Russell Wilson Ripped Tom O'Brien In Commencement Speech
By Ty Duffy
Russell Wilson gave a commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin. Like most commencement speakers, Wilson spoke about his trials and tribulations and how he overcame them. He spoke at length about his time at N.C. State, and was not complimentary about then Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien.
Wilson said O’Brien wanted to move him to safety two weeks before his freshman season.
"“About two weeks before our first game, the coach calls me into his office and tells me I’m not getting that chance. Excuse my country voice here, but he says, ‘Son, I’m switching your position. I’m moving you to safety.’ He’s not asking me. He’s telling me. I could have just gone along with it, and maybe I should have just gone along with it. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t ready to take no for an answer.”"
Wilson also said O’Brien told him he was “never going to play in the National Football League” before he transferred to Wisconsin his senior year.
"“The summer before my senior year of college, I’m playing minor-league baseball. I called my football coach at NC State and said, ‘Hey coach, I’d like to come back for my senior year.’ He told me I wasn’t coming back. He said, ‘Listen son, you’re never going to play in the National Football League. You’re too small. There’s no chance. You’ve got no shot. Give it up.’ Of course, I’m on this side of the phone saying, ‘So you’re telling me I’m not coming back to NC State? I won’t see the field?’ He said, ‘No son, you won’t see the field.’"
To be fair, this is Wilson’s side of the story. Also, the objective, football analysis only seems self-evidently wrong in retrospect. N.C. State was one of the only schools to give undersized, two-star quarterback Russell Wilson a chance.
Wilson being too small to play quarterback in the NFL was hardly an outlandish opinion. That was the NFL consensus even after his great senior season at Wisconsin. The Seahawks reaching for Wilson in the third round was viewed as one of the NFL Draft’s most questionable moves.
In retrospect, it seems insane O’Brien let Wilson walk over offseason workouts. Though, Wilson was coming off a 2010 season ranking 62nd nationally in passer rating and 68th in yards/attempt. How great he would become at Wisconsin was not apparent. Mike Glennon actually had a better season in 2011 than Wilson did the year before.