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JaMarcus Russell: inspiring... and frustrating
11/14/06
by Clay

LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell is the single most intriguing, exhilarating and maddening football player in the country, pro or college.

He's a 6-foot-6, 260-pound giant who can flick his wrist and send a football soaring into the heavens. Full-grown defensive tackles run into Russell and he doesn't even budge in the pocket. Perhaps he reaches down and idly swats away their hands before uncorking yet another throw. Blitz him and he becomes the largest running back to ever play football, sprinting across the turf like Godzilla unleashed in Tokyo.

... making him the perfect video game quarterback

Yet drop your players back into a basic zone defense and it's possible Russell will hit your defensive back squarely between the numbers. When running in the open field, he might inexplicably drop the ball without being touched, as he did against Auburn. His inconsistency is the only consistent thing about his game.

But watch the velocity on his throws. One moment the ball is in his hands and the next it's a laser disguised as pigskin. One of his receivers, Dwayne Bowe, said Russell can throw the ball 75 yards ... on one knee. Put it this way: I'd be nervous about catching these throws with my bare hands. Basically, there has never been a throw on a football field that JaMarcus Russell can't make.

Russell prepares to throw the ball through the uprights from midfield... just because he can.

Yet for all these gifts, Russell retains the infuriating habit of occasionally tossing interceptions with reckless abandon. Oftentimes he seems unable to grasp the enormity of his own potential. The best analogy to Russell's talent and size that can be found in college athletics is former LSU star Shaquille O'Neal. Both men, at times, had talent that was so expansive it seemed to overwhelm the college game. My law school friend and LSU diehard John Brown says, "The LSU fans who criticize JaMarcus now are the same ones who criticized Shaquille and then bragged about his pro career." He probably has a point.

In the Tennessee game this past weekend, Russell tossed three touchdowns, passed for 247 yards, and ran for an additional 71 yards. On the flip side, Russell threw three interceptions (one of which resembled a helicopter coming out of his hand) and fumbled twice (one of the fumbles was ruled after the whistle had already been blown and the other was recovered by a teammate). So he could have been responsible for five turnovers himself, yet, even still, he would have remained the dominant figure in the game. That's because each time Russell plays a game, something spectacular is going to happen. You just don't know whether it's going to be spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. On the penultimate play of the game for the Tigers, Russell threw a touchdown pass with nine seconds remaining ... to a receiver he hadn't been aiming for. Somehow this was perfect.

That receiver was, of course, music legend Fats Domino.

I have seen Russell play in person three times on the DDT and each time he has astounded me. He seems almost otherworldly in scope. If Russell had played football 25 years ago, Tiger Stadium would be named in his honor. Each time someone sees Russell on the football field for the first time, their jaw will literally drop. Somehow Russell's gargantuan stature is more noticeable in person than on television. But if you have to select television to illustrate Russell, the better option is putting in NCAA Football 2007 with a friend who isn't really a college football fan. Select LSU as your team and wait for his exclamation of shock when your team takes the field.

And, um, he can, like, see you right now...

Tom Wolfe's recent novel about the American South was titled A Man in Full. With his ability to throw 80-yard passes on one play while throwing helicopter passes that are intercepted for touchdowns on the next, Russell is truly a quarterback in full. No other player has ever been as capable of illustrating the totality of the quarterback position. If the Michael Vick Experience is like a roller coaster ride, the JaMarcus Russell Experience is like a running cannonball into the pool. Only you never know what team he's going to soak.

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