Brian William Russell (born February 5, 1978) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

for nine seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 2001 to 2009. He was signed by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2001 and last played for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. Sponsored teams Men's varsit ...

and

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athle ...

. Russell has also played for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

Early life

Russell played at

Bishop Amat High School Bishop Amat Memorial High School is a co-ed Catholic high school serving the San Gabriel Valley in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and was founded in 1957. The campus is located in La Puente, California, approximately east of dow ...

La Puente, California La Puente ( Spanish for "The Bridge") is a city in east Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city had a population of 39,816 at the 2010 census and is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History The original inhabitan ...

. His team won the Del Rey League championship in 1993, 1994, and 1995. As a senior

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

, he led the team to the 1995 CIF Division I title. He was named All-Del Rey League and was awarded MVP honors at the annual East-West All-Star Game. He was recruited and spent his freshman season (1996) at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, where he became the first quarterback in the history of the school to start as a freshman. He played in 10 games (starting two); he finished the season with 27 completions in 43 attempts for 320 yards, with four touchdowns and four interceptions. However, Russell wanted to play at the Division I-A level. He was offered a scholarship at San Diego State University (SDSU) to play for coach

Ted Tollner Alfred Theodore Tollner (born May 29, 1940) is an American former football coach. He was the head coach at the University of Southern California (USC) from 1983 to 1986 and San Diego State University (SDSU) from 1994 to 2001, compiling an overa ...

and the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

College career

Russell redshirted during the 1997 season. He took over as San Diego State's starting quarterback in the second game of the 1998 season (replacing injured starter Spencer Brinton). Russell quarterbacked the Aztecs the rest of the season and led them to the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, before moving t ...

, the school's first bowl appearance in seven seasons. Notably, he totaled five rushing touchdowns in the season, the most by an SDSU quarterback since 1981. Russell began the 1999 year as the team's starting QB but was asked to switch to safety, a better fit for his skill set, allowing JUCO transfer Jack Hawley to assume QB responsibilities. Because of his excellent athleticism, Russell immediately became the starter at free safety where he played alongside safety Will Demps. In his first game as a defender, he made 10 tackles, including three straight solo stops. His senior season (2000) was solid, he made 68 tackles (41 solo), recovered two fumbles, and intercepted one pass. For his efforts, he was named All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

After going undrafted in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL draft was the 66th draft annual of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Th ...

, Russell signed with the

as an

. He spent the entire 2001 season on the team's practice squad. Head coach

Dennis Green Dennis Earl Green (February 17, 1949 – July 22, 2016) was an American football coach. During his National Football League (NFL) career, Green coached the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 2001 and the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to 2006. He coa ...

considered cutting Russell, but defensive coordinator Willie Shaw convinced Green to give Russell a chance to play. Russell played mostly special teams in 2002, but did see enough action at strong safety to make his first career interception (against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in his first career start). In 2003, Russell became a full-time starter and recorded an interception in each of Minnesota's first six games, a Vikings record. He finished the regular season with nine interceptions, tied for the most in the NFL with Tony Parrish, and led the team in tackles with 95. His best game of the season was against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

, where he tied a team record with three takeaways (two interceptions and the first fumble recovery of his career). In 2004, Russell moved to free safety. He started all 16 games for the second consecutive season and recorded one interception in the regular season and another in the playoffs. Russell set a new career high with 111 tackles, and the Vikings beat the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the NFC playoffs, where Russell recorded his first playoff interception, before losing to the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Cleveland Browns

Russell joined the

as a restricted free agent in 2005. Russell was targeted by coach Romeo Crennel in free agency to solidify a young secondary. He became a defensive leader and the signal caller for a unit that finished 2nd in the NFL in passing yards allowed and 5th in points allowed. For the third straight season, he started all 16 regular season games. He finished with 70 tackles and three interceptions. His season was shortened due to injury the following year (2006); he totaled 51 tackles and one interception in 12 games before an elbow injury forced the Browns to place him on injured reserve.

Seattle Seahawks

In 2007, Russell signed with the

as an unrestricted free agent. Head coach

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is an American former American football, football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator wit ...

said that he wanted Russell to be the "quarterback of the defense" for his team. Russell made 68 tackles and added an interception in 16 starts in 2007 as part of a secondary that allowed the fewest touchdown passes in franchise history. Russell again started 16 games in 2008, marking the 5th time in his career to start every contest. On September 5, 2009, the Seahawks released Russell.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Russell signed with the

on September 8, 2009. Russell and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker were reunited after spending two previous seasons together (2005–2006) as members of the Cleveland Browns. Russell was released on November 21.

Houston Texans

Russell was signed by the

on November 25. Brian Russell's last NFL game was played on January 3, 2010, when he helped the Texans secure their first winning season by beating the New England Patriots at Reliant Stadium.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Russell's wife, Leslie, is a former All-American track athlete who attended San Diego State and competed in the 2004 Summer Olympic trials. Russell attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Foster School of Business The University of Washington Foster School of Business (also known as UW Foster) is the business school of the University of Washington in Seattle. Founded in 1917 as the University of Washington School of Business Administration, the school was ...

after retiring from the NFL to pursue a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

. Brian and Leslie Russell have four children.Seattle Seahawks Bio

References

External links

Houston Texans bioJacksonville Jaguars bioSeattle Seahawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Brian 1978 births Living people Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California American football quarterbacks American football cornerbacks American football safeties San Diego State Aztecs football players Minnesota Vikings players People from La Puente, California Sportspeople from West Covina, California Cleveland Browns players Seattle Seahawks players Jacksonville Jaguars players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Bishop Amat Memorial High School alumni