• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

S Anderson Russell (official thread)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL
Fast learner is quick to impress
Friday, August 25, 2006
Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Brandon Mitchell laughed. He couldn't help it. When Anderson Russell arrived to join the football team at Ohio State, it was that bad.

"He had no clue," said Mitchell, a senior expected to start at safety for the Buckeyes. "He didn't know anything. He had never played defensive back before."

After redshirting last season as a freshman, that clueless kid from Atlanta will likely line up as the Buckeyes' nickel back - or fifth defensive back - this season, finding the field on most passing downs.

Skilled and inexperienced, he epitomizes the Ohio State secondary, the plusses and the minuses wrapped up in the 19-year-old nicknamed "100 percent" by his teammates.

"He never takes a break; he's always going full-go," cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "Even if he's making a mistake, he's going 100 percent."

"What he sacrifices in terms of savvy or feel for the game," said his high school coach, Alan Chadwick, "he makes up for by going hard."

That gets you noticed. In spring practice, the 6-foot, 190-pound Russell was the breakout star.

At Monday's public practice, one of the first real cheers went up when No. 21 blocked a punt. Many of the 28,000 fans probably did not know for whom they were cheering.

"I knew I was making plays," Russell said of his practice performances, "but I was just playing to the best of my ability. I didn't think about it too much."

He doesn't need to think too much. With a 40-yard dash time of 4.37 seconds, Russell is one of the fastest players on the field. At Marist School in Atlanta, he was a running back in an option offense and scored two touchdowns in the War Eagles' Class AAAA state championship win his junior year.

On a team where almost no one played both ways, that was the limit of his experience.

"He was a great special-teams player for us, and he could have played some defense," Chadwick said. "It's just that we needed him so badly on offense."

Russell did have the right bloodlines for college ball. His father, Kevin, played defensive back at Tennessee State and was taken by the Philadelphia Eagles in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL Draft. His older brother, Brandon, was a receiver at North Carolina.

But Russell said the only other schools interested in him were Duke and Connecticut - not exactly powerhouse programs. Doc Spurgeon, a Marist assistant and long-time friend of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, made sure the Buckeyes knew about the athletic ability that could be plugged into a new position.

Russell impressed coaches at a camp in Columbus before his senior year, and once he got to Ohio for good, the veterans in the secondary went to work on him. They were dealing with a player who didn't know how to backpedal into coverage when he showed up.

"It was real hard," said Russell, who comes across as shy as he is fast. "But I'm coming around. I've still got a lot of work to do."

He will probably make a few mistakes. He's just as likely to make some big plays. So when No. 21 pops somebody, you don't have to wonder who it is. That's just old "100 percent" doing what he does.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4479
Click to expand...

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/115649538572630.xml&coll=2
 
Upvote 0
09/12/06

Scout Free

Freshman safety Anderson Russell has surpassed sophomore Nick Patterson on the depth chart. Russell was the nickelback in the opener against Northern Illinois, but drew the starting assignment at safety against Texas. And the way he's been playing, he likely wont wont give up his starting spot anytime soon.

“We started Anderson Russell,” Tressel said. “Anderson has been playing well and demonstrating that he deserved that. So Nick, in essence, at that position was replaced by Anderson. I think (Patterson) was on significant special teams and I’m not sure how much defense he played. I know we played seven or eight defensive backs. I can't swear to you how much Nick played.
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
An Ozone picture of A-Russ making the great play to down a punt.

13058.jpg
Anderson Russell downs the Buckeye punt on the one yard line.
 
Upvote 0
He still makes some "stupid" mistakes which I hope will be taken care of with maturity. He spiked an INT last week and got a personal foul this week. I think alot of it is his adrenaline and being pumped but he has to control that before it really costs us. I will admit that he flies around the field and thats the way to keep a starting spot.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top