RUSSELL WILSON thinks Ciara is “out of his league”.
The 27-year-old footballer proposed to the 30-year-old singer - who has a 23-month-old son, Future, with ex-fiance Future - with a huge diamond ring in March after around a year of dating, and he joked he popped the question before she realised she was too good for him.
Giving the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin on Saturday (14.05.16), he quipped: “If you’re dating a woman that’s way out of your league, ask her to marry you.” The Seattle Seahawks quarterback joked about his own shortcomings as he told the graduates it is important not only to believe in yourself, but to know yourself too.
He said: “I love singing. Michael Jackson, I’m Michael Jackson’s Tito. I’m Janet Jackson’s long lost brother. My moonwalk cuts the rug. Dancing machine, smooth criminal, this guy.
“But no matter how badly I want to be a pop star, it would not matter how much self-confidence I had or have or how many hours I spend at the studio. Trust me on this. I cannot sing.
“So the question I asked when life told me no was; What am I capable of?
“Once you know the answer, don’t be afraid to let everyone else know it too.”
During his time at the university, Russell set a record for passing efficiency but admitted he only ended up studying and playing there after his coach at North Carolina State insisted he was too small to be an NFL player.
He said: “The summer before my senior year of college, I’m playing minor league baseball. I call my football coach at N.C. State and say, ‘Hey Coach, I’d like to come back for my senior year.’And he told me I wasn’t coming back.
“He said, ‘Listen, son, you’re never going to play in the National Football League. You’re too small. There’s no chance. You got no shot, give it up.’
“I said, ‘So you’re telling me if I come back to N.C. State, I won’t see the field?’ He said, ‘No, son, you won’t see the field.’ “Now, this was everything I had worked for. And now it was completely gone. If I wanted to follow my dream, I had to leave N.C. State.
“I had no idea if I would get a second chance somewhere else.”