Ran across this tweet yesterday that I thought was interesting.
Has Russell Wilson ever used the phrase “kicked out” re: Tom O’Brien before? http://t.co/LM9QmRPWod pic.twitter.com/TiGotFfjWr
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) April 18, 2015
The link to the entire article is available here.
Look, I love Russell Wilson as much as anyone. And, do I ever wish that he would’ve been able to have completed his eligibility wearing the Red & White from NC State as opposed to the Red & White of Wisconsin. But, correct me if I have my timeline and factset incorrect:
* Mike Glennon – a QB good enough to start a half dozen games in the NFL as a rookie – had GRADUATED before his junior year. So, he could transfer with ease without sitting out and getting play somewhere else immediately.
* Russell Wilson chose to play minor league baseball and did not participate in spring practice despite the coaches (reasonably) setting a parameter that whomever was going to be QB in the fall needed to be in spring practice and working out with the team in the summer.
* Not only was RW not committed to spring football practice at State, but he was NOT EVEN COMMITTED TO PLAY ANOTHER YEAR OF FOOTBALL…ANYWHERE. Nobody even knew if he was going to ever play football again in his life.
* Russell Wilson ultimately didn’t even decided to play a final year of college football until the middle the summer before the season started.
I know that it pains all of us to have not had Wilson that final year, but what the hell were the coaches SUPPOSED to do? Had they taken Russell Wilson back for his last year then NC State certainly would have said goodbye to Mike Glennon (for the next two years). How’d you guys like that quarterback play after Glennon in 2013 with Brandon Mitchell and Pete Thomas? Because that is EXACTLY what you would’ve gotten for at least 2 years after Wilson.
If the coaches had ‘held the spot’ for Wilson, the set of options in front of us INCLUDED a highly probably situation where Wilson NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL AGAIN AND MIKE GLENNON TRANSFERRED. How would that have sat with all the people who criticize the decision in hindsight? Unless I am missing something, Wilson could’ve made his and everyone’s life a little clearer/easier if he would’ve publicly stated that he was absolutely coming back to play quarterback at NC State AND that the scholarship and role meant so much to him that he was going to focus 100% of his energy on it. But, Wilson wanted to have his cake and eat it, too by playing minor league baseball while seemingly expecting the coaches (whose livelihood and income are based on their football performance, not Russell Wilson’s baseball career) to sit around and wait for him. It appears that TOB and staff executed the transition poorly and burned some relationships in the process. But, that’s a different topic than the conundrum that faced them between the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
I do NOT profess to know everything that REALLY went down behind the scenes during all of this. But, this is my recollection of the facstset that was public…and, with this scenario sitting in front of me I cannot imagine how the coaches did not make the best decision for NC State University.
