The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1249704
MAY/JUNE 2020 ■ 33 going to recruit a kid even if he was com- mitted to another school. He would recruit him right up until signing day if he lets him. "O'Brien was the opposite. He was like, 'A commitment is your word.' As soon as a kid committed to somewhere else, he was off the board. If a kid committed to NC State and visited somewhere else, then he didn't want him anymore. "I don't think Russell really knew that. What kid knows what your rules are, espe- cially when you just became head coach? They found out Russell visited Duke on Friday, and I remember O'Brien saying, 'Well, tell him he's gone. We don't want him. Let him go.' "[NC State assistants] Jerry Petercuskie and Dana Bible — I wasn't in on the meet- ing, but they argued for Russell. They said, 'He's a great kid, and that is not who you want to make an example out of. Plus, you need a quarterback.'" Amato: "When I got down to Florida State, there's only a week and a half of re- cruiting left. I wanted Jimbo Fisher to watch film on Russell. In the meantime, Russell's dad had called me on the Monday after I got let go, and he said, 'Chuck, if you get a job I want to send my son with you,' because we were so good to them. "I said, 'Jimbo, we need him.' He said, 'How big is he?' I said, 'What difference does that matter?' He said, 'Well, how big is he?' I said, 'He's 6-4, 230 pounds.' "He goes, 'How fast is he?' I said, 'What difference does it make Jimbo? … I didn't come back here to get Coach Bowden fired. I'm not going to bring some leftover here just because I can bring him here.' "I brought him the tape and he watched it, and again he said, 'How fast is he?' I said, 'He runs 4.4.' "He said, 'He's pretty good, he really is. But there's not that much time left, and I don't know if we have a scholarship for him.'" Wilson: "I really liked Coach Trestman and really loved the staff. I didn't know who the coach was going to be at NC State or any- thing like that. I didn't know what the system was going to be. Schools started calling me. "I'll never forget this. I was driving in Richmond, Va., where I'm from, and I got a call from Florida State and Jimbo Fisher. "Florida State was like, 'Obviously you know Chuck. But also we've seen you play in high school. We love how you play. We'd love to see you come down to Florida State and play football and baseball down here. Would you like take a visit?' "I said, 'Yeah, when do I do it?' "I was literally headed to the airport to go do that, and I turned around. I thought, 'You know what, I'm not going to do it.'" Reflecting Back Wilson played three historic seasons for NC State. Ironically, some of the key play- ers in bringing Wilson to Raleigh would find themselves on the opposite sideline: Amato at Florida State, who squared off with NC State every year Wilson played for the Wolfpack, and Dunlap at West Virginia, who faced NCSU in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Farrell: "He changed the way we have evaluated quarterbacks, along with Johnny Choosing NC State allowed Wilson to spend quality time with his father (left), who passed away when Wilson was in college. Raleigh was just a 2.5-hour drive from his home in Richmond. PHOTO COURTESY COLLEGIATE SCHOOL