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RALEIGH —The re-education of Russell Wilson begins tonight.

And the lessons the sophomore quarterback learns will go a long way toward determining just what kind of season N.C. State will have.

The Wolfpack opens the college football season on national TV with a home game against South Carolina at 7:03 p.m. today at Carter-Finley Stadium.

All eyes will focus on the N.C. State quarterback with the accurate arm and swift legs.

When last we saw Wilson in a game that counted, the redshirt freshman's stellar first season ended the way it began — sidelined for the second half of a big game with an injury.

He suffered a concussion in the opener at South Carolina last season. He hurt his knee against Rutgers at the Papajohns.com Bowl. The Wolfpack lost both those games.

In between those bookend losses, Wilson played his way onto the All-ACC team — he's the only freshman ever to earn first-team honors at quarterback — and was an easy choice as the conference's rookie of the year.

"Last season was last season," Wilson said, trying to downplay the honors.

But the numbers shout otherwise. Wilson passed for 1,955 yards, throwing 17 touchdowns against one interception. He rushed for 388 yards and four touchdowns on 116 carries.

He became the face of N.C. State football.

It's a face Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien wants to protect.

"We don't want to discourage him from running," O'Brien said. "We don't want to discourage him from doing some of the things that are really his strengths. But he has to do a little better job in the decision-making process of when to take a hit and when to get down and when to run out of bounds. ... He's just so competitive, he thinks he can always get that extra yard."

For what it's worth, Wilson said he's learned to pick his spots. He even joked about learning to slide during baseball season as the Wolfpack's second baseman.

But in the next breath, out came his competitive nature.

"I'm going to be myself and run the ball when I feel I need to," Wilson said. "But I want to make the right passes and want to make the right reads and continue to grow as a quarterback."

On the plus side, the guys around him on offense should be better this season.

At 296 pounds, center Ted Larsen is the little guy on a beefy and experienced offensive line. O'Brien said Larsen, a converted defender, could play his way into the NFL.

Starting wide receivers Jarvis Williams and Owen Spencer are both coming off solid seasons.

Senior tailback Jamelle Eugene, a Doak Walker Award candidate, is back after leading the team in rushing last season — and he's not even the starter. Ragsdale alum Toney Baker won back the job after missing all but one game of the last two seasons recovering from two surgeries on his right knee.

"I think you have to prove yourself every year, whether you're injured or not," Baker said. "That's the beauty of football, especially in this program. No matter what you do, you always got to come in and earn your spot. You've got to prove yourself."

At a muscular 225 pounds, Baker won the job in part because of his pass-protection and blitz-pickup skills, O'Brien said.

Which brings us back to protecting Wilson.

"I think that's the most valuable piece of any college football team: the quarterback," O'Brien said.

A year ago, Wilson played like a freshman in the opener at South Carolina and N.C. State lost 34-0.

"This year I feel 10 times more comfortable," Wilson said.

So does O'Brien.

"We got a couple questions in a couple different spots," the coach said, "but we certainly don't have questions in key spots: that is quarterback and the offensive line on the offensive side of the football and up front on defense. Those are things where when we've won football games, we've won it because we've been good up front and we've had good quarterback play. In that part, we're a lot more experienced than we were at this point a year ago."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com