He isn’t “explosive” athletically, but he has good speed for his size. This many posters down on him.
His tape isn’t very well put together and that does influence people’s perception of a recruit.
That tape was long. The things that stood out to me are he is STRONG at the point of attack. He was resetting the line of scrimmage constantly and eating double teams like a bag of chips. He also has very high awareness and a nose to the ball. He can set the set edge and cause congestion play side and runs down plays that go away from him.
The thing I wonder is why are there so few pass plays on his tape. On the few pass plays on there, he gets to the quarterback very easily. There should be more quarterback pressures. That tape doesn’t scream Dade County DPOY. We were very meh on Chris Johnson do to his incompetently made highlight tape and I am wondering if the same thing is happening here.
He isn’t as unathletic as Flagg. My problem with Flagg is he didn’t develop as much strength wise and hasn’t shown the elite awareness that made him a star in high school. If Russell’s awareness doesn’t translate to this level, we will be disappointed with a lot of “I told you so” in the forum. If it does, we will be pleasantly surprised with a disruptive run stopper who is sneaky good getting to the quarterback.
I really want to see how Chatz develops. People forget this is only his third year. I wouldn’t give up on him just yet.