Wilson: I'm focusing on football

Published Jan. 11, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

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Russell Wilson, the dual-sport star who played quarterback for the University of Wisconsin in 2011, has turned his back on a professional baseball career for now and will attempt to be picked up by a team in the NFL draft, The New York Times reported.

Wilson, who led the Badgers to a successful 11-3 season in his only year at the school after three seasons with North Carolina State, will train with former NFL quarterback Chris Weinke in Florida in the lead-up to the draft April 26 to 28.

The undersized quarterback, who is getting married this weekend, has told the Colorado Rockies, who drafted him 140th in the 2010 MLB draft, that he will not be reporting to spring training.

"I want to put all my focus in football and see where it takes me," Wilson told The Times. "I know that I have the talent, aptitude and leadership to succeed on the next level.

"I took a big risk to leave playing baseball and go back and play football, especially at a completely different school. I couldn't have drawn it up any better. It's been a perfect dream."

In 61 games with the Rockies' Single-A affiliate Asheville Tourists team last year, Wilson batted .228, hitting three home runs with 15 RBI.

Despite recording stunning numbers for the Badgers in 2011, throwing for 33 touchdowns and just four interceptions, at 5-foot-11, Wilson is thought to be too short to dominate the same way in the NFL and is expected to be picked up in the later rounds of the draft.