In May, we originally started a countdown to NC State football's season and ACC opener against Louisville, a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3.

In mid-June, the game was moved up a day to Wednesday, Sept. 2 in order to not conflict with the Kentucky Derby which was postponed from the traditional first Saturday in May to Saturday, Sept. 5 over Labor Day weekend.

In late July, the ACC scrapped its original football schedule to create a new 11-game model due to challenges presented from the coronavirus pandemic. A week later, NC State learned the dates of its new schedule which was set to begin Saturday, Sept. 12 in a road game against Virginia Tech.

Then an identified COVID cluster within the NC State athletic department shut down fall camp for eight days in late August, prompting the Pack to push back the opener against Virginia Tech to Sept. 26. Now NC State will open its season at home against Wake Forest on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. on ACC Network.

Today, Sept. 3 marks 16 days from the Wolfpack's season opener.

Each day, The Wolfpacker will do a countdown to the season with a reflection on the significance of that number to NC State.

The Wolfpacker Oral History: How Russell Wilson came to NC State

The story of Russell Wilson's historic career at NC State began in 2009 after redshirting the season prior. He initially split snaps for the first half of the season with at the time senior quarterback Daniel Evans and junior Harrison Beck.

Following Week 5 of his redshirt freshman season, Wilson took over quarterback responsibilities full-time and led the Pack to a 4-3 record in the final seven games to get the team to 6-6 overall. The team went on to play in the PapaJohns.com Bowl, but lost 29-23 after Wilson sprained his knee late in the first half.

He became the first freshman quarterback in conference history to make first-team All-ACC and was named the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2008. Wilson threw for 1,955 yards and 17 touchdowns with just one interception that season. He also rushed for 394 yards and four touchdowns.

In 2009, Wilson broke the NCAA record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception and set a new mark of 379 which wasn't broken until 2012. He finished the season with an All-ACC honorable mention as the Pack failed to make a bowl at 5-7.

In 2010, he played with the best Wolfpack team of his four-year career in Raleigh. Wilson led the ACC in passing yards per game with an average mark of 274.1 and was later named second-team All-ACC after finishing runner-up for ACC Player of the Year behind Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

Wilson led NC State to a 9-4 overall record which included a 23-7 win over West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Pack was one fourth-down stop away from making an appearance in the ACC Championship that year, but dropped the regular season finale at Maryland in a heartbreaking 38-31 loss that would have clinched the Atlantic Divison had the Pack won. Following his redshirt junior season, Wilson transferred to Wisconsin to a final year of eligibility.

He went on to be selected 75th overall in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson has been the franchise's starting quarterback for the past eight seasons with a career NFL record of 95-47-1. He was the 2012 NFL Rookie of the Year and has gone on to seven Pro Bowl appearances.

Wilson has led the Seahawks to the playoffs in seven of his eight seasons as the team's quarterback and helped lead Seattle to a Super Bowl victory in 2013, just his second professional season.

He was ranked No. 2 on NFL Network’s annual Top 100 countdown of the league’s best players behind only 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. Pro Football Focus named him the No. 1 quarterback and No. 3 overall athlete in its ranking of the NFL’s top-graded players in 2019.

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