Russell Wilson played football and baseball for North Carolina State University before transferring to Wisconsin. In 2008, he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year in football and became the first freshman quarterback to receive first team All-ACC honors. Wilson played college football for the University of Wisconsin during the 2011 season, in which he set the single season FBS record for passing efficiency (191.8) and led the team to a Big Ten title and the 2012 Rose Bowl. Wilson received the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year award and was named a consensus first-team All-Big Ten and third-team All-American by Yahoo! Sports. Wilson also played minor league baseball for the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2010 and the Asheville Tourists in 2011 as a second baseman.

Wilson was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the 12th pick in the third round (75th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. In his rookie season in the NFL, Wilson led the Seahawks to a 11-5 regular season record and the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, and was named the 2012 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year. He followed up his impressive rookie season by leading the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XLVIII. At the time, he was only the fourth quarterback to win a Super Bowl in his second season and the second youngest to Tom Brady.