re: How good was Jamarcus Russell?

He sizzurped Bama

He was for all practical purposes a fumble on the UF one yard line from playing for the SEC championship, with a strong chance of winning that game and playing for a national championship.

All bullshite aside, he had a cannon for an arm and was big as defensive end.
His only problem was his goal was to make it to the NFL not to an NFL all pro.

I heard that he could throw the ball 80 yards while on his knees.

Russell’s career completion percentage at LSU was a very respectable 61.7 percent, but it is nothing compared to his final Season as a Tiger when he completed 67.8 percent of his passes. To put that into perspective, Peyton Manning finished his career at Tennessee with a 62.7% completion percentage and he never exceeded 64.2%.

Unfortunately, JaMarcus Russell would miss the entire rookie training camp and not be in a Raider uniform until the first game of the season, due to a contract dispute between the team and JaMarcus’ rookie negotiating team. Making matters worse, then Head Coach, Lane "Quitter" Kiffin, despised JaMarcus Russell’s selection and seemed almost bent on his failure. It is safe to say that his rookie campaign was a disaster.

There was very little knowledge of Kiffin’s disdain for Russell or in the internal feuding with Al Davis in 2007. That changed after the season when Lane Kiffin fired Robb Ryan in an attempt to bring his father Monte Kiffin aboard and was scolded by Al for not consulting him first and was, thus, stripped of all power as Ryan was retained.

Unfortunately, for JaMarcus’ progress, due to the Kiffin/Ryan situation and many others, the Raiders Coaching staff fell apart in 2008. Not only did it fall apart, but, when Al Davis brought out his overhead projector to fire Lane Kiffin, it was Kiffin’s disdain for Russell that was brought into the spotlight and now Russell was square in the middle of the controversy. Surprisingly, JaMarcus had a decent season. He finished with 13 TDs and 8 INTs. Russell improved his QB Rating to a respectable, for a 22 year old, 77%.

In 2009, his weight ballooned to over 300 pounds. Russell posted a 50% rating in 2009 (5 points below his rookie level). Russell threw 11 Interceptions and only 3 Touch Downs.

Why?

The one person that stabilized young JaMarcus was his uncle Ray Russell. From the day that JaMarcus was drafted "Uncle Ray" was the one who was by his side and helping him deal with the NFL lifestyle. Unfortunately in April of 2009, Uncle Ray passed away. After losing his God Mother the year before, JaMarcus Russell was now, pretty much alone, with only his henchmen and entourage around. And I am sure there was a lot of pain as well.

The timeline of his failure in 2009 directly coincides with his Uncle’s death, so it's easy to see that it did play a role in his decline.

This is the sort of abyss that has led MANY to drug use. Things like this have led many astray and it's easy to see how the detachment and loss of touch with reality can be tied to drug use.

Jimbo Fisher:

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“His work ethic for us — everything I ever asked him to do, he did. He was smart.”

"The guy, for me, was wonderful,'' Fisher said. "He learned. He carried three- and four-play packages to the line of scrimmage. He changed protections, made multiple reads at the line of scrimmage. He was wonderful for me.

"Maybe it was the change in environment. He’s as talented a guy as I had, and he worked extremely hard for me and was fun to coach.’’

Fisher, like others, pointed to the passing of Russell’s mentor and Uncle Ray as a possible obstacle Russell struggled to get over.

“He is very talented and he is very intelligent,” Fisher said. “Intelligence isn’t an issue with him.”

Based on the pre-draft reports we remember, Russell’s football smarts were never a question.

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Russell excelled at LSU. His failure came in the NFL. Intelligent people realize that his failure was caused by the death of his mentor, the chaos of the Raiders, and having too much, too soon, without maturity or guidance.

People keep talking about his big powerful arm; but he was also very consistent.

I believe he may have ended his career at LSU with the highest career completion percentage.

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Best lean sipper to ever grace the south

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RIP, Big Moe

I saw him compete in the 5A state track and field championships in the javelin! Warming up, he was throwing 175-180 ft with no run, just standing flat footed at the foul line!!