PEELER: Wilson's King Was In The Crowd

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH – It was a small slice of “Bull Durham” from the backseat of the family sedan. Harrison Wilson III was throwing interview questions at his two sons, Harrison IV and Russell, as they made the 30-minute drive between grandparents’ homes in Virginia’s Tidewater area.

Perhaps it was more like a cross examination, since the elder Wilson is a lawyer. Whatever, it was one of the many times the father prepared his sons for their lives in the public eye. What Russell remembers, in particular, is that at the end of the backseat interrogation his father handed him a small slip of paper that read: “There’s a king in every crowd.”

It was a father’s way of telling his youngest son to be careful, because there is always someone watching, always someone judging, always someone paying attention to his every move. Even when he was alone.

“That's always stuck with me, because no matter what you are doing, you never know who is watching, even if it is just you and God,” Russell Wilson said. “You have to be true to yourself, work hard and do the right things.”

Saturday afternoon, as Russell helped NC State’s offense score three touchdowns in a 21-17 victory over Wake Forest, there was, indeed, a king in the crowd: Harrison Wilson III.

About three months ago, the elder Wilson suffered a severe stroke – not long after Russell began competing in preseason camp with Daniel Evans, Harrison Beck, Justin Burke and Mike Glennon for the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback job. He’s been in a Richmond, Va., hospital pretty much ever since.

Since the stroke, Russell had seen his father only briefly, for one day during one of the Wolfpack’s open Saturdays. It was difficult to be away from the man who carted him all over the country to baseball tournaments, football camps and college visits and who inspired him to become a dual-sport college athlete. In tribute, Wilson inked the words “A king in every crowd” on his wristbands prior to the game against the Demon Deacons.

For Russell, knowing that his father was struggling was difficult. Harrison Wilson III was a football and baseball standout at Dartmouth, who got a free-agent tryout with the NFL’s San Diego Chargers as a wide receiver. So seeing him in the stands Saturday afternoon, making eye contact as the game ended and the celebration began, eased some of the burden Russell has carried since his father fell ill.

“His health is not perfect, but he is getting better every day,” said Russell, who was named ACC Rookie of the Week for his performance against the Demon Deacons. “I continue to pray for him. I believe in him and I believe that God will take care of him. My dad is a strong guy.  I learned a lot about perseverance from him. When he was sick, he would still talk to me about to keep playing and to keep pushing.”

That perseverance helped Russell to win the starting job in the preseason, to fight back after he suffered a Grade 3 concussion in the season opener against South Carolina and to return after he missed the South Florida game with a shoulder injury. Deeply religious, the younger Wilson prayed for strength and healing.

“My trust and faith in God really helped me persevere,” he said. “I have so many things going on in my life, so many challenges I have come across, on the field and off the field. I have had to keep pushing and trusting in God, trusting in the people who care about me and trusting in myself.”

Heading into this weekend’s rivalry game at North Carolina, Wilson has emerged as one of the ACC’s most capable quarterbacks. He’s a strong candidate for ACC Rookie of the Year, an award that gone frequently gone to his Wolfpack predecessors, from Ted Brown in 1975 to Philip Rivers in 2000. A total of eight NC State players have won the award since its inception in 1974.

He has had four consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes, the most for a Wolfpack quarterback since Rivers had five in a row in 2003.

He has brought stability to a team that had one of the worst turnover ratios in the nation last year. He’s thrown 175 passes without an interception, four away from the school record established by Jamie Barnette in 1996. He’s been compared favorably to Georgia Tech’s Joe Hamilton and Clemson’s Woodrow Dantzler, two scrambling quarterbacks who became Heisman Trophy candidates in the latter parts of their careers because of all they did to make their teams better.

And, most amazingly, Wilson has remained grounded, through his productive freshman season in baseball in the spring and as he has helped revitalize the football team’s offense this fall. He’s just another 19-year-old college kid wearing his letterman’s jacket to class on chilly mornings.

There are plenty of opportunities to gloat, of course. Wilson was an accomplished athlete at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va., who was courted by just about every ACC school. But there were worries about his height. At 5-11, Wilson admits he has challenges behind the massive offensive linemen that populate every college football team.

But that has also been his motivation throughout his career.

“I know I am shorter than most quarterbacks,” Wilson said. “I have to work on that. I have work on finding certain lanes and throw certain passes. I focus on that while I am practicing. I use it as an advantage as well.

“I know I can move around in the pocket when I need to.”

Wilson could gloat, of course. He had been recruited by just about every team in the ACC, but Virginia Tech backed off because it already had Tyrod Taylor, Virginia deferred to Peter Lalich and North Carolina chose Mike Paulus. Wilson has had a much bigger impact than any of them so far.

“I don’t really get any satisfaction in that,” Wilson said. “I am just excited about my situation.”

And, without question, he loves where he landed and the support he has received from Wolfpack fans. He had a blast with Elliott Avent’s baseball team in the spring and, throughout early struggles, he has loved being the starting quarterback for Tom O’Brien’s football squad.

“That’s what I love about NC State: No matter what sport you play, they always support you,” Wilson said. “If you are doing well or you are doing badly, they will always be there to back you up. They won’t look at you any differently.”

Most everyone looks at Wilson with favorable eyes right now, not only for what he has done on the field, but for all he has endured with his own injuries and his father’s illness. As the Wolfpack prepares to face the Tar Heels on Saturday, Wilson knows his team is getting better every day.

And so is his father. Russell hopes doctors will allow his father to return to Raleigh for the regular-season finale against Miami, on Nov. 29.

That’s Russell’s 20th birthday and he would like nothing better to celebrate with his favorite king in the crowd.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.