JaMarcus Russell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Russell in November 2008 |
|
| Oakland Raiders — No. 2 | |
| Quarterback | |
| Date of birth: August 9, 1985 | |
| Place of birth: Mobile, Alabama | |
| Height: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | Weight: 260 lb (120 kg) |
| Professional debut | |
|---|---|
| 2007 for the Oakland Raiders | |
| Career history | |
| College: Louisiana State | |
| NFL Draft: 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | |
Teams:
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| Career highlights and awards | |
| Selected NFL statistics (through Week 17 of the 2008 NFL season) |
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| TD-INT | 15-12 |
| Passing yards | 2,796 |
| QB Rating | 77.1 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
JaMarcus Russell (born August 9, 1985 in Mobile, Alabama) is a quarterback who plays for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Raiders with the first overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft.
Contents |
[edit] Early years
[edit] College career
[edit] Sophomore season
By the fall 2005 season, Russell was the undisputed starting quarterback for his team. He led LSU to a 10-1 regular season record, the SEC Western Division title, and a top five ranking going into the SEC Championship Game. He also improved statistically, completing 60 percent of his passes for 2,443 yards and 15 touchdowns. Russell received an honorable mention on the AP's All-SEC Team.
Russell led the Tigers to two dramatic come-from-behind wins in the regular season. The first came on a 39 yard pass to Early Doucet on 4th down in the final minute of the game, as the Tigers defeated Arizona State 35-31. Later in the season, LSU defeated a then-undefeated Alabama team 16-13 when Russell completed a 14 yard touchdown to Dwayne Bowe in overtime for the win.
Russell injured his shoulder in a loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and missed the team's bowl game. Backup quarterback Matt Flynn replaced Russell for the Peach Bowl against Miami, and the Tigers won the game 40-3.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Russell housed around a dozen evacuees who had fled the flooding in New Orleans, including New Orleans singer Fats Domino, in his off-campus apartment.[1]
[edit] Junior season
Russell was the starting quarterback again at LSU in 2006, beating out backup Matt Flynn and highly-touted redshirt freshman Ryan Perrilloux. Before the season began, he changed his jersey number from 4 to 2. He had a productive 2006 regular season, leading the Tigers to a 10-2 record and a BCS Sugar Bowl berth. He threw for 3,129 yards, 28 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He was second in the SEC with 2,923 yards from scrimmage. Russell won the SEC Offensive Player of the Week award three times during the regular season.
A memorable performance of the 2006 season came against Tennessee. In spite of throwing three interceptions (including one returned for a touchdown), he led LSU on a come-from-behind, 15-play, 80-yard drive in the final minutes of the game. The drive ended with a four-yard touchdown pass to Early Doucet with less than 10 seconds left in the game, and the Tigers defeated Tennessee 28-24. Earlier in the drive, Russell and Doucet also connected for a first down on a 4th and 8 situation. In the final game of his junior year, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Russell accumulated over 350 yards of passing and rushing and scored 3 TDs, leading to the Tigers 41–14 win over Notre Dame. He was also named the Sugar Bowl's MVP.
At the end of the 2006 season, Russell was named to the all-SEC first team, ahead of Kentucky's Andre Woodson and Florida's Chris Leak. In addition, he was named an honorable mention All-American by Sports Illustrated.
[edit] Awards and honors
- Columbus Touchdown Club SEC Player of the Year (2005)
- 4x SEC Offensive Player of the Week (1 in 2005, 3 in 2006)
- First-team All-SEC by the Associated Press and SEC coaches (2006)
- Manning Award (2006)
- Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist (2006)
[edit] NFL career
[edit] 2007 NFL Draft
On January 10, 2007, Russell stated that he had decided to skip his final season of NCAA eligibility with LSU and enter the 2007 NFL Draft,[2] where he was picked by the Oakland Raiders as the 1st overall draft pick.
Russell was one of four LSU players taken in the first round, along with safety LaRon Landry, and wide receivers Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis.[3]
[edit] Rookie season
Failing to reach a contract agreement with the Raiders, Russell held out through training camp and the first weeks of the 2007 NFL season, until September 12, 2007, when he signed a six-year contract worth up to $68 million, with $31.5 million guaranteed.[4]
Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin did not immediately name Russell a starter, saying, "That way we can really control what he is doing, play for this set amount of time for this many plays. He doesn't have to have everything mastered," noting that Russell had missed all of training camp and other quarterbacks, like David Carr, should have been brought along more slowly.[5]
Russell made his first professional appearance on December 2, 2007 against the Denver Broncos. Coming into the game in the second quarter in relief of starter Josh McCown, Russell played two series, and completed 4 of 7 pass attempts for 56 yards.[6]
On December 23, 2007 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Russell threw his first career touchdown pass, a 2-yard pass to Zach Miller. He finished the game with seven completions on 23 pass attempts for 83 yards, with one touchdown pass, three interceptions and a lost fumble.[7]
Russell made his first career start in the final game of the season against the San Diego Chargers. He completed 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards with a touchdown on a 32-yard pass to Jerry Porter. [8]
Russell finished his rookie season with 36 completed passes on 66 attempts, 373 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. After the San Diego game, Kiffin named Russell the team's starting quarterback for the 2008 season. [9]
[edit] 2008 season
Russell was named the starter for the opening game of the 2008 season, which was against division rival, Denver Broncos. It was only his second career start. The game ended in a disappointing 41-14 loss. Despite his team's blowout loss, Russell played relatively well in only his second career start, throwing for 180 yards and two touchdowns. [10]
In week two, the Raiders were able to pull off a win, however, by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 23-8 despite Russell's performance. He passed for only 55 yards by completing 6 for 17 passes, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. The win could be credited to Sebastian Janikowski, who put up 11 points in the game.
The next three weeks saw the Raiders lose against Buffalo, San Diego, and New Orleans. Russell only threw a combined total of two touchdowns in those games.
In week 7, the Raiders beat the New York Jets 16 - 13 in overtime. The win ended their four-game home losing streak. Russell completed 17 out of 30 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown. [11] It was head coach, Tom Cable's first win as Raiders head coach. Russell lead the team on a 43 yard drive to set up Sebastian Janikowski's game winning kick. [12]
The celebration would be cut short, however, as the Raiders lost the next four games to Baltimore, Atlanta, Carolina, and Miami. A week after the Miami game, he led the Raiders to a 31-10 victory in a rematch with Denver. Russell completed 10 of 11 passes for 152 yards, 1 touchdown, and no turnovers.
Russell finished the 2008 season on a high note, as the Raiders won back to back games against Houston and Tampa Bay. In the final three games of the regular season, he passed for 6 TDs and 2 INTs.
[edit] 2009 season
In 2009, the Raiders signed Jeff Garcia. He is reportedly going to be Russell's backup.
[edit] Personal
Russell is a cousin of Robert Jordan, formerly of the California Golden Bears and San Francisco 49ers and Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ "LSU QB shares home with Fats Domino". MSNBC. 2005-09-04. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9180309/1.
- ^ Guilbeau, Glenn (January 11, 2007). "LSU's JaMarcus Russell is going pro". The Shreveport Times. http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/SPORTS0202/701110319/1028.
- ^ "Russell First of Four Tigers in NFL Draft First Round". LSUsports.net. 2007-04-28. http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=824904.
- ^ "Deal exceeds Russell's financial goals, but holdout hinders playing time". ESPN.com. 2007-09-13. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3016693.
- ^ Spander, Art (2007-11-20). "JaMarcus not about to start". The Oakland Tribune. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20071120/ai_n21113587.
- ^ "Russell debuts, but McCown leads Raiders past Broncos". CBS Sportsline. December 2, 2007. http://sportsline.com/nfl/gamecenter/recap/NFL_20071202_DEN@OAK.
- ^ Pasquarelli, Len (2007-12-24). "Top pick Russell draws Chargers in first career start". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3167941.
- ^ "San Diego 30, Oakland 17". Yahoo! Sports. 2007-12-30. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore;_ylt=AvSu9tT9mjRBAljjYe_SSaUisLYF?gid=20071230013.
- ^ Barber, Phil (2008-01-01). "Russell's first start shows big strides". The Press Democrat. http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080101/SPORTS/801010359/1015/SPORT0502.
- ^ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29543&season=2008&displayPage=tab_gamecenter&week=REG1 - NFL Game Center
- ^ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29627&season=2008&displayPage=tab_gamecenter&week=REG7 - NFL Game Center
- ^ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/recap?game_id=29627&displayPage=tab_recap&season=2008&week=REG7&override=true
- ^ Simmons, Rusty (August 8, 2007). "It's all relative: Raiders' Russell bunks down with a Bear". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/SPGQ1REGA811.DTL. Retrieved on 2008-02-03.
- "JaMarcus Russell QB #2". Sports Illustrated. 17 Feb 2009. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/players/8255/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-06.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Marcus Randall |
LSU Starting Quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell |
Succeeded by Matt Flynn |
| Preceded by Mario Williams |
1st Overall Pick in NFL Draft JaMarcus Russell |
Succeeded by Jake Long |
| Preceded by Josh McCown |
Oakland Raiders Starting Quarterback 2007- (with Josh McCown and Daunte Culpepper 2007) |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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