Skill can only take you so far, and Alabama QB Keelon Russell has that skill, he also possesses this one trait that makes him one of the most intriguing young talents in college football.
The hype surrounding Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell is real.
There’s a reason why he undoubtedly won the starting job for the Crimson Tide. Between he and Austin Mack, the coaches were saying all the right things about how close of a competition it was.
But the reality was, that it wasn’t even close.
Russell brought the potential, Mack brought the experience. This fall camp was to find out if Russell took another step to realize the potential.
The biggest question that Alabama fans want to know though, is what can they expect out of the young phenom?
We’ve seen the highlights from camp. Russell has a laser for an arm, a lightning-quick release and the mobility to extend plays when the pocket collapses.
But what really makes Russell special? Because quarterbacks with those traits have come and gone in college football.
Brooks Austin, otherwise known as “The Film Guy,” on YouTube went on On3’s Andy and Ari Show, and pointed out just what it was that made Russell a generational talent.
“You turn on the high school tape and you go ‘oh! He’s at Duncanville, he’s got 17 Division I football players with him. All these things are going to be perfect and all these pockets are going to be clean.’ No. They were not.
“You talk about a habit that he has – a great habit. He steps up. When you watch him, when tackles and guards are getting beat, he doesn’t have a propensity to bail out on pockets to start running around and using his legs. He has a propensity to step up in pocket and keep his eyes downfield and find pure progressive reads. That’s playing the quarterback position.”
If Alabama’s offensive line takes the expected step forward this season, Russell should have even more opportunities to showcase that ability.
Austin even mentions that you’d be hard pressed to find a situation better than being a quarterback at Alabama.
“This is something that Ryan Grubb and [HC] Kalen DeBoer – that is their skillset. If they have a skillset better than anyone else in my opinion, it’s identifying high school quarterbacks that are actually playing quarterback. Not just running around and winning… I’d rather make you see someone miss inside the pocket and keep our eyes down the field.”
And offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb made it clear that the one thing that they wanted to see Russell do more of was to protect the ball – which he did.
"I would say Keelon did a better job of taking care of the football in the summer than he did the spring,” Grubb said.
That was all the coaching staff needed to see.
The highlights may be what initially grabbed Alabama fans’ attention.
But if Russell can continue to show the pocket discipline that impressed Austin, the Crimson Tide may have found something far more valuable than a quarterback with a big arm and a pair of legs.
