Football fans in the South watched Russell Wilson torch ACC defenses in football and baseball as a player at N.C. State the past few years.
Now, because of a little-known NCAA rule, they are watching him lead Wisconsin to a 4-0 record with a high-powered offense. He will take the next step in his Heisman candidacy and national championship hopes when No. 7 Wisconsin hosts No. 8 Nebraska this weekend.
"It's a blessing to be in Madison, it's a blessing to be a Badger," said Wilson, who has passed for more than 1,110 yards this season.
Wilson and N.C. State parted ways because football coach Tom O'Brien wanted him to participate in offseason workouts, something he couldn't do after he began playing minor-league baseball.
So, Wilson took advantage of an NCAA rule that allows students who have earned an undergraduate degree and have at least one year of eligibility remaining to transfer and play immediately if they are pursuing a graduate school degree. Undergraduates who transfer from one FBS-level school to another must sit out a year. Wilson majored in communications.
Wilson said he heard about the rule as a sophomore, but didn't look into it more until he said it became obvious that a change was needed.
"I knew my last year would give me an opportunity to play in the NFL," he said. "And academically, I'm closer to getting my graduate degree."
Wilson was one of the more dynamic players in ACC history, totaling 9,628 yards, the eighth-highest mark in conference history, and 93 touchdowns, the second-best mark in school and conference history, behind Philip Rivers.
After considering Auburn, he traded in the red and white of N.C. State and the comfort of Raleigh for the red and white of Wisconsin and the cold of Camp Randall.
It seemed an odd fit, moving from an offense tailored to his passing and running skills to one built on a power running game, but Wilson is making it work, so well that he's considered a frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy. His teammates said they can't believe how quickly and smoothly he has fit in. Perhaps Wilson is the only one who isn't that impressed.
"I had no doubt about how good he is, but some doubts about how fast he would pick up the playbook," running back Montee Ball said. "But he got that done."
Wilson isn't the only player who has taken advantage of the rule. Several ACC players have continued their education and careers at new schools. Because Wake Forest redshirts most of its true freshman, coach Jim Grobe has seen many of his players matriculate elsewhere. Because many of them weren't playing a lot, he said he doesn't mind the rule.
"It's good for us because we get kids graduating and good for them because they get to play one more year of football," he said.
Not every coach – or conference – likes the rule. After Jeremiah Masoli was booted off Oregon's team because of several legal entanglements, he used the rule to transfer to Ole Miss and pursue a masters in Parks and Recreation Management. Skeptics said he was just trying to exploit the rule. Even the NCAA didn't believe his intent, at first ruling that he was going to have to sit out a season because "the waiver exists to provide relief to student-athletes who transfer for academic reasons to pursue graduate studies, not to avoid disciplinary measures at the previous university." However, the NCAA changed its mind a few weeks later. The SEC eventually decided it had had enough, and its schools' presidents decided earlier this summer that they would no longer accept grad students, unless they have two years of eligibility remaining.
“Part of our culture for a very long time is designed to make sure transferring in is to stay at our institution long enough to have the kind of academic experience that we expect our student-athletes to have,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive told the Orlando Sentinel at the conference meeting earlier this year.
Players can also use the rule to transfer from FBS levels schools to FCS schools, as long as they have two years of eligibility remaining. Former Georgia Tech offensive linemen Joe Gilbert and Clyde Yandell graduated in three years and transferred to nearby Georgia State.
"So many athletes feel like they are attached to a university and don't feel like they have an option after they graduate," Gilbert said. "The rule allows you to continue learning and prepare yourself better for the outside world, rather than majoring in football."
While Wilson is perhaps the best-known user of the rule, Greg Paulus put it in the spotlight in 2009. He was a coveted high school quarterback in Syracuse, N.Y., but decided to play point guard on Duke's basketball team.
After the Blue Devils were defeated by Villanova in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, the NFL's Green Bay Packers called Paulus and asked him to work out for them.
"Going through that workout I got the itch to play again," he said. "I felt confident."
Paulus graduated from Duke with a major in political science. He decided to transfer to Syracuse, pursue a masters in communication, and be a signal-caller again for the deflated football program.
"I wanted to help turn around a program that had struggled a little bit," he said. "I fell in love with the football coach and wanted to help the program."
The move worked. Paulus won the job, passed for 2,025 yards and helped them win four games, one more than the previous year. Paulus now works in the video department in Ohio State's athletics department as he tries to become a college basketball coach.
He said he would encourage athletes to take advantage of the rule.
"If there's an opportunity to do something they love to enhance their education, I would say to try to get that done in that time slot," he said. "Not to use it just for the eligibility, but to put that commitment into it. It's not an easy transition, it's a tough challenge. But I would do it 100 out of 100 times."
