i got this from the TigerRant: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TIGERS, TIDE MISSED GOOD ONE IN RUSSELL A South Alabama high school coach, who coached against LSU signee JaMarcus Russell for the past three seasons, says Auburn and Alabama missed out on a good one in letting the 6-5, 225-pound Parade All-America quarterback from Williamson-Mobile leave the state. Here's the scouting report from the coach, who wished to remain anonymous: ** Has a cannon for an arm. Throws the crossing pattern extremely well and also throws the fade with precision. Can throw the deep ball within 60 yards, but anything deeper tends to overthrow. Has thrown balls more than 40 yards across his body to the backside of the field. ** Does not like to run. Always looks to throw. He will run if he has to and has 4.7 speed to back it up. What is impressive is his pocket presence. He moves with the pocket and very rarely gets sacked. We were impressed with how he throws the ball away instead of taking a sack. Most high school kids don't do this. ** Has worked mostly out of the shotgun. Not really sure how he will do under center. * *What all the coaches in Mobile were impressed with is: we ran man, we ran zone, we zone blitzed, we ran every defense possible and he always checked them out of bad calls and got them into good ones. If you want to know what he brings to the table, it is his field knowledge. This kid has been starting Class 5-A football since the 8th grade. He has seen everything high schools had to offer. We were aware of his Elite 11 Camp and we used the Sports Illustrated piece for bulletin board material. He torched us for 400 yards and three touchdowns. The Elite 11 camp rated him No. 1 in defense recognition and testing of football knowledge. They also rated him as No. 1 with the most potential. ** Russell would have started at Florida, but he was told by most coaches in Mobile that Jimbo Fisher would bring out his potential. Coaches in Mobile think the world of Jimbo based on Rohan Davey and Dameyune Craig. Jamarcus is at the same level Dameyune was as a junior at Auburn RIGHT NOW. He has the POTENTIAL to be at LSU two years and will move on if he reaches his potential. * *The scary thing is he never was surrounded by talent or had good wide receivers at Williamson. He's the only one on his team going to college to play football, yet he set the Alabama state record for yards in a career. Clayton, Henderson and other wide receivers at LSU will make him excel. ** Our feeling is he has more ability than any quarterback on the current LSU roster, but he doesn't know the system and he has played in the same system for five years. It might be too much to ask of him to play in his first year, but he may shock some people. If you go off ability alone, he starts the first game. ** One last thing: his huddle presence and field presence is identical to Herb Tyler. He doesn't get excited and he doesn't get down. He's on an even keel throughout a game and is a poster boy for Saban Speak. "Forget about the last play and move to the next one."
Funny you should bring up Jamarcus. This week I came out of the stone-age and advanced from dial-up modem to DSL service. I have a subscription to LSU Tv but have never been able to use it b/c of the slow modem. Anyway last night I put it to use. I watched some of the film clips of the tiger signees: Jamarcus Russell: Although the film wasn't the greatest it was descent. He looks to have all that the tools described in the post. On the running, he didn't really want to but when he did he was impressive. Matt Flynn: Can't beleive I'm saying this but he impressed me more that JR. His combined running and passing ability were impressive. Looked like a tough kid. NEITHER OF THE ABOVE LOOKED OR CARRIED THEMSELVES LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL QB Amp Hill: Probably the one who impressed me the most. He made a catch and run on the sideline that would "shock and awe" any and all in Tiger Stadium....primarily b/c of the run a specific little cut he made. Funny thing in his video........who got their damn QB......he was very impressive? Shawn Jordan: He will start from day 1 book it. He was a man amongst boys. Those were the ones that caught my eye.
That is exactly what I thought as well. Flynn and Jordan by far had the most impressive footage. Those guys looked awesome. We are getting some great ones in Jamarcus and the rest of the guys as well. Lots of times the guys who look the best on film dont pan out as good as planned and vice-versa. From first glance though, this is a very deep and impressive class.
Living in Mobile, I have heard alot about Russell. I have never seen him play, but have heard that he is definetly not your ordinary high school QB. I really hope he pans out like we hope he will and does not collapse in all the hype (which of course I don't think will happen).
I think its all up to Jimbo Fisher now. Make it happen Jimbo, make it happen! I really hope he continues to develop this kid. He didn't do anything with Rohan until his senior year. Think about what could've happened if he would've gotten the pt his junior season. Josh and Rohan would've probably tore the record books wide open.
