Russell Wilson to play football for Wisconsin (5pm update with video)

College Football62

5pm Update: Wilson’s announcement on ESPN.com College Football Live (Video Link).

Link

Russell Wilson has chosen Wisconsin over Auburn for his final year of college football eligibility. In addition he has left the Asheville Tourists, the minor league baseball team he had been playing for.

Following his dismissal from NC State for not giving up baseball to play football full time, much of the speculation pointed towards Wilson going to an SEC school. Given that the SEC is currently the sun around which much of college football revolves, that was understandable. Making good on that speculation, he visited Auburn first among the schools he considered.

However, Wisconsin came into the picture and made a strong impression. It’s likely that the school sold him on its strong returning roster at every position but quarterback. He will operate behind what is always a monstrous offensive line, have a well oiled rushing machine to complement his passing, and play opposite a pretty good defense. The crumbling of scandal-ridden Ohio State also makes Wisconsin’s path to the Big Ten title game a lot easier, as they’re in the same division (Leaders, thanks for asking) and the Badgers travel to Columbus.

Thank God we don’t have to hear about this decision again. It is a bitter sweet day…but, we obviously wish Russell the very best in his future endeavors.

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62 Responses to Russell Wilson to play football for Wisconsin (5pm update with video)

  1. GAWolf 06/27/2011 at 1:25 PM #

    Color me a Badgers fan… I wish him well.

    We did exactly what we had to do. Unless RW comes out and knowingly says otherwise, I’ll support him. If he bashes us for his decisions putting us in a no-win situation, perhaps I won’t support him. Otherwise, I think this is a great opportunity for two young men and two football programs.

  2. JeremyH 06/27/2011 at 1:28 PM #

    some people are such cun#&%ts

  3. wolfpack95 06/27/2011 at 1:54 PM #

    RW made the same decision today that he made last spring. He chose not to play football for NCSU.

    If he had made this decision two months ago, he would be wearing the red and white from NC State. He did not, and O’Brien was forced to release a player that could not be counted on for the upcoming season—esp with new starting WRs that need reps with their QB to build chemistry and consistency.

    Good luck, RW, but I root for only one red and white…NC State.

  4. lawful 06/27/2011 at 1:55 PM #

    amen, brother.

  5. packof81 06/27/2011 at 1:56 PM #

    He might have a great season behind their corn fed offensive line.

  6. vaeda11 06/27/2011 at 2:01 PM #

    This is why NC State fans are the toughest around…we have to be to endure these situations every year with every major sport. If Russell can walk in the door and start at a MAJOR Big Ten school and probably lead them to finish in the top five then why can’t we give the guy the loose leash he deserves. I forgot we’re so da** good we can push away proven instant offense for an unproven talent (who looked as stagnant as anyone could look in the spring game). Only us!!!!

  7. whitefang 06/27/2011 at 2:19 PM #

    I love RW. Having said that, he left TOB no real choice. He could be back at State IF he wanted to give up baseball or start the season as the #2.
    Having said that, TOB and his staff should get some credit for taking a lightly rated high school footbal player and helping turn him into one of the best QB’s in the history of NC State if not the conference. Certainly Russell is a special athlete, but our coaches contributed to his development. Lets see if they do the same for Glennon. I believe they will.

  8. Hungwolf 06/27/2011 at 2:20 PM #

    I wish RW well. Although I don’t understand his reasoning. He throwing in the towel on baseball and will have to pay back some his signing bonus. I don’t see him getting drafted as a QB for the NFL and I don”t think he has the speed to switch to WR or DB. he will have a more diffucult time going back to baseball now, so as far as a future in professional sports. This may be a bad move for him, time will tell.

    I understand TOB and respect his decision. RW could have made this move months ago and how could you predict or think Wilson would give up all that cash? Go Pack!

  9. whitefang 06/27/2011 at 2:33 PM #

    “He might have a great season behind their corn fed offensive line.

    Looked at their roster and compared it to ours using only guys with experience ie no freshmen. If my numbers are correct their OL averages 320, ours 309.

  10. Pack78 06/27/2011 at 2:40 PM #

    Let’s not miss the fact that the Rockies have announced that RW left the Tourists;he now appears to be fully committed to college FB-this was NOT the case back in the spring during his conversations with TOB-Major Tom made the right call and I hope it works out for both MG and RW…

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 06/27/2011 at 2:46 PM #

    wolfpride, I agree with every word. I’ll be pulling for Russell too, until (if and when) his Badgers play State in a bowl game.

  12. wolfpack2002 06/27/2011 at 3:08 PM #

    I haven’t followed this much in a while. Could someone explain this to me a little better? Obviously Spring is gone and it’s early summer and TOB had these conversations with Wilson about his commitments to the team. Baseball is still in full force but Wilson left his team upon announcing the transfer to Wisconsin. If he was going to leave the baseball team this early on why didn’t he do that for N.C. State? I guess I’m just not certain if there’s something else about the whole baseball thing that I’m missing that he might be doing. Otherwise I almost get the impression he “quit” the baseball team to go to Wisconsin to devote his time to them but with N.C. State he wanted the whole ball of wax or nothing, so to speak(to still do the baseball thing and expected to just walk in to the autumn as our starter). I just wanted to hear others’ opinions on that.

    That said, Russell is a nice guy, I got to have a friendly chat with him at the bowling alley and I saw him at the movies a couple times. I guess he lived in the North Hills area near me. He’s a very nice guy, and I wish him the best! My cousin just graduated from Wisconsin, I told him “you’re welcome!”

  13. Astral Rain 06/27/2011 at 3:18 PM #

    I wish him the best. I hope we do play him this year, because it means both schools made the BCS, and it would be one hell of a story.

    He’s a great character guy and very good QB.

    I hope RW gets a pro career in football also, even if it’s in Canada.

    This was a tough decision for TOB, and I respect the tough call, even if it ends up being the wrong one.

  14. ShavlikLeague 06/27/2011 at 3:26 PM #

    I will always be a fan of and support Russell Wilson, however, concerning his decision to choose baseball over football and how it has turned out, my thoughts are…

  15. Wulfpack 06/27/2011 at 3:26 PM #

    I’ve always liked the Badgers in the Big 10, so I’m excited for them and RW. They should be the favorite with tOSU’s demise. RW is going to be playing some big time college football. You can’t fault a guy for that. I wish him the best, and very much look forward to our season as well.

  16. Plz2BStateFan 06/27/2011 at 3:30 PM #

    I dont know why people are pissed about this.

    If TOB let Wilson come back, MG leaves. If wilson gets injured or somehow doesnt honor his commitment, we are stuck with no proven QB and we waste this year and maybe next year. Best case Wilson comes back without spring practice and does well. But no proven QB for 2012.

    The way it is now, we have a QB in MG who is in the program for 3 years, and we have them for 2 years. This allows those QBs behind him to develop and makes the transition after MG ( which is one of the biggest program make-or-breakers) to be as smooth as possible.

    You as a state fan should not be angry.

  17. TOBtime 06/27/2011 at 3:34 PM #

    Dang Russell, you got a lot riding on one bad hit for the check you’re going to give back.

    Best wishes to you.

  18. NCMike 06/27/2011 at 3:39 PM #

    Hungwolf, it really appears RW is through with major league baseball. My wife works in the tourists front office. He was going to wait until this Friday to announce what he was going to do but the boys from Denver showed up this past Saturday, met with him and he cleaned his locker out and left Asheville this morning after being scratched from the line up yesterday. I pretty much gathered they were tiring of his drama and more importantly, not reaping anything on their investment. Apparently he came in and signed some some documents for the Rockies this morning. Unfortunately, he was probably the worst player on the Asheville tourists entire roster (and that’s saying a lot…they’ve got some pretty marginal players at a low level). I saw him play 8-10 games and he couldn’t come close to hitting the ball. Batted a team low (with the exception of a guy they brought up mid season).228 and struck out in 43% of his at bats (82 of 193). That’s would lead the majors as far a percentage per the Asheville paper. Looks like he’s down to one option now. I still hope the guy does well and appreciate all he did on the football field.

  19. packalum44 06/27/2011 at 3:45 PM #

    Best of luck to Russell. He will need to improve his completion % from last year. Hope he wins a National Championship.

    Classy guy and will always be a Wolfpacker in my book.

  20. TruthBKnown Returns 06/27/2011 at 3:46 PM #

    Plz2BStateFan, well said.

    I contend that this was not an “either/or” situation. It was not either Russell or Glennon. Because TOB never knew if he had Russell or not. So it was an either/or/NEITHER situation. And there was no way we would have ended up with both QBs on our team. If MG thought RW was returning, he would have transferred out.

    So here are the options that TOB faced:

    1) Russell Wilson (if he returned at all, and possibly as late as mid-September, leaving our new receivers without valuable practice reps with “their” QB.)

    2) Mike Glennon (but only if Russell was out of the picture — this is what TOB chose, and it was his only viable choice)

    3) NEITHER (if Russell was given a green light to return and compete for the starting spot, Glennon would have transferred out. Then if Russell decided to stay with baseball, we’d be left with NEITHER.

    TOB did what he had to do to make sure option #3 above was not a possibility. The only way to do that was to push Russell out of the picture.

    If Russell had committed to a firm return, then it would have been an either/or thing for TOB. But he couldn’t do that. So Russell made this bed and now he’s lying in it.

  21. john of sparta 06/27/2011 at 3:59 PM #

    +1 wolffpride for one of my pet peeves.
    none of these players are “kids”.
    men their same age are in uniform
    in the Big Sandbox. when a member
    of the media uses “kids” to describe
    players over the age of 18, i turn
    the channel/page/etc.
    “boys have at it” is different.

  22. StandUpAndHowl 06/27/2011 at 4:17 PM #

    Even smart people do dumb things. Leaving baseball at the start of his career is not a good move. I hope it all turns out well for him.

  23. LRM 06/27/2011 at 4:22 PM #

    It’s tough to get down on a guy as classy as Wilson, who was a fine representative of State and had a stellar career. I hope he succeeds in Madison.

    I’ve never quite figured out if Wilson overvalued his talent, based his decisions on bad advice, or is simply indecisive like so many other kids his age. But at the end of the day I’m certain that his partial committment to two different sports has severely limited his chances at being successful at either beyond college, and that’s the real shame here.

  24. ryebread 06/27/2011 at 5:06 PM #

    +1 to TruthBKnown Returns
    -1 to Plz2BStateFan

    We’ve been over this so many times. It didn’t have to be an either/or discussion. TOB chose to make it one. If MG was threatening to transfer if it wasn’t an either/or conversation, then he’s the problem and I’ve had let him walk.

    While I dislike both Wisconsin and Auburn, I dislike Auburn far more. I would have really struggled if a kid of his character chose to play for a program as dirty as Auburn. At least I feel that Wisconsin is clean. I wish RW the best at UW.

    As for our situation, MG had better produce. If not, both he and TOB will be feeling the heat — particularly if Wilson is rolling at UW. I hope he’s up to the task and am cautiously optimistic that he is. I don’t think TOB would have gone this route if he didn’t think that he was.

  25. ClassOf95 06/27/2011 at 5:21 PM #

    Good luck Russell. Can’t wait to see Glennon and the Pack.

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