Seahawks’ Wilson ‘excited about the opportunity’

RENTON, Wash. – Russell Wilson walked on the sun-drenched practice field Monday as the freshly minted starter for the Seattle Seahawks. To Wilson, even though he had a new title, nothing had changed from the previous month of a training camp where he went from being the “other guy” lumped in a three-way quarterback competition to the clear-cut winner. Wilson was named the Seahawks’ starting QB on Sunday night after beating out Matt Flynn for the job and seeing incumbent Tarvaris Jackson traded to Buffalo for a future draft pick. The decision means that Wilson will be one of five rookies to start at quarterback in the regular season, joining Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck, Washington’s Robert Griffin III, Miami’s Ryan Tannehill and Cleveland’s Brandon Weeden. But those other four were all first-round picks. Wilson? The idea of the third-round pick out of Wisconsin earning the starting job was thought to be a stretch and that his task was to compete with Jackson for the backup job to Flynn. Seattle didn’t guarantee $10 million to Flynn as part of a three-year deal for the hottest free agent QB not named Manning, only to stick him on the bench, right? Wrong. “This is an extremely competitive person and it drives him in the way he prepares. … He has done everything he could possibly do to get ready,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. Barring an injury in the preseason finale against Oakland on Thursday night, Wilson will become just the third rookie drafted outside of the first round to start a season opener in the last decade. Wilson found out the news on Sunday when he was summoned to meet with Carroll, was given a hug by the head coach and informed he would be the starter when the regular season begins on Sept. 9 at Arizona. “Was I surprised? I was more excited about the opportunity,” Wilson said. “Even though I’m a rookie, I believe in the fact that I can help this team win and do a lot of great things.” Wilson has wowed everyone during the preseason with his numbers in production making up for the measurable numbers that made him a third-round pick instead of a first. His 5-foot-11 stature hasn’t shown to be a problem while completing 35 of 52 passes (67.3 percent) for 464 yards, five touchdowns and a league-leading 119.4 QB rating. Wilson’s only preseason mistake was throwing a careless end zone interception against Tennessee.