Some Russell Wilson leftovers ...
Darryl Slater
Nov 26, 2008
At home here in Upstate New York (no snow yet), and I just finished writing a story about North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson, a Collegiate School graduate, for tomorrow’s print edition. I crunched some numbers for the story that didn’t make it in. Here they are ...
Wilson has led the Wolfpack to three consecutive wins. His numbers from those games ...
- Duke: 13 of 25, 218 yards, two touchdowns, 16 rushing yards
- Wake Forest: 16 of 33, 152 yards, two touchdowns, 69 rushing yards, one touchdown
- North Carolina: 17 of 28, 279 yards, two touchdowns, 50 rushing yards
So in the past three games, Wilson has completed 53.5 percent of his passes for 649 yards and six touchdowns. He also has 135 rushing yards and one touchdown.
And this is really remarkable: He hasn’t thrown an interception in the past seven games in which he has played (he was injured for the loss to South Florida). That’s a span of 203 attempts—a school-record.
Wilson also leads the ACC in total offense per game (203.7 yards). He has to be the frontrunner for first-team all-ACC quarterback and Rookie of the Year. He might even have a shot at Offensive Player of the Year and overall Player of the Year (the ACC picks an offensive and defensive POY, then an overall POY from those two). I mean, in this crazy ACC season, who would be the other candidates? Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer for one. He leads the league in rushing.
But who else? Feel free to post a comment with your nominees.
Another point about Wilson before I dive headfirst into my Thanksgiving break ...
He was not offered a scholarship by Virginia, Virginia Tech or North Carolina. All three of those schools already had signed quarterbacks for the Class of 2007. Virginia had Peter Lalich. Tech had Tyrod Taylor. Carolina had Mike Paulus. So far (and I realize it’s still early), Wilson’s career has gone just as well as, if not better than, the careers of all three of those players.
OK, that’s all for a couple days. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
... from a story that will appear in tomorrow’s paper
Nov. 28, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Well, Taylor was a pretty highly regarded recruit, so it’s not like Tech got a crummy quarterback instead of Wilson. Also, Taylor was recruited by Curt Newsome, and Jim Cavanaugh recruits the Richmond area, where Wilson is from. So it’s not like Stinespring would have had direct involvement in recruiting either player, though I’m sure he visited with Taylor during his recruitment.
Nov. 28, 2008 at 02:48 AM
Gee, Stienspring can’t coach OR recruit - maybe he needs to go.