Russell Wilson to start at QB against South Carolina

'08 Football NCS Football38

Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson will start at quarterback for N.C. State in the season opener at South Carolina, coach Tom O’Brien announced Friday.

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'08 Football NCS Football

38 Responses to Russell Wilson to start at QB against South Carolina

  1. wufpup76 08/22/2008 at 11:26 AM #

    go get ’em russell 🙂

  2. BJD95 08/22/2008 at 11:27 AM #

    Thank you, God. Thanks also to TOB.

  3. choppack1 08/22/2008 at 11:34 AM #

    I’m surprised he announced this.

  4. pakfanistan 08/22/2008 at 11:41 AM #

    Not particularly surprised by this. I would like to see the scrimmage stats though.

  5. BJD95 08/22/2008 at 11:53 AM #

    I believe this is the day TOB and Visor Boy exchange depth charts.

    Wilson had a very good final scrimmage. It’s more about what Wilson can do, as you have a good body of evidence as to what Evans can do (i.e., not much).

  6. Trout 08/22/2008 at 11:55 AM #

    Have you seen the “organizational chart” – lots of surprises. Crouch isnt starting on the OL, neither is Jake Vermiglio.

    http://www.gopack.com/pdf5/136389.pdf?ATCLID=1566762&SPSID=41956&SPID=3730&DB_OEM_ID=9200

  7. ChiefJoJo 08/22/2008 at 11:56 AM #

    Awesome! Something new to look forward to this year, and I think they made a good decision. SC has no film on him except for the spring, so I’m sure we will have some new spread packages they haven’t seen.

    As I said on another blog post here, my theory is that Wilson’s experience in the baseball regionals vs UGA might help him prepare for the pressure of being starting QB. Different sports, unique environments, yes, but still he had to perform under pressure on TV and he did well as I recall. He will make his share of mistakes, but the calculus is his upside and athletic ability is superior, and has demonstrated a high-level of leadership skills off the field at a young age. The coaches obviously like him and he arguably gives us the best chance to win.

    As far as TOB’s decision to announce it now, if you listen to the interview from Wed with WRAL, they asked about the benefits of naming him now vs game time, and he very specifically mentioned that the OL and everyone needed a week to get used to Wilson’s unique cadence, voice inflection, etc. He was pretty convicing in his argument (as I understood it) that the benefits of waiting until gametime to show your cards is outweighed by the potential pitfalls of procedure penalties and other mistakes caused by not being comfortable in the huddle and pre-snap.

  8. wolfpacker420 08/22/2008 at 11:59 AM #

    turn of the new regime, hope all goes well and we beat those cocks!!

  9. ChiefJoJo 08/22/2008 at 12:00 PM #

    ^ I meant to say that TOB said the OL needed a chance to get used to the starting QB’s cadence, not necessarily Wilson.

  10. McPete 08/22/2008 at 12:29 PM #

    the depth chart released also has meares green listed as starter at right guard, with curtis crouch behind him. that’s pretty surprising, since crouch has held that spot for two years already. tj graham also cracks the two deep at punt returner.

  11. robopack 08/22/2008 at 12:33 PM #

    Wow! This is very exciting news. You don’t know how good a player can be until he gets in there and gets his feet wet. Its so big for the pack because the QB position drives how good a football team can be. More so a great QB can cover-up a lot of weakness’ and make-up for a lot of weakness’. At least this gives us the HOPE FACTOR! Lets hope that RW is just so damn good he can will this team to W’s. Hell it might happen. How good would it feel if he comes out and is the absolute MAN???!!! Who knows? GO PACK!!!
    Its damn sure what im going to cling to in my heart of hearts until im shown otherwise.

    Alright,,, I’ll put the coolaid down…

  12. vtpackfan 08/22/2008 at 12:38 PM #

    Congrats to RW. He has obviously been looking forward to this moment but I can’t even imagine how nervous he is going to be thurs nite.

    How long it takes him control his adrenaline to prevent over-throws and slow the game down will be a clear indication of the type of QB he is right now and provide a glimpse of what “could” happen this year.

    Beck never got over the learning curve but has all the physical tools. Evans is just the opposite, when he came out for his very first snaps he was accurate for the most part correct in his reads. The physical limitations have always caused the biggest obstacle for him, but let’s not dare count this young man done yet.

  13. Sw0rdf1sh 08/22/2008 at 12:55 PM #

    Alright! Next week will be great and the anticipation of each day until then is being enjoyed by this guy.

    RW is going to be something else and his scrambling ability will help him run some in as well. It will make things in the red zone (as long as we can get into it) very tough for opposing defenses.

  14. Dr. BadgerPack 08/22/2008 at 1:12 PM #

    State fan 1: Things are lookin’ pretty good…

    State fan 2: You know, these guys don’t look so f’ing bad…

    State Groundscrew: They’re still sh**y.

    Seriously… good luck RW!

  15. Noah 08/22/2008 at 1:55 PM #

    Good luck, Mr. Wilson.

    This is excellent news. We know what Evans brings to the table. This is proof that Wilson brings more.

  16. DAMangum 08/22/2008 at 1:58 PM #

    I hope Russell does a great job, I’m still surprised that he is starting. But, it seems that the job is his and his to lose. Hopefully he doesn’t lose it, he is definitely the most talented and has the most physical ability. Good luck RW and the rest of the team!

  17. Dr. BadgerPack 08/22/2008 at 2:02 PM #

    In the interest of full disclosure, instead of “groundscrew” above I was going to insert “Noah”… just didn’t have it in me. 🙂

    I will, however, note that the offensive line is now on notice: keep my darn baseball player healthy!!

  18. primacyone 08/22/2008 at 2:49 PM #

    RUN RUSSELL RUN!!!!

  19. royalred 08/22/2008 at 2:49 PM #

    All I have to say about Wilson’s height/size is look at Chase Daniel/Mizzou. He is 6ft and 195lbs….enough said!

  20. b 08/22/2008 at 2:53 PM #

    I’ll be whistling all day! Good luck RW, show ’em whatcha got!!

  21. primacyone 08/22/2008 at 2:57 PM #

    Dear Russell Wilson,

    Congratulations on being named the starting quaterback for NCSU.

    Do not. I repeat, do not throw a slow, soft, easy pass on a short out pattern – aka: “The Jay Davis”.

    Do what ever you want to do otherwise, but DO NOT DO THAT.

    Good Luck,

    Pack Fans

    PS: RUN RUSSELL RUN

  22. howlie 08/22/2008 at 3:04 PM #

    ‘Startling to see Matt White on the two deep. I’d understood he was beneath the bottom of the depth chart of all the OL.

    Either he finally grew some cajones or as a team, we’re very weak at OL… we will see.

  23. McPete 08/22/2008 at 3:40 PM #

    as far as the o line goes, i think TOB said he wants and 8 man rotation, but based on the depth chart we really don’t know which three back ups are in the rotation, except i’d assume vermiglio is one of them.

  24. haze 08/22/2008 at 3:48 PM #

    That depth chart is more than a little scary; lots of babies and walk-ons and position switches. There’s so much newness going on that you have to think there will be a lot of fluidity after the first couple of games play out.

    That said, it feels like a roster that supports effort and fire. It seems to stress actually getting it done, over potential to eventually, some day get it done. I like it. I think we’re going to get roughed up for most of the year, particularly on offense, but I like it.

    As for Russell Wilson, yes, I like him too. I don’t think he’s going to do very well b/c of inexperience (demi-gods aside, Fr QB’s suck) and the lack of a reliable running game (my guess) but he damned sure gives us hope. When the INT’s inevitably come, I hope they are of the “Jamie Barnette, sailing rocket deep into the secondary” type and not of the “Insert-any-post-PR-QB-name-here square out floater” type. The former will at least give Jamelle a decent angle on ball-carrier.

  25. StateFans 08/22/2008 at 4:00 PM #

    I seem to remember some SFN posts ‘predicting’ this would happen. BJD, do you have any links?

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