Ben Wilkerson
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| Position: | Center | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Date of birth: | November 22, 1982 | ||||||
| Place of birth: | Port Arthur, Texas | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 313 lb (142 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | Hemphill (TX) | ||||||
| College: | LSU | ||||||
| Undrafted: | 2005 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
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Benjamin Lorenza Wilkerson (born November 22, 1982) is a former American former college and professional football player and current Chicago Bears assistant offensive line coach, who played center in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons during the early 2000s. He played college football for Louisiana State University (LSU), earned consensus All-American honors, and was recognized as the top college football center. He signed with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent, and also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL).
Early years
Wilkerson was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He graduated from Hemphill High School in Hemphill, Texas.
College career
He received an athletic scholarship to attend Louisiana State University, where he played for coach Nick Saban's LSU Tigers football team from 2001 to 2004. As a junior in 2003, he was a member of the Tigers' SEC Championship team that defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 21–14 to win the BCS National Championship. Following his senior 2004 season, he was recognized as a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and was awarded the Rimington Trophy as the best college football center in the country.
Professional career
Wilkerson was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2005 by the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, and he was a member of the Bengals from 2005 to 2006, but appeared in only three games during the 2006 season. He also played for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons from 2007 to 2008, and appeared in twenty-nine games off the bench for the Falcons.
He was a member of the United Football League's Florida Tuskers for part of the 2009 season.
Coaching career
Wilkerson served as a graduate assistant for the LSU Tigers during the 2011 football season.
He served as the offensive line coach at Grambling State University from 2012–2013.
Wilkerson was a physical education teacher and assistant football and track coach at North Shore Senior High School in Texas during 2014.[1]
On February 11, 2015, Wilkerson was hired by the Chicago Bears as the assistant offensive line coach.[1]