TigerDroppings.....not much grey on Jamarcus Russell.

I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of "in between" when it comes to opinions about Jamarcus Russell on this board. Some of you cite his overwhelming talent and NFL draft stock as evidence that he is the greatest QB in LSU history. Others seem to zero in on every miscue that he had during his tenure at LSU, holding him accountable for things that you conveniently ignore about our other QB's past and present.

The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.

My opinion is that Russell is certainly the most talented QB to ever play at LSU. He is also one of the most underrated clutch performers in the history of the program. I counted a total of 4 4th quarter come-from-behind wins that he engineered and I may be forgetting a few. He was also the UNQUESTIONED leader of that team in 2005 and 2006 as evidenced by the fact that none of the players, at least publicly, supported giving Flynn even the possibility of being the QB in 2006 after the Peach Bowl in 2005.

That being said, he is in my mind a step and a half shy of being the greatest QB in school history. My feeling is that Rohan Davey was a more effective QB than Jamarcus was at the college level. In all fairness, Jamarcus had more NFL talent at receiver to work with in Craig Davis, Dwayne Bowe, and Early Doucet, but Rohan had Josh Reed who was far better at the college level than either of those three. I think that Rohan was better at executing Jimbo Fisher's offense than was Jamarcus. He also responded better against quality defenses, although that had a lot to do with Josh Reed. It is undeniable that Jamarcus Russell came up short against the two best defenses he faced all year in 2006.

The thing is, it is tough to fairly compare the two because Rohan really only had one solid year as the starting QB at LSU. If Ro had had three years with Jimbo as the OC, I think he would have made a run at being the best QB in school history. Likewise, I think that if Jamarcus had stayed for his senior year with Gary Crowton calling the plays (Jimbo’s performances were becoming stale by the time he left for FSU), Jamarcus might have taken the distinction for himself. I have submitted to the notion that both QB's are probably among the greatest "might have been's" at QB in LSU history. They both flexed their talent with the right offense and the right players around them but neither played long enough to be called the best ever at LSU. I still to this day bestow that distinction on Bert Jones and Tommy Hodson.

Not that there isn't enough discussion about this already on this board but I hadn't yet chimed in. Discuss.....