I remember watching ESPN when the story first broke: “Senior N.C . State quarterback Russell Wilson to transfer to Wisconsin.” I remember thinking, “Good, now our team doesn’t have a quarterback who thinks he can play baseball, too.” I thought head coach Tom O’Brien made a fantastic decision to go forward with junior quarterback Mike Glennon .

However, a few games into the 2011 season, I was skeptical of O’Brien’s decision. Our offense seemed to struggle to put deep drives together and when we lost against Wake Forest, I thought the world was ending. The fact that Wilson was an early Heisman frontrunner wasn’t helping my sleep at night either.

I thought O’Brien was off his rocker to let Wilson go. After all, Wilson was the man who led the 2010 Wolfpack to a 9-4 record, including an epic come-from-behind Thursday night home win against No. 16 Florida State. Wilson was our savior, a demigod to the Wolfpack faithful. No matter what the situation, we always believed Wilson could deliver. And after his junior season we just let him go?

Part of the problem was that Wilson also played baseball at N.C . State. He was the 140th pick by the Colorado Rockies in the 2010 MLB Draft. This meant that during spring and summer practices, crucial times where teams build chemistry and develop timing with one another, Wilson wasn’t always there.

The other part of the issue had to do with Glennon , Wilson’s backup. Glennon , a four-star recruit and the No. 3 quarterback prospect in the nation in the 2007-08 recruiting class, was getting anxious on the bench.

O’Brien eventually dismissed Wilson from the team and declared Glennon the team’s starting quarterback. Wilson transferred to Wisconsin and has since given up on his baseball dream.

I was fine with O’Brien’s decision to begin with. Wilson seemed like he didn’t know what to do with his life between playing football and baseball while Glennon was an extremely promising player who seemed destined for great things.

Then along came the 2011 spring game. For two hours I watched Glennon overthrow numerous receivers, although, to be fair, he did make some good throws. People were trying to convince me Glennon missing was because our defense was so good, but I had my doubts.

Those doubts evolved into panic after we lost to Wake Forest. Our defense that was so solid at the spring game four months prior suddenly was incapable of stopping a lower-tier ACC football program. On top of that, our Glennon-led offense didn’t seem to have the “spark” it had the previous year under Wilson.

Despite failing my eye test early in the season, Glennon’s 2011 numbers were better than Wilson’s in 2010. They both averaged 6.7 yards-per-attempt, but Glennon boasted a higher completion percentage than Wilson (62.5 percent vs. 58.4 percent). Glennon also had a higher quarterback rating than Wilson (136.4 vs. 127.5) in addition to a better touchdown-to-interception ratio (3:1 vs. 2:1). Despite the obvious disparity in mobility between the two, Glennon was sacked 31 times while Wilson was sacked on 39 occasions.

Although he struggled to find his groove for much of the season, Glennon eventually found the range against Clemson, leading the Pack to a legendary beat down of the No. 7 team in the nation at Carter-Finley. He continued the act the following week against Maryland, recording the biggest comeback in school history and ensuring the Wolfpack would be going to a bowl game that year. The Pack finished the season with a bowl win against Louisville, posting an 8-5 record.

Here’s the thought I’m going to leave you with: don’t expect the team to be playing in mid-season form at the spring game next weekend. If you do, you’re going to leave unhappy much like I did last year. Instead, enjoy the game. More importantly, don’t forget to donate to the Kay Yow Foundation. And I’m talking about donating more than the $1 entrance fee.