[Russell] Wilson is accustomed to playing the underdog role. He was a two-star recruit coming out of the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va. His size was deemed an impediment. He played two sports at North Carolina State, was drafted as an outfielder by the Colorado Rockies in 2010 and played two seasons of minor league baseball. Plenty of people pushed him to pursue baseballIt's a day to think about what it means to be an underdog. (And a Badger.)
Wilson, though, chose a different route. After he had an impressive postgraduate season at Wisconsin, Seattle selected him in the third round of the 2012 draft. It was not long after the Seahawks had already paid a considerable sum to sign the free agent Matt Flynn.
February 3, 2014
"There were 3 minutes on the clock, still ticking, and he’s still in our face telling us, 'Stay ready.'"
"And we’re like, 'Man, the game’s pretty much over.' He just wants to be great that much."
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The Seahawks have a few "unlikely" players on their roster. Another interesting one is kicker Steven Hauschka, who has a degree in neuro-science from Division III Middlebury in Vermont.
Pete Carroll has had an eye for talent for a while. The story of his relationship with Ken Norton Jr is an example.
In 2003, Ken Norton Jr, son of the heavyweight boxing champion and former star UCLA linebacker, asked the UCLA coach for an unpaid job as graduate assistant with the UCLA team. He had been an all-pro player for 13 seasons in the NFL. He wanted to coach and had done some high school level coaching. The UCLA coach, the recently fired Karl Dorrell, told him they had enough coaches at UCLA. He was a UCLA alum and a football star from his days in college and in the NFL but they didn’t want him, even for free!Norton then asked Pete Carroll for the same job. Carroll said welcome aboard. Four years later, Norton is the linebacker coach and may well be in line for a head coaching job one day.
Norton is at Seattle and has something to do with those linebackers.
The kid has got monster confidence and maturity. I'd attribute of a lot of that to his strong faith. Any hiccups he hits in his football career (injury, expectations or whatever) I think he'll handle without too much drama.
We'll see how Seattle handles the salary cap, after he signs a real contract. Right now they're paying him peanuts.
If his agent was smart he'd have trademarked the phrases Why not me? and Why not us? before the game started.
As a long-suffering Broncos fan, watching that game was painful. They couldn't even win the coin toss. The Seahawks dominated every aspect of the game - offense, defense (and how!) and special teams. While I have not checked, it's possible the Broncos set another record last night, this for the worst asswhipping in Super Bowl history. For a while, it looked like Denver's master strategy was to wear out the Seahawk's kicker, what with all those kickoffs, field goals and points-after. The Seahawks were simply unbeatable last night. I don't think any other team in the NFL would've had a chance against them. It was a painfully awesome performance.
The Seahawks are a very young team. IIRC, their average age is 26. They could be a dominate team for years to come, like the Steelers in the 1970s, the 49ers in the 1980s and the Patriots in the early 2000s.
Russell is a good role model. He has the short man's desire to conquer. And he adds to that a good guy persona that genuinely loves to give to others.
I worry that Russell will be assigned to a Billy Budd role. He already seems slighted by the Media this year for no reason except envy of him now that he is becoming well known.
Nice to see Wisconsin represented at the player level, Russell Wilson; coaching level, Darrell Bevell; and the management level, John Schneider.
He's not a Badger. He's a Wolf.
Wisconsin was a flag of convenience.
He is a Badger and a Wolf, but the Wolves drove him away, so Wisconsin was a flag of necessity, not convenience. I don't think that he would be playing in the NFL if he hadn't had his year at Wisconsin.
(the other kev)
Meanwhile, RGIII was stuffing his face with Subway sandwiches and washing them down with Gatorade.
No, Sportswriters of America, you can't take a mulligan on this one.
5 or 6 months ago I clicked on a web video about how Wison had forged a friendship with a young girl he met while visiting sick kids in the hospital.
The girl made him a homemade wallet and he was using it everyday.
He came across in this video as a genuine nice person. Ver articulate & upbeat. Up until then my main impression of him was from a U-W game I saw on TV.
I am happy for him that he won yesterday but he was a winner to that girl and to anyone who saw that video last Fall regardless of the score yesterday
So how is Wilson going to handle it now that he's not an underdog anymore?
Well, I predict, but it will be different.
"LarsPorsena said...
He's not a Badger. He's a Wolf.
Wisconsin was a flag of convenience."
Wisconsin: Land of Opportunity
North Carolina: Land of Excuses
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