Nothing is official, but North Carolina State isn't spending its offseason planning on standout quarterback Russell Wilson coming back for his senior season.

It's not the NFL that is expected to lure Wilson away from Raleigh, but Major League Baseball. Wilson was a fourth-round pick of the Colorado Rockies a year ago, played minor league baseball before the start of the 2010 football season, and will join the team for spring training. He also graduated this Fall, so the extra incentive of getting a degree isn't there.

Coach Tom O'Brien says the team is preparing to move on without him, especially since all the starting receivers from 2010 have graduated and spring practice is even more critical towards establishing timing with the new crew.

That leaves the team in the hands of Mike Glennon, who finally gets a crack at the full-time starting job in his fourth year on campus. He came in expected to compete for the job as a true freshman, but wound up redshirting and then sitting behind Wilson during the latter's stellar tenure as the starting quarterback.

Glennon has looked good in his limited action, and has the skills to be a top ACC quarterback. His arrival, however, will necessitate some changes in the offense. He's bigger than Wilson, but less mobile, more inclined to make plays with his arm than race out of danger with his feet.

Another area of transition will be special teams. O'Brien used three of his scholarships on Signing Day to ink a kicker, a punter, and a long snapper, since he'll need to replace all three positions before next season.

Signing Day is less of a big deal in Raleigh than in other ACC cities, however, because O'Brien is a big fan of letting the new guys sit and wait their turn. He openly said that he hoped this was a "redshirt class," and most of the 20 signees can expect to wait until at least 2012 before getting the chance to make their contributions to the Wolfpack in anything other than practice.

TOP OF THE CLASS

WR Hakeem Flowers (Wade Hampton HS, Simpsonville, S.C.) -- Flowers adds some badly-needed size and athleticism to a group of wide receivers that is largely untested. He is one of the recruits who could see early playing time, given the team's lack of depth at his position.

P Will Baumann (J.T. Hoggard HS, Wilmington, N.C.) -- Baumann is the one guy who should definitely play as a freshman -- coach Tom O'Brien all but anointed him the starting punter on Signing Day. Scout.com has him as the third-best prep punter in the country.

K Niklas Sade (Wakefield HS, Wake Forest, N.C.) -- Sade was rated the third-best high-school kicker in the country by the folks at Scout.com. He enters a Wolfpack program that loses Josh Czajkowski to graduation, and Sade should know what it will take to replace him -- he's worked with Czajkowski's former trainer, two-time Lou Groza candidate Dan Orner.

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