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NFL fans are well aware of Russell Wilson’s cringe having seen the Denver quarterback go viral for all the wrong reasons over the last few seasons. Now, we’re learning he’s been that guy since his college playing days.
Former Wisconsin teammate Nate Tice spoke with Pablo Torre on Tuesday, opening up on his relationship with the Badger passer.
Tice, the son of former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice, was at UW the same year Wilson opted to transfer from NC State. With both being in the quarterback room, they spent a good deal of time together, even being road game roommates.
With that being said, Tice got a closer view of the signal caller’s personality. It seems that not much has changed since his days in the Big Ten.
Tice gave listeners a few Russell Wilson stories, seeing the cringe come out a bit earlier than most.
Now, we’ve seen the quarterback’s corniness in Denver, whether that be in his deleted Subway commercials or his annoyance of teammates during an 8-hour flight to London.
His awkward jokes and dad-like persona were evident to Tice early on.
He recalled how that cringey-ness actually thwarted Wisconsin upperclassmen’s attempts to haze the newcomer.
“Wisconsin hazing is not what you’re seeing in the news recently,” Tice said, referring to the recent Northwestern scandal that hit college football this offseason. “It’s very innocent. You can’t walk on the logo. You can’t use the elevator to go to offices, you have to use the stairs when you go to the meeting rooms. Minor things like that.
“Another one was you have to tuck your shirts in, so they’ll look like a dweeb… Of course, Russ comes in and we’re like, ‘Ok, you’ve got to tuck your shirt in…’ Well, he already tucked his shirt in when he worked out. That kind of takes away from our hazing thing that we had there… He embraced it but it was a bit of a problem for us.”
He went on say that initial haze attempt soon became trendy after Wilson became one of the team’s best players.
Nate Tice digs deeper into Russell Wilson’s cringe.
Tice then broke down another tendency we see from the quarterback – those cringeworthy catchphrases.
“Broncos Country, Let’s Ride!”
“DangeRuss!”
Many might’ve missed his original catchphrase, though. “On Wisconsin.”
Here’s one example of the quarterback using the saying to end a Rose Bowl interview.
“At the time, we had a documentary crew following us around Wisconsin… When Russ came in, the producers for that documentary kept asking [the QB room] to sing the fight song… None of us really knew the words except for ‘On Wisconsin.’ That’s what the title of the song is.
“That stuck with [Wilson], and then all of a sudden, I’m hearing him finishing interviews with, ‘On Wisconsin.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that was pretty cute…’ The people in Wisconsin ate it up. Then, that becomes a recurring theme throughout his career.”
We’ve grown accustomed to his awkward interview signoffs, but now we know where it all began.
Despite the cringe, Tice considers Wilson a friend. He commended his work ethic and leadership as a player while filling fans in on some great stories the two shared.
As for Wilson, he’s trekking through Year 12 in the NFL. Unfortunately, his Broncos are off to an 0-3 start as they look to get in the win column next Sunday against the Bears.