BTP The Offseason, Day 47: Which one of these here buttons can send us to the future?

Well we’ve done it, we’ve survived the decade that was April, and we plunge forward now into a new—hey May could be a good solid quarter century. So that’s nice. Do you guys remember high fives? And hugs? Man, I remember hugs. I always embraced hugs.

What were we talking about? Right, nothing.

For reading material today, we have this insightful story from The Wolfpacker about the circumstances that led Russell Wilson to NC State. That includes the harrowing tale of how Tom O’Brien nearly nixed Wilson’s scholarship offer and had to be talked down.

This is Chad Jamison, director of high school relations under Chuck Amato:

[O’Brien] 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, especially when you just became head coach? They found out Russell visited Duke on Friday [three days after going to NC State], and I remember O’Brien saying, ‘Well tell him he’s gone. We don’t want him. Let him go.’

This took an intervention from two of O’Brien’s assistants, including Dana Bible, to make him re-think this nonsense. Meanwhile, Chuck Amato was back at Florida State trying to convince those guys to sell out for Russell Wilson.

It’s a minor miracle this didn’t end up a huge recruiting disaster.

You ever think about how quickly Tom O’Brien would have been here and gone without a pair of NFL-caliber quarterbacks to cover for how much he was mailing in the job? Me neither.

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The best part of this Back To The Future premiere from London is the Phil Collins photo bomb, obviously.

The Princess Of Wales Attends The Premiere Of ‘back To The Future’ At The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London Wearing A Burgundy Velvet Evening Dress Designed By Fashion Designer Catherine Walker. She Met Steven Spielberg And His Wife Amy Irving Next To Spielberg Is Phil Collins