Welcome to college Tyler Russell....

[Todd4State]

The SEC has gotten a lot better since then- even though Herschel Walker was running around/over/through everyone.

At that time you probably could have played a true Fr.- even a guy like a Russell- and had success with it. But the SEC now is almost like the AAA of the NFL. You just have too many freaks of nature running around on SEC teams. Back in 1980, Bear Bryant was still using walk-ons and people like that and winning NC's. You hardly ever see walk-ons anymore- we played more than anyone, and you see where that got us. There just aren't very many Brandon McRae's out there- and even he was good enough to get a I-AA scholarship. By the way, I think Croom playing so many walk-ons was another of his many mistakes.

And not only that, you have defensive minds like Nick Saban throwing blitzing these guys from every direction, it's just too much for these guys out of high school to handle.

 

[markymark.sixpack]

as a 5th year SR in 2013 than as a true FR in 2009. Also, some of us don't think he would be an improvement over Lee this fall anyway (and likely would be a downgrade from Lee).

completely irrelevant and nobody argued that. i'm arguing he'll be better NEXT year if he gets a little game experience this year. Next year, he's all we got. I'd much rather have him be prepared for next year. I don't want him to start this year, but i do want him to play in some meaningful situations. playing 3series against LSU this year will teach him a lot more than a year of practicing against our crap dummy D. like DM said, we are not a redshirt school yet. Redshirting him does not magically make him a great player. Game experience is the best way to get better fast. So far your only real argument for redshirting him is b/c you saw him play one game last year and decided that was best for his career path. if he hurts us this year, we win 3 or 4 games instead of 5. if he hurts us next year, he costs us a bowl game. i say get him ready to take over next year.

 

[patdog]

Putting him in if he's not ready isn't going to do a damn thing to make him any better. If he's ready to play and can make a significant contribution this year, then by all means he needs to play. I just don't think he is. And to waste a year playing him when he's not ready would be a huge mistake.

 

[futaba.79]

in 78, 79 and 80. I'd say that Bond qb'd in a pretty tough league. Hell, there were 3 eventual 1st rounders on our team and at least 4 others that had NFL careers. SEC freaks of nature aren't anything new.

Since full fledged integration came to be in 1973, the SEC has consistently been a dominant conference relative to all the rest. </p>

As for Russell v Lee, it is my hope that Tyson makes it through til the end, has a nice year and lead us to 5, 6 or 7 wins. It would be best to redshirt Russell. Though I still maintain, in most positions, that you play superior talent over experience. With the QB spot, you play talent if it is clear that it gives you a better chance to win than experience.
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[Shmuley]

after watching 5 practices:

Russell will be 3rd string wearing a redshirt. He just has some learning to do.

And this is a guy who is probably calling his mom every thirty minutes to see if she's finished sowing #17 onto his maroon walmart t-shirt yet.

 

[bulliegolfer]

Saying he has stepped up and looks much improved. Still early but maybe we can get enough good play out of Lee and Relf to give Russell a chance to sit out the year and mature. I hope so.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

B. Bringing along Russell too fast can hurt his confidence. Traditionally, true freshman SEC QB's havent fared very well

Tim Tebow- "The greatest college football player ever" according to ESPN and a Heisman winner was a role player his True Fr. year at Florida, which had a ton of talent.

Matthew Stafford- First pick of the NFL draft, struggled as a true Fr. at Georgia.

The last true Fr. QB I can remember coming in and doing well, and even he didn't start right away, was Peyton Manning, who is one of the greatest QB's in NFL history.

I like Tyler Russell. I think he can be good. I don't know that he will be as good as the guys I just mentioned- he probably won't, in all reality, and if that's the case, with the talent that we do have, it's prudent to RS him.

Seems like I remember a freshman QB from MSU doing pretty well once. Guy named Wayne Madkin. He wasn't Tebow but seems like we did pretty well that year.

 

[Stormrider81]

and a backup nobody wanted to give Russell the time to adjust and get ready to play. It frustrates me that we are having to have this argument in the first place. We should be in the situation to RS Russell and bring him along next year. We aren't. How I wish we were.

 

[Sutterkane]

he wasn't spectacular but he got the job done in our liberty bowl fluke year.

 

[Todd4State]

B. Bringing along Russell too fast can hurt his confidence. Traditionally, true freshman SEC QB's havent fared very well

Tim Tebow- "The greatest college football player ever" according to ESPN and a Heisman winner was a role player his True Fr. year at Florida, which
had a ton of talent.

Matthew Stafford- First pick of the NFL draft, struggled as a true Fr. at Georgia.

The last true Fr. QB I can remember coming in and doing well, and even he didn't start right away, was Peyton Manning, who is one of the greatest
QB's in NFL history.

I like Tyler Russell. I think he can be good. I don't know that he will be as good as the guys I just mentioned- he probably won't, in all reality,
and if that's the case, with the talent that we do have, it's prudent to RS him.

Seems like I remember a freshman QB from MSU doing pretty well once. Guy named Wayne Madkin. He wasn't Tebow but seems like we did pretty well that year.

Thus, he wasn't a true Fr.

 

[Todd4State]

It's just that it's even tougher now, and there are even more freaks. Football in general is tougher now. I was watching an NFL replay of a game from 1989 and they were talking about an OT who was a "big ol' boy" at 280. That wouldn't get you a scholarship today if you were an OT.

Now we have OT's in the NFL that are 6'5" 320 AND can run 5.0 40's. It's unbelievable.

 

[Todd4State]

he wasn't spectacular but he got the job done in our liberty bowl fluke year.

that would probably be about as good as we could reasonably expect a Fr. to perform. Russell would have a little bit better numbers, because of the type of offense he would be running and the coaching, but other than that we would be asking Russell to be the same as Carroll- don't screw up.