Quincy Russell: 2011 Texas Football Recruiting Spotlight

Vitals

Name: Quincy Russell

Position: DT

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 289

40 Time: NA

High School: Sam Houston

Rivals Rating: 4*, 5.8

ESPN Recruiting Evaluation ($)

Russell as a defensive tackle will flash the tools to be a disruptive presence in the trenches at the college level. He has good size and looks all of what he is listed on film, though he may need to work to develop that size some. Russell can get off the ball well. He uses his hands well and has good feet. He can be active along the line of scrimmage and navigate through trash pretty well. Can get into the gap and stay square, locate the ball, and react. Displays solid recognition skills. He is tough at the point of attack and displays good raw strength. Maybe the most frustrating thing about Russell is his pad level. He can do some things that make you smile, but he does tend to play high. As a result he can attack ball carriers high and be a little spotty in his tackling. He protects his legs well, but because he is a big strong kid who plays high he can tend to get attacked low and slowed down. While he is tough to move off the ball he can be tied up because he will get high and negate some of his power and strength. He also needs to do a better job of creating separation. He is active with his hands, but needs to press blockers off of him more when engaging and taking them on. He is productive as a pass rusher as he will attack half-a-man. Needs to increase his pass rush arsenal, but will use his hands to help work past blockers. Russell is a prospect with the tools to be tough versus the run and also provide some disruption. It is also possible that he could find himself on the offensive line in college. We think he can be a productive college defender, but would not be totally surprised to see him playing offense.

Strengths

Russell is absolutely huge for a high school defensive tackle and, unlike Desmond Jackson, has the kind of space-eating size you want to see in a nose tackle.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, Quincy has pretty good gap busting ability and is certainly more than an occupier at defensive tackle. Good initial burst combined with mildly startling agility and athleticism for such a huge human being is quite impressive and allows Russell to knife through middle offensive linemen with relative ease.

Russell appears to have excellent core and upper body strength, giving him solid wrap up tackling form at most times and the ability to fight off multiple blockers without being pancaked or relegated to the outskirts of the play.

Also impressive is Quincy's use of quick and choppy feet to prepare for tackles, as well as driving through his legs to finish plays strong and not allow many ball carriers to pick up extra yardage or escape his grasp.

Finally, Russell has a very advanced defensive spin move for a high school defensive lineman that most defensive tackles don't develop until later in college, if at all.

Weaknesses

Other than the spin move, Quincy doesn't have much in his repertoire currently. A lot of what he does is either just blowing by offensive linemen or tossing them to the side. He'll need to work on his rip, swim, and bull rush under Bo Davis.

While Russell is a big space eater who can make plays in short space, he's nowhere near Desmond Jackson's level with regards to pursuit and speed. He's a bigger guy and will play a different role, so this is understandable. It's not that his straight-line speed is bad in pursuit, as long as he's going on a straight path, but he's not going to be running down RBs like Jackson does.

Target Body Type

Russell has the size to play the 3-4 nose tackle spot if Texas chooses to employ more of that, and if so we could really see his weight balloon. He could be UT's biggest DT in quite a while and has a chance to play at 310 or so if he really packs on the pounds once he gets here. If he plays in primarily a 4-3 capacity, I could see him trying to stay at around 300. Either way, he'll need to make sure he continues to add good weight and not useless fat.

Final Analysis

Russell is a great pick up for Texas and I'm glad he decided to quickly reaffirm his commitment to UT after wavering for a day or so. A redshirt year to touch up his physique a bit and add some more weight and strength would do him well and you probably shouldn't expect too much of an impact until at least his redshirt sophomore year due to all the players in front of him. Could play the Kheeston Randall do-everything-DT role at Texas as both a 3-4 or a 4-3 defensive tackle that could occupy the line or play gap assault if he's paired with a guy like Taylor Bible that could hold the line (Toto). Or you could pair him with Desmond Jackson or (hopefully) Malcom Brown and have a couple of gap busters in the middle against a more spread-based team. Really great to have all these diverse players in this class for Manny Diaz, a guy who loves blitzing and ingenuity.

Player Comparison

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