Russell Wilson holds no grudge against Mike Glennon from N.C. State days

Lindsay H. Jones | USA TODAY Sports

RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson would have had every reason to hold a grudge against Mike Glennon, the guy who essentially took his job as the starting quarterback at North Carolina State.

Of course, it wasn't quite the simple. And, of course, Wilson has been nothing but publicly supportive of his former Wolfpack teammate now that Glennon is the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Before the year, I told him to go out and win the starting job," Wilson said Thursday.

Wilson and Glennon will square off for the first time Sunday in Seattle. That story line had Wilson reliving the awkward conversation with his former college coach, Tom O'Brien, who told Wilson on April 27, 2011, that he would no longer be the starting quarterback in Raleigh, N.C.

At the time, Wilson was still mulling a career in professional baseball after being selected as a fourth-round pick by the Colorado Rockies. O'Brien, meanwhile, decided to move forward with Glennon.

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"I wanted to go back there. And when I was told I couldn't, it was one of those things where I had to figure out a way to move on and find a way to make something work," said Wilson, who had been the runner up as the ACC's offensive player of the year in 2010.

But suddenly, he was a college free agent.

Because Wilson had already earned his degree from N.C. State, NCAA rules allowed him to transfer without sitting out a year. Wilson narrowed his college choices to Wisconsin and Auburn but picked the Badgers because of their pro-style offense and NFL-sized offensive line.

"I didn't necessarily want to go backwards with my knowledge of the game, I wanted to continue to learn as much as I could because I knew, being a 5-11 quarterback, I'd have to prove myself," Wilson said. "So playing in a pro style offense, it was one of those things where I had to put myself in the right situation at the right time."

Wilson said he doesn't hold any sort of grudge against N.C. State and certainly not against Glennon, who started two years before being drafted in the third round last April. Glennon was the 73rd pick, two spots ahead of where Seattle selected Wilson in 2012.

Like Wilson, Glennon wasn't initially slotted to be an immediate NFL starter. Wilson had Matt Flynn ahead of him but shot to the top of Seattle's depth chart by the end of his first preseason. Glennon took over for Josh Freeman, who was benched in September and released in October.

Glennon said this week he hasn't watched too much of Wilson's 2013 tape but was paying attention last year, when Wilson led the Seahawks to the divisional round of the playoffs.

"He made the NFL look like college all over again," Glennon said.

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Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones