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DEKALB, Ill. -- Summer camps are a common occurrence across college campuses this time of year, but it isn't often that one of those camps is led by a Super Bowl winning quarterback. On Thursday at Huskie Stadium, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson brought the Russell Wilson Passing Academy to NIU, the second stop on the camp's seven-stop tour this summer.

Wilson's connections to NIU Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier helped make the DeKalb stop of the Russell Wilson Passing Academy a reality.

"I know Coach Sean Frazier really well," Wilson explained. "He was the Assistant AD at Wisconsin and I built a really good relationship with him, and with Coach Barry Alvarez as well, both phenomenal people, phenomenal AD's. Coach Frazier told me about this campus, he has seen me do this camp at the University of Wisconsin, I've played against NIU, it is a great program, and I wanted to be a part of it. It is a great situation, we have so many kids here, about 450-500 kids, it's an exciting time.

"Coach Sean Frazier is an unbelievable man and has done a great job at Wisconsin and here. I have a lot of respect for this program, they have great facilities and it's right outside Chicago, so a lot of kids can come out from around the Chicago area."

With the ideal setting, Frazier's connection to Wilson and Wilson's commitment to working with an inspiring group of young football players, DeKalb was a logical choice for the Russell Wilson Passing Academy.

"It's great to see how he has packaged football and the Super Bowl into reaching down and helping the youth, helping kids," said Frazier. "That is why this worked out, he wanted to be in Chicagoland, he wanted a good audience, he wanted to give back to kids, it all fit and I said, `why not DeKalb, why not NIU,' it was a no-brainer."

With around 500 campers aged 8-17, the DeKalb stop of the Russell Wilson Passing Academy was a major success and, according to NIU Football Head Coach Rod Carey, a credit to the NIU administration.

"What a shot in the arm for the community and for NIU," said Carey. "To have a two-time Super Bowl quarterback, and a great college quarterback, here on our campus running this camp, the kids are all wide-eyed, it's great and I couldn't be more thankful to Sean (Frazier) and Ryan Sedevie for getting it done."

While the excitement of the campers to be around the Seahawks superstar was understandable, Carey noted that it wasn't just the youngsters who were awed by having Wilson on campus at NIU.

"As wide-eyed as the campers are, our players are too, which is good," Carey said. "This is a guy (Russell Wilson) who is where our guys want to be, and we have some of our alums back here like Chandler Harnish, Rashaan Melvin and Landon Cox, it's good to have those guys back too."

One of those current, wide-eyed Huskies working today's camp was junior linebacker Sean Folliard, who admitted being a bit taken aback this morning when he saw Wilson in the weight room of NIU's Yordon Center.

"It's an awesome event, it's great for the kids to get them out here and get them active," said Folliard. "To have guys like Russell (Wilson) and Chandler (Harnish) running around is amazing for them to see, but I think the big goal of this camp is to have a positive impact and a positive message on the kids today."