Russell Wilson’s Wisconsin Commencement Speech Might Have Been Fabricated Some

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson gave a commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin this past weekend, where he discussed the hardships he had as a young student-athlete at N.C. State.

Wilson, who ultimately transferred to Wisconsin, recalled a conversation then-N.C. State football coach Tom O’Brien and claimed O’Brien told him not to return to the team for his senior year because O’Brien felt that he had no shot to make it to the NFL.

But a former N.C. State teammate, Kalani Heppe, wasn’t buying Wilson’s story and went on a social media tirade where he lashed out against the Super Bowl winner.

“Damn” indeed.

Heppe and Wilson spent just one season together in 2007, so it’s not really clear if Heppe knows all of the details about Wilson’s transfer.

But judging from other inaccuracies from Wilson’s commencement speech, Heppe might be on to something.

In the speech, Wilson claimed he had “about 400 to 500 at-bats” in his freshman and sophomore seasons, but that he was “barely playing” in his junior season.

Not quite.

First of all, Wilson only had 143 at-bats in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined. Secondly, he had more at-bats in his junior season (98) than he did in either one of his first two years.

No word on how long Russell’s nose grew during the speech.

Screen shot via Twitter/@bronceIV
Thumbnail photo via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images