Tyler Russell finally speaks.

[Coach34]

Alex Smith- Utah- Number 1 pick of the NFL draft. He fit into Mullen's system

 

[OMlawdog]

Tyler Russell is not Alex Smith.

Alex Smith is/was a running QB. They have tried to make him a pocket passer in SF and he was replaced by a host of journeyman QB's.

That is the point, Alex Smith ran the ball 135 times in 2004at Utah. He was a great fit for the Utah spread offense. Eli/Phillip Rivers would have been horrible in those offenses.

Don't you think if you are an elite high school QB with your choice of schools, you should go to a school that you know for a fact can showcase your talents? Just like it would be stupid for Russell to go to West Virginia or Michigan, wouldn't it be equally stupid for him not to make sure that the coach at MSU was not going to run that type of offense when he goes there?

 

[NutherT]

He wasn't nearly at Tebow's level, but he was damn good. He was far better than Russell.

That said, I take issue with the notion that Russell couldn't be a star in Mullen's offense. Everyone looks at Tebow and acts like that's all Mullen knows. No, as Montrell Conner said, there's only one Tim Tebow. Mullen will throw more if he has a good passer and run more if he has a good runner.

Chris Leak is by far the most appropriate example to use, although Meyer/Mullen didn't recruit Leak. They inherited him.</p>

 

[tenureplan]

Alex Smith ran for 631 yards on 135 carries his last year in Utah. That's like twice Dixon's 2008 AYPC. Perhaps the closest comparison to Russell would be Leak.

 

[maroonmania]

because Croom's offense stunk no matter what style and so I'm amazed Russell ever committed to a staff that had shown no inkling of ever being able to develop a QB. I had assumed it was only because Tyler really liked MSU. At least Mullen has shown the ability to put together top offenses and develop top notch QBs and has repeatedly stated he will work his offense around the abilities of the players he has available. Tebow does run quite often, no doubt, but I have also seen him throwing out of the pocket on many occassions and I have no doubt that Russell can execute roll outs when needed as he's done at Meridian. It just appears to me that if there are any issues that exist in this situation they are mostly personality based.

 

[dawgfan77]

Tyler Russell is not Alex Smith.

Alex Smith is/was a running QB. They have tried to make him a pocket passer in SF and he was replaced by a host of journeyman QB's.

That is the point, Alex Smith ran the ball 135 times in 2004at Utah. He was a great fit for the Utah spread offense. Eli/Phillip Rivers would have been horrible in those offenses.

Don't you think if you are an elite high school QB with your choice of schools, you should go to a school that you know for a fact can showcase your talents? Just like it would be stupid for Russell to go to West Virginia or Michigan, wouldn't it be equally stupid for him not to make sure that the coach at MSU was not going to run that type of offense when he goes there?

The one thing you are missing is that Mullen has said as well as Koening that whoever the QB is they will design the offense around his skill set. I am sure Mullen is selling Russell on the fact that he will run a spread offense with him that is pass heavy. I am sure Spurrior and Saban are putting it in his head that he will have to be a running QB in this system.
Either way we will end up with Cotton or Russell, and Mullen will design and offense around there skill set.

 

[OMlawdog]

I think Mullen would fit his offense to Russell's talents, or at least he should and I would expect him to, but I don't think it is dumb for Russell to make sure he doesn't get himself into an offense where the QB needs to run the ball.

Why do that if you are a pocket passer? Ryan Mallet did the right thing at Michigan and went to a pocket passer offense at Arkansas. Was that dumb? Of course not, it was the right thing for him to do.

Between Leak and Tebow the QB ran the ball 166 times in 2006, and if you are Russell that should get your attention and he should make sure he is going to a school that will showcase his talents, and his talent is his arm, not his legs.

I don't think it matters anyway, because I think the guy is a pretty big MSU fan, and I think he goes to MSU if Paul Johnson is the coach.

 

[Todd4State]

will fit the offense around him. He won't try to make him into Tim Tebow or Alex Smith who were more dual threat/running type QB's.

Here again, I think the potential problems here are two-fold.

Russell may have a misconception that we are going to run our offense like Florida runs theirs where they ask the QB to run and is a big part of their inside running game.

The second thing is that the NFL doesn't seem to care for spread QB's too much. Alex Smith is a bust. Vince Young, who I think is probably the greatest spread option QB ever, has struggled. The NFL has a lot of doubts about whether Tebow can play QB in the NFL. Colt Brennan lost a lot of stock in the draft in part because of skepticism over his numbers and the system he played in. Pat White may get a look at QB, but is likely to end up as a RB. A lot of NFL teams still run parts of the WCO with some spread elements mixed in, and I think that was a big reason that Croom wanted to run it- so that he could tell QB recruits that we were running an NFL type offense and that would help them have an edge over their competition and thus help their draft stock. Like many things with Croom, I think the premise was good, but implementation was not for many reasons. What he should have done is simplified his offense and run aspects of the WCO that showcased the talents of the players he had, but here again, Croom was a poor coach and didn't really know how to run it in the first place, much less how to utilize it or teach McCorvey, who was pretty bad himself.

 

[4MSU2007]

"So now, I'm going to do a lot of studying of the personnel we have and make sure our offense is built on the personnel. If we have to make tweaks, we have to make tweaks. I'm not stubborn enough to say, 'This is our offense, this is what we're doing,' even if we don't have the personnel to run it.'"

i think this sums it up and Russell should read this.

 

[OMlawdog]

I would be surprised if Mullen changed his offense for one player, but he may. He has been running a variation of the spread since he has been coaching, so I doubt he will stop running it completely, but maybe he will. I doubt he will change his whole offense for a true freshman though, that seems a bit of a stretch.

I would expect Mullen to do what he does best, and that is run a variation of the spread offense.

If you are Russell, your choices are go to schools that you know run traditional pocket passer offenses, or go to a school where the coach is telling you that he is going to scrap the spread and everything he has done up to this point and focus the entire offense around your strengths. Some kids may love the idea, some may think the coach is simply telling the kid whatever he wants to get him sign a scholarship.

I think Russell won't care and simply wants to play for MSU. As to my original point, I think it is crazy to call him dumb for looking around due to a Coach's history of running the spread and using a running QB.

 

[OMlawdog]

You would agree with me then, that it is not stupid for Russell to at least look around at his options instead of simply trusting that a coach with a history of running the spread, will change the entire offense around him.

If you are Russell and you see the best QB to ever run the FL spread offense isn't going to be a first or second round pick, you have to wonder if you fit in the offense that Mullen has been coaching.

If you are Russell and you believe that Mullen will change the offense completely, then you have no idea what type of offense that is going to be, because he has never run an offense that isn't based on the spread.

This is life altering decision for Russell, and simply making sure that he goes to a school that is going to show case his talents is not dumb, it is very smart, and not enough high school players actually make sure they are going to get the opportunity to showcase their talents.

Like I said earlier, Phillip Rivers and Eli are classic drop back passers that if put in a spread offense would have been horrible.

 

[GoState05]

It doesn't have to be run-oriented, and it can still be the spread.</p>

 

[SnakePlissken]

nt

 

[MissStateDog]

I would be surprised if Mullen changed his offense for one player, but he may. He has been running a variation of the spread since he has been coaching, so I doubt he will stop running it completely, but maybe he will. I doubt he will change his whole offense for a true freshman though, that seems a bit of a stretch.

I would expect Mullen to do what he does best, and that is run a variation of the spread offense.

If you are Russell, your choices are go to schools that you know run traditional pocket passer offenses, or go to a school where the coach is telling you that he is going to scrap the spread and everything he has done up to this point and focus the entire offense around your strengths. Some kids may love the idea, some may think the coach is simply telling the kid whatever he wants to get him sign a scholarship.

I think Russell won't care and simply wants to play for MSU. As to my original point, I think it is crazy to call him dumb for looking around due to a Coach's history of running the spread and using a running QB.

Russell's choices, besides us, are Alabama and South Carolina. Spurrier does not run a classic, pro-style offense. All his QB's have floundered in the NFL. And Alabama just turns around and gives the ball to the RB, not showcasing any QB skills.

Also, the Mullen quote does not mean he will deviate from the spread. He's saying he can change his spread to adapt to personnel.

 

[SnakePlissken]

Without bringing prem content from BDJ, Russell was quoted that his relationship with Croom was one of the major reasons he committed to State. Croom was not just about the wins and losses. The way he said it leads me to believe that winning is not that important to him (Russell)....it was his relationship with Croom that mattered more. If you could read the article you would better understand but I don't want to lose my prem membership for quoting a prem article.

 

[Todd4State]

I see where Russell is coming from on wanting to visit other schools and Mullen's offense. Plus, I'm sure Croom was trying to sell him on the WCO and I have to believe that Croom was probably dissing the spread the whole time, if nothing else because that's what some of his competition is running.

Like I said, I think Croom wanted to run the WCO to attract good offensive players and use the NFL angle, but unfortunately for him he wasn't actually able to land a decent QB prospect until it was too late for him. Premise good, implementation bad.

Edit to say, if I were him, I'd take the visits and still go to MSU, WCO or spread.

 

[dudehead]

.

 

[jaydog]

I just heard Tyler is no longer (soft virble) now (firm) commit to state....

 

[slickdawg]

I would be surprised if Mullen changed his offense for one player, but he may. He has been running a variation of the spread since he has been coaching, so I doubt he will stop running it completely, but maybe he will. I doubt he will change his whole offense for a true freshman though, that seems a bit of a stretch.

I would expect Mullen to do what he does best, and that is run a variation of the spread offense.

If you are Russell, your choices are go to schools that you know run traditional pocket passer offenses, or go to a school where the coach is telling you that he is going to scrap the spread and everything he has done up to this point and focus the entire offense around your strengths. Some kids may love the idea, some may think the coach is simply telling the kid whatever he wants to get him sign a scholarship.

I think Russell won't care and simply wants to play for MSU. As to my original point, I think it is crazy to call him dumb for looking around due to a Coach's history of running the spread and using a running QB.

Russell's choices, besides us, are Alabama and South Carolina. Spurrier does not run a classic, pro-style offense. All his QB's have floundered in the NFL. And Alabama just turns around and gives the ball to the RB, not showcasing any QB skills.

Also, the Mullen quote does not mean he will deviate from the spread. He's saying he can change his spread to adapt to personnel.

when Alabama's career passing leader, John Parker Wilson, had 7700 yards or so for his career.

Conversely, Graham Harrell passed for 5111 yards this year alone, Wilson 2273 this year

so yeah, Alabama isn't too big on the passing game.

 

[Todd4State]

It seems like they always are a power running team- very similar to us offensively. Some of that is because of their playmakers, who are usually RB's.

It will be interesting to see if Bama ever switches to the spread if they ever can get enough WR's.