N.C. State's Wilson will play football this season

Russell Wilson plans to play both college football for N.C. State and professional baseball in the Colorado Rockies' minor-league system.

Wilson, who was taken in the fourth-round of the Major League Baseball draft on Tuesday, said he will return to N.C. State for his junior season in football but only after spending the summer in the Rockies' organization.

"They know my situation," Wilson said. "They know I love football. That's why they drafted me because they like me. We will continue to talk and figure this thing out."

Wilson has played both football and baseball at N.C. State. If he signs with the Rockies, as he said he intends to do, his college baseball career would be over. His college football career would also appear to be over after the 2010 season, despite the fact that he has two seasons of football eligibility left.

"I'm not worried about that right now," Wilson said. "I try to focus on one thing at a time."

There's also the question of whether the Rockies will sign Wilson and allow him to play football and be exposed to an injury. Running back Ricky Williams played both college football at Texas and minor-league baseball in the late 1990s. Wilson sounded confident that the Rockies would allow him to continue his football career.

"It's all going to work out just fine," Wilson said.

A spokesman for the Rockies said the team's management staff was still busy with the MLB draft and declined to comment.

N.C. State's football practice begins Aug. 3 and coach Tom O'Brien expects Wilson to join the team then. O'Brien said the details of Wilson's summer schedule still need to be worked out but was confident Wilson would be his quarterback in 2010.

"There are lot of thing that have to be discussed," O'Brien said. "One thing I do know about Russell, if he wants to play football, then that's what he's going to do."

-- J.P. Giglio