News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Getting to know him

Published: Aug 23, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Aug 23, 2008 02:03 AM

Getting to know him

 

Story Tools

Advertisements
Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson was named N.C. State's starting quarterback on Friday afternoon. Five things to know:

1. He has athletic blood lines. Paternal grandfather Harrison Wilson Jr. played baseball and basketball at Kentucky State. Father Harrison III played football and baseball at Dartmouth and spent a brief time with the San Diego Chargers. Brother Harrison IV played baseball and football at Richmond and played against N.C. State in the 2004 season opener won by the Wolfpack 42-0. Harrison's most memorable moment that day was being hurdled by future No. 1 draft pick Mario Williams, who raced into the backfield to make a tackle on the first series of the game.

2. He attended football camp at North Carolina. Charlie McFall, Wilson's high school coach at Collegiate School in Richmond, Va., said North Carolina (Mike Paulus), Virginia (Peter Lalich) and Virginia Tech (Tyrod Taylor) had highly regarded quarterbacks they'd promised scholarships and were afraid of losing if they offered Wilson a scholarship. Then Wilson became enamored with N.C. State. "Russell loved the facilities at State, and it was close to home," McFall said.

3. He's already been featured in Sports Illustrated. The "Faces in the Crowd" section profiled him after he threw for 291 yards and ran for 223 more in a state championship win.

4. As he came off the practice field Friday evening, Wilson had "John 6:35" written in marker on athletic tape wrapped around his left wrist. That scripture reads: "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.' "

5. He was one of the team's most popular hosts for winter recruiting visits. "I'm not going to take you to a wild club or anything like that where you'll get into trouble," he said in January. "I'm going to take you places where you'll see people you need to see. See other football players. See basketball players. See guys and girls. Not surround you with bad things."

All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.

No comments have been posted for this story. Log in to be the first to comment.
 

 

The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.

Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.

If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.

Hosting Partners of
newsobserver.com

A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company