but I do not agree about Mike Henig. Henig would have completed MAYBE 50% of his passes and had at least a pick or two.
Let's be honest here- yes, Memphis is bad, but how many MSU QB's over the years have had performances like that against inferior opponents? Not very many that I can recall. Maybe Derrick Taite 1994 against Tulane? People talk about, "Gee it was nice to beat someone the way we're supposed to", well a big reason why we didn't in the past was because of crappy quarterback play.
The fact of the matter is this- while Russell maybe wasn't totally 100% perfect on all of his throws, and yes, his first TD pass was almost picked off, and maybe would have been picked off by a SEC player, Tyler Russell made plays. We hear these coaches talk about the ever mysterious "it" factor that a QB has. Well, to me, that is "it"- making plays successfully. That's something that can not totally be measured by skill all the time- someone mentioned that Stewart Patridge had "it", and I agree with whoever said that, but when add a guy who has talent with "it", then you have something potentially special.
And let's also keep this in mind- this was Tyler Russell's first D-I football action ever. I certainly would have been satisfied, and maybe even impressed with less than what I saw Sat. Most guys would have had some nerves and things like that, but Tyler never really showed that to me.
I do agree that he will not do as well against Auburn simply because Auburn is better. That said, he does not necessarily HAVE to do better, or even as well. That is the beauty about having Chris Relf. Dan has to, and I think he will, put them in situations that will benefit each of them and the team. Relf will help take the pressure off of Tyler Russell because if and when Tyler struggles a little bit, we can pull him back on the sidelines for a little while and let him collect himself and refocus and let Relf play, and it's not going to hurt the team at all to do that- very similar to Wayne Madkin and Matt Wyatt in 1999. And again, having Relf will take the pressure off of Tyler because Russell does not necessarily HAVE to be the man. It's a pretty darn good situation to be in, if you ask me.
And if we're going to nitpick the placement of Tyler's passes, I think it's only fair to talk about the two deep balls to Bumphis where he hit him in stride for touchdowns. I think we also have to talk about the fact that Tyler threw the ball on the run very well- something very few QB's can do, and a skill that essentially made Joe Montana Joe Montana (I don't think Russell is Joe Montana either until he leads some comebacks and wins some Super Bowls). I think we have to talk about his pocket prescence and, regardless of the pressure or lack thereof, he made the plays.
And the most exciting thing to me is the fact that Tyler Russell is just a redshirt freshman. He will get even better as time goes along. And I think as time goes along, more and more people will start to understand exactly what I was talking about in terms of developing a quarterback and not just haphazardly throwing the next "real deal" out there.
