Russell Wilson Jokes About Ciara, Shades Old Coach During Commencement Speech

Russell Wilson spoke about Ciara and his former NC State coach during his University of Wisconsin commencement speech.

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Complex Original

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On Saturday afternoon, Russell Wilson was invited to deliver a commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin, the school that he transferred to for one season after he decided to leave North Carolina State in 2011 (more on that later!). During the speech, the Seahawks quarterback dropped a handful of gems on all of the students graduating from his former university. It was a speech that you can probably apply to your own existence, regardless of whether you're graduating from college this year and full of hope and optimism or you graduated years ago and hate where you're at in your life today.

Before he started imparting his wisdom on the Wisconsin scholars, though, Wilson warmed up the crowd with a few jokes. He mentioned the "fish bowls" that students drink out of at one of the local watering holes, and he also joked about his relationship with Ciara and the big blunder he made during Super Bowl XLIX:

"Of course, I’m also here to share some things I’ve learned—things like if you’re dating a woman that’s way out of your league, ask her to marry you. If you can throw a football 80 yards, for some reason people think that’s pretty cool. And if you’re playing the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl and you’ve got 26 seconds left and you’re down by four and it’s second-and-goal on their 1-yard line, try not to throw an interception. That’s purely, purely hypothetical though, of course."

But the most interesting part of the speech came when Wilson went full MJ and decided to get petty and reveal that, right before he transferred to Wisconsin, his head coach at North Carolina State told him he would never play in the NFL. According to him, coach Tom O'Brien said he had "no shot" of going pro:

"The summer before my senior year of college, I’m playing minor-league baseball. I called my football coach at NC State and said, ‘Hey coach, I’d like to come back for my senior year.’ He told me I wasn’t coming back. He said, ‘Listen, son, you’re never going to play in the National Football League. You’re too small. There’s no chance. You’ve got no shot. Give it up.’ Of course, I’m on this side of the phone saying, ‘So you’re telling me I’m not coming back to NC State? I won’t see the field?’ He said, ‘No, son, you won’t see the field.’ Now this was everything I had worked for. And now it was completely gone. If I wanted to follow my dream I had to leave NC State. I had no idea if I would get a second chance somewhere else."

Talk about opening up old wounds! O'Brien reportedly responded to Wilson's comments later by saying, "Good for him," when the Charlotte Observer texted him and asked for a response. But it was crazy to hear Wilson—the guy who rarely has anything bad to say about anybody—go at his old coach like that.

You can catch Wilson's entire 18-minute speech above. Monday morning seems as appropriate a time as any to listen to it for inspiration.

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