Ex-Giant David Wilson To Make Track Debut Saturday

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- David Wilson's run at the 2016 Olympics begins this weekend.

The former New York Giants running back -- whose football career was cut short due to spinal stenosis -- will make his much-anticipated professional track and field debut Saturday on Randall's Island, where he's scheduled to compete in the Adidas Grand Prix in the triple jump.

Wilson was taken by New York in the first round of the 2012 draft. He showed bursts of explosiveness but was shut down the following year with a neck injury that eventually forced him into early retirement. He announced that he would pursue the Rio Olympics in August 2014, just weeks after ending his NFL career.

"Track and field is a funny sport, because I can't say, 'Oh, he didn't throw me the ball. I was wide open,' " Wilson said seven months ago on WFAN's "Boomer & Carton" show. "It's just me on the runway, and I go out there and put what I've been working for on the line."

Wilson, 23, isn't new to the triple jump. He dominated the event in high school and was an All-American at Virginia Tech.

"It's like playing football. You don't grow up wanting to play in the Canadian League. Everyone wants to play in the NFL," he told the New York Post last summer. "That's the mindset I have. I want to compete in the best meets. I'm excited to get back into it."