NEW YORK -- Three years ago, David Wilson was on the cusp of owning this city’s sports scene like few athletes have been able to.

In December 2012, the New York Giants rookie blasted off and out of coach Tom Coughlin’s doghouse (fumbles will land you there) with one of the great performances in NFL history.

Wilson set a team record with 327 all-purpose yards in a 52-27 victory over the New Orleans Saints that included four kickoff returns for 227 yards, including a 97-yard touchdown, and 13 carries for 100 yards and two more touchdowns. He became the first player in NFL history with 200 kick-return yards and 100 rushing yards, and the second player since 1970 with a kick return touchdown and two rushing touchdowns, in the same game.

But after finishing his rookie year with a franchise-record 1,533 kickoff return yards, Wilson was injured in Week 5 of his second season and was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal, and was told he would face an increased risk of neck injury if he continued playing. After undergoing neck surgery in January 2014, he attempted a comeback but was advised that summer to give up the sport.

“When life knocks you down, I always say plan to land on your back because if you can look up, you can get up,” Wilson said in a tearful retirement press conference on August 9, 2014.

Fortunately for Wilson, his backup plan will have him landing in the sand and perhaps even on the U.S. Olympic Team.

The 23-year-old will chase his second athletic dream beginning on Saturday when he makes his professional track and field debut in the triple jump at the Diamond League adidas Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.

For Wilson, who hasn’t competed since finishing sixth with a wind-aided 16.20m at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a Virginia Tech senior, the meet represents his one and only opportunity to qualify for the USA Track & Field Championships later this month in Eugene. To do so, he will need to jump more than a foot farther than his personal best of 16.02m.

“When I heard that this was the last week that I could qualify for USAs and that it was in New York, I thought, ‘Well that’s perfect,’ because I played for the New York Giants and couldn’t miss this meet,” Wilson said. “I’ve been doing everything I could to make this meet and I am excited now about Saturday.”

In his retirement speech, Wilson insisted “I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me or pity me.” While he admitted to having moments of sadness, he said he quickly pivoted and began figuring out what to do with the rest of his life.

That led him back to track and field, a sport he exceled in while at George Washington High School in Danville, Va., and at Virginia Tech.

“I went on and thought about stuff that I was good at and then I thought about track,” Wilson said. “I was state champion and national champion my junior year, state champion and national champion my senior year. Then I went to college and was All-American.”

Wilson was further reminded of a long-time goal he had even forgotten.

“Johnny Shelton, my team chaplain from Virginia Tech and now the team chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens, called me right after I got injured and made my announcement,” Wilson recalled. “He was like, ‘So, you know what you’ve got to do now, right?’ I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘The Olympics. You told me when you were a freshman in college that you wanted to play pro football and then jump in the Olympics.’”

The more he dwelled on track, the more he was inspired by the realization of the fact – one which has also piqued the interest of many in the sport – that triple jumping was always a moonlighting activity for Wilson, who prioritized football.

“I had never practiced for track for the triple jump,” he said. “It was mostly all football training. I always put football first, even in college when I was doing track. You can ask my (college) coach, Charles Foster. He had to deal with me coming late to track practice often because I was coming from football workouts. The only time track came first was on meet days. It was the same thing in high school. Now, I am interested to see where I can go and how good I can be when fully focused on track.

“Anyone who has seen me jump says, ‘You muscled the whole thing,’” Wilson added. “There’s not much technique to my jump, but it doesn’t look bad. Anybody that knows jumping can see there are improvements that can be made. My coach is working with me to make those corrections.

On his own, Wilson began the process of transforming himself into a track athlete, which has involved trimming down from his New York Giants playing weight.

“When I played football, I weighed 210 and I currently weigh 189,” Wilson said. “In football, I had with seven percent body fat so don’t ask me where the weight went. But I have been slimming down so that I can go further and it will be less stress on my legs. Most of the guys I will be competing against Saturday will be between 140 and 170 so I will be the heaviest guy on the runway for sure.”

Since beginning his track training, Wilson has moved to San Diego and now trains with Will Claye, the 2012 Olympic triple jump silver medalist and long jump bronze medalist, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

"It’s not like a team sport in football, but when we’re both training we’re both trying to help each other,” Wilson said. “The better I perform, the more he’s going to push himself.”

And David Wilson (@4stillRunning) sticking the landing ... pic.twitter.com/Q3CgmFgTM5

— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoNYDN) June 11, 2015

Wilson said he misses the camaraderie he experienced in football and likened that loss in his life to being dumped by a girlfriend. But he said he has enjoyed the personal responsibility of an individual sport like track and field.

“It’s you. You stepped up there,” he said. “You laced up your shoes and you did what you had to do.”

As for what he is going to do on Saturday, Wilson is unsure. In training he has only used an eight-step approach, four shy of a full-speed run-up. He said the best mark that yielded was “about 53 feet,” and on that attempt he suffered a strained right hamstring.

Right now he feels 100-percent healthy and has targeted 16.40m as his goal – he also promised his dad that he would jump 55-feet, or about 16.76m, for Father’s Day.

The latter mark would surpass the USAs qualifying standard of 16.20m, currently held by 15 athletes not including Christian Taylor, who has a bye into the World Championships and does not have to compete in the triple jump at Nationals. The field at USAs will comprise 18 jumpers, meaning Wilson could still qualify if he falls marginally short.

“I don’t know what to expect,” said Wilson, whose best friend, Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle, will be at the meet to support him. “I will probably have a lot of adrenaline. Just like the crowd will be anticipating, I will be anticipating.”

More than anything, Wilson is looking forward to competing again.

“I haven’t competed in anything since football,” Wilson said. “I was playing people in pool, cards, Uno, Connect Four to fill the void.”