Isaiah Wilson had his mind made up at an early age.

He didn’t have to strap on shoulder pads or a helmet. The Canarsie, Brooklyn native knew he wanted to play in the NFL one day, to be a part of those games he frequently watched with his father.

“I think I was 4,” the hulking Georgia offensive tackle recalled with a laugh in a phone interview. “I aspired to be what I watched on TV for a lot of years now. Ever since I can remember I was running around with a football.”

In less than a month, that long-shot dream will become a reality. It’s a matter of when, not if.

The 6-foot-6, 350-pound Wilson, a consensus top-eight ranked offensive tackle in the NFL draft, is projected to go anywhere from the top of the second round to the middle of the third. NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein described him as a “big, broad right tackle prospect with outstanding physical traits and above-average potential.”

The rare New Yorker who thrived on college football’s biggest stage, Wilson was a two-year starter at right tackle for Georgia, an All-SEC second-team selection this past season, and was popular at the NFL combine last month, meeting with 25 teams.

“I watched the draft every single year and I went from watching it as a kid with my dad to watching it as a middle schooler to watching it as a high schooler, watching people I would meet on college visits [get drafted] to watching it in college, watching my teammates get drafted,” Wilson said. “A lot of people I came to college with or who I played with or played against, watching them [get drafted]. Now it’s my turn to be a part of it.”

When Wilson would talk about wanting to play in the NFL as a kid, his mother, Sharese, would remind him of the long odds, how hard it was to reach that level. She didn’t want to crush his dreams, but also wanted him to keep them in perspective. He would respond: “I’m going to be in that group.”

He worked relentlessly to make it happen. At a young age, he knew football better than most kids, talking about the intricacies of the game in elementary school with his principal. Attending high school at Poly Prep in Bay Ridge, he would have to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to arrive on time and often wouldn’t get home until 8:30 p.m. His life was football and school. He sacrificed a normal life to reach his goals. He rarely went out, always made sure to arrive for practice on time, and earned strong grades. He finished high school ranked 16th by 247Sports.com in the 2017 class, the highest New York City native since Dominique Easley was fourth in 2010.

“He is the quintessential poster child for goals,” Sharese said. “He was always pretty driven. He had it in his mind this is what he wanted to do.”

When Georgia closed down during the coronavirus pandemic, Wilson came home. He needed somewhere to stay in shape, and his father’s friend had an in-home gym. The two work out daily and train on a local football field. He’s making the best out of a bad situation.

“It’s definitely made training a little bit unorthodox or a little bit less accessible,” Wilson said. “But when you see your dreams coming to fruition and they’re right there, so close you can touch them, you figure out a way to get through that adversity.”

He has hope, albeit slim, of making history, becoming just the second New Yorker in 34 years to be taken in the first round. In 2014, Staten Island’s Easley was taken 29th overall by the Patriots. Wilson has followed Easley’s path, as an All-American, five-star recruit who wasn’t scared off by the SEC.

“Of course I want to go first round. Who doesn’t who plays this game?” Wilson said. “But if I don’t get picked first round, that’s God’s plan for me. No matter what round I go in, I plan on working my hardest to be the best player to come out of the draft. Ten years down the line, I want to be the best player in this class.”

That may sound unlikely, but so was Wilson’s belief as a child he was going to play in the NFL one day. He’s already proven capable of following through on his dreams.