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Concussion's cousin is caution. At least it is in Tom O'Brien's coaching handbook.

Some might have started Russell Wilson at quarterback in N.C. State's game with William & Mary on Saturday night. The redshirt freshman, who suffered a scary injury in the Wolfpack's opener at South Carolina nine days earlier, had received the go-ahead from the training staff, after all.

And when the stand-in -- Daniel Evans in this case -- struggled, there was even more theoretical motivation to go with Wilson, who won the job during the preseason and started against the Gamecocks.

O'Brien wanted none of it. In came Harrison Beck, a transfer from Nebraska who put together a terrific second half in a 34-24 win over William & Mary. Beck's play was good enough to compel questions about whether a derby that began with five competitors a month ago had been renewed.

Again, O'Brien handled the talk much as Gallagher, the goofy 1980s comedian, dealt with a watermelon. While pleased with Beck, he would adhere to the long-term plan he had adopted before the game with the Tribe: Wilson will get the call for N.C. State's ACC opener Saturday at Clemson (noon, WXLV-45).

"The medical people said he was clear; it was my decision whether to play him or not," O'Brien repeated Monday afternoon. "I chose not to play him (against the Tribe). I thought it would be better for him to sit out another week before he got back into contact."

Even if the Pack had lost to William & Mary, the decision on Wilson would have withstood intelligent scrutiny. For 15 interminable minutes, the player had been on his back at Williams-Brice Stadium on Aug. 28. Wilson left in an ambulance, a fact that overshadowed the dejection of a 34-0 loss.

While O'Brien likes to win and has proven good at it, this isn't the NFL, a league from which middle-aged retirees suffer dementia at disproportionate and disturbing rates.

Neither is this a watershed season in the evolution of Wolfpack football. The program O'Brien inherited from Chuck Amato in December 2006 was on shaky numerical ground. Of the 41 players State signed in 2005 and 2006, 17 are already gone. That 41 percent attrition rate far exceeds the personnel losses sustained by the other three ACC programs that changed administrations at the same time. (North Carolina's is at 18 percent; Miami has lost nine of 37 players from those classes or 24 percent; and Boston College, which O'Brien left to come to Raleigh, has seen six of 35 signees or 17 percent head elsewhere.)

There are no quick fixes at this level. Almost anything that emphasizes patience is probably a good idea.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com