BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

BLACKSBURG – This time last year, quarterback Russell Wilson was leading North Carolina State to wins in its final four games, which made the Wolfpack 6-6 and eligible for a bowl game. A redshirt freshman, Wilson impressed everyone with his poise, and after the season he won the ACC’s rookie of the year award and became the first freshman quarterback in league history to be named first-team all-conference.

Wilson, a Collegiate School graduate, is a different and better player now, more likely to stand in the pocket and throw than rely on his natural running ability. But with two games left in the regular season, he finds himself in a different and worse situation than last year. N.C. State is 4-6, but because it beat two Division I-AA teams, it needed seven wins to become bowl-eligible.

Despite that, and uncertainty about whether he will return next season or turn pro in baseball, Wilson is approaching the final two games with his usual sunny outlook. Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech will be his first chance to play a college game in his home state and his first time ever setting foot in Lane Stadium.

“So many people in the world wish they could get out on the field and just step into Lane Stadium and have an opportunity to play,” he said. “Every time I get the ball in my hands, I feel like I’m the most blessed person in the world.”

Even after Wilson’s impressive first season – 177.7 passing yards per game, 17 touchdowns, one interception – he still had to compete during spring practices with redshirt freshman Mike Glennon, the younger brother of former Tech quarterback Sean Glennon. As Wilson battled for his job, he was recovering after tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the bowl game.

Dana Bible, N.C. State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, wanted Wilson to work on “being able to use all parts of the offense. If the read said to throw it to your second receiver, then that’s where it went to.”

Instead of doing that last season, Wilson might have run. “That was really sort of the plan,” Bible said. “We promoted that in a lot of ways. Not all the times. But we promoted: Use your feet more so. That’s not the case this year. He’s much more complete as a quarterback than he was in year one.”

Last year, Wilson threw 25 times a game and completed 54.5 percent of his passes. Not counting sacks, he ran 8.3 times per game. This season: 32.5 throws a game, 58.2 completion percentage and 6.2 true runs per game. He is averaging 253.4 passing yards and has 26 touchdown passes (third in the nation), to 10 interceptions. He also set an NCAA record by attempting 379 consecutive passes, dating back to last season, without a pick.

Sound passing is “in his bag of tricks now” and is “something we can count on from him,” said Bible, who coached Matt Ryan at Boston College at Boomer Esiason with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Wilson could end up being one of the most productive quarterbacks in N.C. State history. But he might not stick around long enough, because his professional sports future could lie in baseball, as soon as next year. At 5-11, he is shorter than the typical NFL quarterback.

After high school, the Baltimore Orioles picked him in the 41st round of the 2007 draft, but he opted to attend N.C. State, where he also is an infielder for State’s baseball team. He missed part of last season because of the knee injury and hit .236, then hit .205 this summer with Coastal Plain League’s Gastonia Grizzlies.

He will be eligible for the Major League Baseball draft again next spring. He isn’t saying which way he is leaning – a lot surely depends on how well he plays next baseball season – but he did say his family’s financial situation is “not a huge factor for me.” His father, Harrison Wilson III, is an attorney who had to stop working after suffering a stroke last August.

Harrison’s recovery inspired his son, who now views his own future just as optimistically as the last two games of this disappointing season. “I want to be a Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player,” Wilson said. “And I want to be a Hall of Fame quarterback as well.”

North Carolina State’s sophomore quarterback will play his first college game in his home state on Saturday, when the Wolfpack visits Virginia Tech.