Does Russell Wilson’s Move to Wisconsin Help Draft Stock?
Former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson had a pretty big choice to make this offseason, but not between football and baseball. Wilson will always be able to go back to baseball if he wants, but he might never have an opportunity to play football again after this year had he stayed in the minor leagues with the Colorado Rockies.
Wilson’s big decision came when he chose the Wisconsin Badgers as opposed to the Auburn Tigers recently, a move that could put the Badgers ahead of Nebraska as the front runners in the Big Ten race. Quietly, he has put together a very good career as a member of the NC State Wolfpack, both as a passer and as a runner. His prowess on the football field has been hidden in the ACC, and he’s not really an overly accurate or mechanically sound quarterback prospect, but Wilson has Brad Smith type upside at the next level should he choose to make the NFL career a priority.
So, the question remains–what does the move to Madison do to help Wilson’s NFL prospects? Well, in short, it helps–a lot. Like I said before, Wilson was somewhat hidden in the ACC over the last three years, both as a football and baseball prospect. He was drafted into the Colorado Rockies organization, and I’m guessing he will be picked up by some NFL team, whether its via the NFL Draft or as a rookie free agent.
As a member of the Wisconsin Badgers, his team will have to severely mess up in order to not be in the top 10 of the BCS standings at the end of the year. They might have the best running game in the Big Ten, which is really saying something, and their defense is always well coached. Their offensive line is massive, nasty, and has four legit NFL prospects on it. This is really a situation that Wilson has to take full advantage of, and I think he will. Bret Bielema is a great coach, and he’s got a choke hold on the Big Ten with the departures of Jim Tressel and Terrelle Pryor in Columbus, and now instead of Jon Budmayr at quarterback, he’s going to have one of the best QB’s in the ACC over the last three years in Wilson, a guy who can upgrade their passing game significantly as well as improve their running game, something we probably didn’t think was even possible.
The supporting cast around Wilson is phenomenal, so I think the move to Madison improves his NFL stock greatly before he even plays a game. The move will prove that theory right or wrong here in the coming months.