STARKVILLE, Miss. — Alabama sophomore quarterback Keelon Russell stepped up to avoid pass rushers on third-and-19, kept his eyes downfield as he began to run and suddenly unloaded a 39-yard completion to Lotzeir Brooks.
“He’s always looking for the big play,” Crimson Tide receiver Rico Scott said. “You’ve just got to be ready.”
Russell might have looked like a 19-year-old still early in his first season as a college starter when he committed three turnovers at Kentucky in the second week, but not on Saturday at Mississippi State, where he was surgical on third down and avoided turnovers entirely in a 56-23 victory for the Crimson Tide (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference), who moved up one spot to sixth in the latest AP Top 25 poll Sunday.
“He’s always had the ability to make plays,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said, “and it was just a matter of him balancing that with taking care of the football, and you just know that there’s a matter of growth process that he has to go through.
“He can make people miss, and he’s just doing a good job of how to move the chains when he needs to with his legs. He always has kept his eyes downfield.”
Russell completed six of his seven third-down passes for 146 yards, including connections of 50 yards to Brooks and 22 yards to Ryan Coleman-Williams. He also threw two of his three touchdown passes on third down.
“He surprises a lot of people. He seems to surprise us some times,” said Scott, who caught third-down touchdown passes of 13 and 8 yards at Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1). “It’s just hard to believe how fast he’s grown.”
Russell’s already burgeoning Heisman Trophy credentials are bound to be further enhanced by his performance against the Bulldogs, who dropped one spot to 16th in Sunday’s poll.
He finished 16-of-22 (73%) passing for 285 yards and three touchdowns to go with a 17-yard scoring run.
He was asked about his potential to win college football’s most coveted individual award after he emerged from the visitors’ locker room at Davis Wade Stadium, where he had also faced down the din cause by cowbell-ringing fans with the poise of a more experienced player.
The dual-threat quarterback sounded more interested in talking about his focus on learning how to play his position better.
“A lot of people will say, ‘He’s a great athlete,’ or, ‘He’s a great player,'” Russell said of the comments he hears about himself. “Becoming more of a quarterback is what I kind of want to be faithful to, and just growing there.”
As far as Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby was concerned, Russell already is playing his position at an “elite level.”
“He’s really accurate, got great anticipation, and you continue to see him make big plays with his feet,” Lebby said, calling Russell’s 39-yard completion to Brooks a “back-breaking” play.
“We’ve got a little momentum back in the game. He moves around, throws a shot, and they pick up a huge first down,” Lebby recalled. “That’s what he can continue to do for them — a guy that’s playing really, really well for a guy so young.”
Russell said he learned a lot from his mistakes against Kentucky, which Alabama still beat going away, 45-17 after trailing at halftime in Lexington.
DeBoer agreed.
“He’s trusting himself. He’s got a good vibe with the skill group, throwing on time,” Alabama’s third-year head coach said. “He continues to take care of the football, making good decisions, run or pass, understanding how to convert and move the chains, knowing when the ball needs to get in the end zone.”