley: He [Tolbert] was really trying to get to know me. He actually coached at ULM. So that was a good connection we had.
Closing question
Sharm: Why should UFL and NFL teams take a chance on Dariyan Wiley?
Dariyan Wiley: It wouldn’t even be a chance, it would be an opportunity. I’ll be able to bring something to the table that’s gonna benefit us. I’m relentless and you can put me anywhere on the field.
Thanks to Dariyan Wiley for the interview!
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