Honestly, I dont think its so much Russells lack of an ability to read progressions. Its more of a lack of thinking in crucial situations. When the pocket breaks down, instead of throwing the ball away he will take a sack at times. Or even worse he may force the ball and throw an INT. When he has time and isnt pressured he can throw the most beautiful passes. He is getting better each week, but still, IMO he would need another year. If so he can go down as the greatest QB in LSU history and possbily win the Heisman. As for greatest LSU QB, Russell is up there, but not number one.

1 Bert Jones
2 Jeff Wickersham
3 Tommy Hodson
4 Rohan Davey
5 Jamarcus Russell

Or even better, throw a magnificent pass for a first down, or a bullet for a short TD or a long beautiful floater for a game winning TD.

1. JR
2. Bert
3. Davey
4. Mauck
5. Hodson
6. Risher
7. Tyler

Russell (We will miss this guy more than most realize)
Mauck (Nat champ)
Davey (Last 5-6 games with him in reed, including Sugar bowl were amazing)
Booty (underachiever)
Randall (On this team he would be a defensive back)

1) Russell
2) Mauck
3) Davey
4) Booty
5) Randall

I wasn't an LSU fan yet when Ro or Booty were here, so I can't really comment on them.

But I have seen a few times here people post that Mauck never made mistakes. What a crock. He made plenty of mistakes, nearly gave away the Ole Miss & OU games. However, his best attribute was his maturity (that will happen when you are 4 years older than everyone else). Even when he made mistakes, he stayed calm and kept the offense steady.

Randall was not a good QB. He was a great tiger, but never should have been at QB. For all that people talk about Saban's ability to spot talent & put people in position to succeed in the NFL, this has to be a glaring exception.

JaMarcus was very on again/off again in his RS freshman year. We all could witness his amazing physical ability and ad-libing skills, but his decision making was poor. His sophmore year, he was much improved but our WRs really let him down. He made some bad decisions, but was clutch and a pretty good QB. This year, in his 3rd year in a starter, he has been amazing. He made some mistakes against Auburn, but other than that there has been almost nothing to complain about. He is one of the top 5 QBs in the country right now and will leave LSU having broken lots of records and as one of our all time best.

somebody more bored than me can look this up. but i think before the ole miss game, JR's TD/INT ratio was 3/1 with 21 td's and 7 INT's.
mauck's in 2003 was 2/1 with 28 td's and 14 INT's.

i don't know if russell has thrown an INT since then and I know he's thrown TD's.

it's a shame JR won't be truly appreciated by some until after he's gone.

And I think Randall would've made an outstanding DB; he was a terrific athlete.

My opinion is that JR is the most talented quarterback to ever step on the green grass of Tiger stadium for any team, including the saint's and the dolphins last year. The thing that is so great about JR is that he still hasn't reached his full potential. Some see this as a bad thing but the NFL loves it. As good as he's been, they know they can make him better.

Davey was a warrior and anybody that wouldn't take him back for another year is missing something.

Mauck won a championship simply by not screwing up. He was good at everything, but not great at anything.

Booty had it all but never came to be. Waste of pure talent.

Randall is one of my favorite Tigers of all time. Not because he was such a great player, but because he did everything asked of him and was never given full reigns of the team. During all of this he never complained, and when he was in the game you got everything he had every play.