Run pass and dunk Baylor freak QB Seth Russell can

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Run pass and dunk Baylor freak QB Seth Russell can

WACO, Texas We begin in a stuffy gym in Garland, Texas, because where else would underappreciated, undervalued and overlooked live?It is here where the high school quarterback desperate for an opportunity to play big-time college football found an angle. Seth Ru sell walked up to Philip Montgomery that day four years ago and Tommy Wingels Jersey told Baylors offensive coordinator he could dunk.MORE: | | | Montgomery, now the head coach at Tulsa, laughed. Yeah, so?Ru sell then raced to the basket, leaped and turned his back to the rim, brought the ball down between his legs and swiftly back up and threw down a thunderous reverse tomahawk.Seth is not what you think he is, Montgomery says.If that doesnt do it for you about Baylors new quarterback, get a load of this: Ru sell is faster than the receivers hes throwing to. Thats right, on a team full of physically-gifted players, the guy no one knows and no one would believe is the best athlete of all.Not man-child defensive end Shawn Oakman. Not star wideout KD Cannon. Not even 400-pound tight end LaQuan McGowan.Seths a freak, man, Cannon says. Hes going to surprise a lot of people.The best part of this story of whats to come is the way we got here. The monster of a program that has been feeding under coach Art Briles is riding out the very natural and now, very predictable progre sion from laughingstock to the cusp of greatne s with the very position that got it here in the first place. Marc-Edouard Vlasic Jersey Ru sell, the player who had to beg colleges to watch his game tape, is the sum of all the Baylor quarterback parts before him.When you think about it, it can be a little overwhelming if you dont have confidence in what you can do, Ru sell said. If you dont have confidence, youre basically worthle s.So says the guy who, if you lined up every Baylor player shoulder to shoulder, youd never choose as the one who would win the teams dunk contest. So says the guy San Jose Sharks Jersey who youd never imagine would be the next in line to take those 18 returning starters and do the one thing Baylor hasnt done under Briles: win it all.If you dont think thats the goal at the end of the mercurial rise of this program, you obviously havent been watching what has transpired in Waco with the most important position on the field. Robert Griffin III was the dynamic, transcendent athlete who won the Heisman Trophy. Nick Florence was the unflappable force who proved it wasnt all about RG3, but more about Baylor. Bryce Petty was the prototypical pa ser who got the Bears to the edge of playing for it all in two straight seasons, but never over the hump.MORE: | | Now here is Ru sell, the player who only signed with Baylor after RG3 left early for the NFL and opened up a roster spot (or, Ru sell admits, who knows where hed be right now?), rolling into his chance of a lifetime only to hear nonsensical talk that heralded Joonas Donskoi Jersey freshman signee Jarrett Stidham will eventually win the job.This is the way it works in the recruiting-stars driven world: youre only as good as the number of stars behind your name. Until, that is, the coach comes to see you and you throw down a backward tomahawk dunk that suddenly makes everyone take a second look at that game tape.What they saw was a terrific athlete with a live arm; a player big on upside but with raw ability. Three years of learning and developing under Briles and Montgomery and new offensive coordinator Kendall Briles has led to this moment.After two seasons of the quarterback position at Baylor evolving into a thrower with Petty, Ru sell will allow the Bears to run more from the spot making a dangerous offense more difficult to defend. That and a player who can make all of the hashmark to sideline throws on time in Baylors numbers-to-numbers spread offense.Weve got a lot of confidence in Seth, Briles said. You dont get the keys to the Ferrari if youre not ready to drive it.And you dont find yourself in this position, with an opportunity to make unique happen, without some good fortune. If Turner Gill hadnt been fired by Kansas after the 2011 season, Ru sell would probably be in Lawrence right now.If RG3 didnt leave for the NFL, if Montgomery never walked into that gym and saw that dunk, if Ru sell didnt wait his turn like Florence and Petty, the evolution of the Baylor quarterback wouldnt be nearly the story it is now.After all the star quarterback recruits Briles has won with at Baylor; after the Heisman and the multiple Big 12 offensive players of the year, his program might just take the biggest step of Brent Burns Jersey all with the organically-grown, forgotten recruit no one wanted.My job is to continue the legacy, Ru sel said. I just have to find my place in it.Dont be surprised if it happens with a thunderous statement.
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