When Russell Wilson was in high school, he got a chance to attend the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana and was blown away by what he learned over the course of four days.
Inspired by that experience, Wilson has held his own one-day passing camps every summer since entering the NFL. But now, he's looking to do more year-round.
He announced Wednesday that he's partnering with former teammate Jake Heaps to create the Russell Wilson Quarterback Academy.
.@RWQBAcademy! Designed to bring elite training to young QBs worldwide. Excited to join forces with @jtheaps9 https://t.co/UWViabw6eC pic.twitter.com/XrcAle27Oz
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) July 5, 2017
"Our thought process is to be able to consistently teach kids the quarterback position at a high, high level," Wilson told ESPN.com. "Not just have a camp that's a one-day camp, but also an opportunity to give training lessons, one-on-one lessons, private sessions, on-field training, the elite summer camps, with some of the best kids in the country training with us. And also classroom training.
"That's one of the things that we really want to do is have classroom training, where we sit down with these kids and teach them different coverages and different looks and the thought process of what you go through during the crucial times of a game."
Wilson has lofty goals for his new venture. He'll be traveling to China next week in conjunction with Nike and Alibaba. As part of the trip, Wilson said he'll be checking out sites to potentially hold a quarterback camp there next year.
Wilson said he has worked with 8,000 kids through his previous passing camps, and Heaps has coached 60 kids individually through his own passing academy.
"One of the things that Jake and I both talked about is we need to make 60 kids go to 60,000 kids," Wilson said. "And 60,000 quarterbacks around the country."
Prices for packages listed on the company's web site range from $125 to $300. Participants can be as young as 10 or as old as 22.
Wilson said he won't always be on the field with the students -- specifically during football season -- but added that there will be other ways to connect with them.
"When I can't be there, how can I still find ways to implement my understanding of the game in congruence with Jake? We're going to be teaching them obviously through on-field training. But also the idea is to teach them through their phones and through virtual access, in a way," Wilson said.
One such example Wilson offered was him or Heaps working in a classroom with a group of students while others are connected virtually through their computers, tablets or phones.
Heaps attended high school in the Seattle suburbs before college stints at BYU, Kansas and Miami. He spent time with the New York Jets and the Seahawks, but he has never appeared in an NFL game.
"Every drill, every thought, everything that we'll be working on will be directly coming from me and also Jake in correlation," Wilson said.
"This will be the one-stop shop all over the country and all over the world for these kids to continue to learn more and continue to work on their games."