Wilton Speight keeps his blinders on, stays focused on upward trajectory

ANN ARBOR -- Wilton Speight's gotten pretty used to blocking out the noise.

As a prep quarterback at The Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia, Speight was tasked with following in the footsteps of two pretty solid players.

One was Russell Wilson, an eventual Super Bowl winner with the Seattle Seahawks. The other was Jake McGee, an all-state quarterback who is now an NFL tight end with the San Diego Chargers.

"There were chants pretty much every game," Speight recalls. "It was 'you're not Russell' or 'you're not Jake.' There were articles saying 'why can't he do this or that?' "

At that point in his career, Speight had a choice. He could let that sort of talk bother him, or he could block it…