"I really want the fans, N.C. State alumni and most of all my teammates to know if I had been given an equal opportunity to compete for the starting job, I would not have asked for my release," Wilson said Saturday in a telephone interview. "I am a competitor."
Wilson, a three-year starter, is playing minor league baseball for the Asheville Tourists in the Colorado Rockies organization this summer. He said he wanted to come back to N.C. State this fall and attempt to lead the Wolfpack to an ACC championship.
He said he didn’t want to have the starting job handed to him on a silver platter, but wanted an equal chance to compete for it. Wilson said it didn’t appear that he would be given that chance.
Wilson added that he is "torn up" about leaving, calling the whole thing "heartbreaking." We are having ourselves a hell of a week, aren't we? Give me one second.
I've struggled with this whole issue for a while, and I think the mistake I've made is assuming some ambivalence on Russell Wilson's part. In yesterday's post I was trying to rationalize the decision for my own benefit, operating under the assumption that Wilson hadn't made up his mind one way or the other, which would be a problem for the program. But it seems there was never any uncertainty about Wilson's intentions. If he's set on returning, and if the rest of the team doesn't have a problem with him playing baseball during the off-season, then we should have no problem.
But obviously that's not enough for Tom O'Brien, who is bothered by Wilson's unwillingness to make a full time commitment to football. The issue apparently was never if I leave the door open and Mike Glennon transfers and Russell Wilson sticks to baseball, I'm shit out of luck. And in my opinion, those circumstances are the only ones that could make TOB's decision defensible. I'm not going to try to defend it or rationalize it any more. This is wrong.
(Please be awesome, Mike Glennon.)