COLUMBUS - Ohio State's Lawrence Wilson was supposed to be the next Vernon Gholston, a dominant pass-rushing defensive end with NFL-caliber size and quickness.

But Wilson broke his leg in the Buckeyes' 2007 season opener against Youngstown State and missed the rest of the season.

While watching his teammates win another Big Ten Conference championship and earn another BCS title game berth, Wilson waited for his leg to heal and then furiously rehabbed to get ready for the 2008 season.

But that wasn't meant to be, either. Wilson tore an ACL against Purdue on Oct. 11, and again was relegated to watching his teammates finish the season and go to a bowl game.

"It was tough," said Wilson, an Akron native and St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate. "It was a difficult two years."

After two catastropic injuries, the Buckeyes weren't sure what they'd get from Wilson. But after already going through an extensive rehab program once, he was sure he'd get back on the field in 2009.

Wilson showed the Ohio State coaches, his teammates and a crowd of 105,219 he is back on Saturday, during the Buckeyes' 30-0 victory over Illinois in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Wilson, now a backup defensive end, tipped and intercepted a Juice Williams pass on the kind of instinctive, athletic play Ohio State's coaches once anticipated he would make routinely.

Wilson returned the interception just 4 yards before he was tackled, but admittedly celebrated like he "was crazy" after coming up with one of three interceptions by the Buckeyes.

Wilson, screaming and gesturing, wound up on the Buckeyes' sideline with the ball, which isn't exactly the field-exit strategy preferred by Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.

"My teammates came over and said, 'Man, you were going crazy,' " Wilson said. "When I sat down, I thought, 'Oh, I'm in trouble now. I'm going to hear about this.' Coach always says to just give the ball to an official, but I didn't see one, so I just took it with me.' "

Tressel acknowledged seeing Wilson's spirited celebration. How could he have missed it?

"He's got to be exhausted after his celebration," Tressel said. "He'll go to bed right now and sleep for two days."

The coach might give Wilson a pass this time, given what the 6-foot-4, 274-pound senior has gone through since 2007.

"You appreciate people who persist, because it's hard," Tressel said. "I don't know if you've ever had a knee surgery or a broken leg or whatever, and you see all your buddies out there playing and they're getting on a plane and heading to away games, and all you're doing is stopping in the training room. I mean, it's hard and he had to do it for two years.

"To see him have a play like that, it's awesome. It really is."

The interception was the second of Wilson's career. He also broke up two passes as the Buckeyes beat the Fighting Illini on a gray, rainy afternoon in Columbus.

"I just tipped the ball and I heard the crowd roar, so I knew it had to be somewhere," Wilson said. "I just looked up and there the ball was."

Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jim Heacock, who also specializes in coaching the Buckeyes' defensive linemen, was thrilled for Wilson.

"That play meant the world to me, especially after seeing Lawrence in a hospital bed each of the last two years," Heacock said. "He worked so hard to come back after breaking his leg, and then he hurts his knee the next year. He worked really hard again to come back from that.

"It's great to see him back on the field and back making plays like that. It's been a long time coming for him."

Wilson never doubted he'd come back from either injury.

"I just stayed positive," he said. "I took it one day at a time, because if you start thinking about all the rehabbing you have to do and how long it's going to take, that's when you can start to have negative thoughts. I never let those thoughts get into my head."

epuskas@tribtoday.com