Tyler Ryan Russell (born December 6, 1990) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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 had 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 ...

from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

for

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

, where he placed fifth on the Bulldogs' career passing list with 5,441 passing yards, and third on the career passing touchdowns list with 42.

Early life

Russell attended Meridian High School, located in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, eighth most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 35,052 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, ...

. As a senior in 2008, he led his team to the Mississippi 5A State Championship, where they snapped South Panola's 89-game winning streak dating back to 2003. Russell was named 2008's Mr. Football by

The Clarion-Ledger ''The Clarion Ledger'' is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating ...

. He was also named a Parade All-American. Russell was rated as a four-star recruit by ''247sports.com'', '' Rivals.com'', and '' Scout.com''. He chose to attend

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

over offers from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

College career

True freshman season (2009)

Russell

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Mississippi State head coach

Dan Mullen Daniel Mullenhttps://media.ledger-enquirer.com/static/SEC-Coaching-Contracts/Mississippi-State/Dan-Mullen-2016.pdf (born April 27, 1972) is an American college football coach, who is currently the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Veg ...

almost inserted him in the Bulldogs' loss to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

but decided against it preserving Russell's eligibility.

Redshirt freshman season (2010)

Russell appeared in 9 games in

, serving as the primary backup to quarterback

Chris Relf Christopher L. Relf (born May 26, 1989) is an American football quarterback. He played college football for the Mississippi State University Bulldogs. Early life Relf passed for 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns at Carver High School in Montgomery, ...

. In his debut, he threw for 256 yards and a school record-tying 4 touchdown passes in a 49–7 rout of

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. His performance even earned him one vote in ESPN's

Heisman The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

Watch list. However, as the backup, he played sporadically over the season, only throwing for over 100 yards one more time, in a 49–16 defeat of

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

Sophomore season (2011)

Russell began the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season again serving as Relf's backup and only appeared in two of the Bulldogs' first five games. However, after the Bulldogs went into halftime down 3–0 to UAB, Russell played quarterback in the second half, throwing three touchdown passes and leading the Bulldogs to a 21–3 victory. Russell played the entire game the next week, a 14–12 loss to

, and split time with Relf over the rest of the season.

Junior season (2012)

Russell won the starting job in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and played the majority of snaps in all 13 games. The season saw the Bulldogs start out 7–0 before limping to an 8–5 finish. Russell threw for a career-high 295 yards in a loss at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and again tied the school record with 4 touchdown passes in a 45–14 win over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Over the 2012 season, Russell threw for 2,897 yards and 24 touchdowns, both of which were school records until

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (; born July 29, 1993) is an American professional football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, twice earning first-team ...

broke both in 2014.

Senior season (2013)

Russell was named one of the captains for the Bulldogs' 2013 season. He began the season as the starting quarterback, but left the opener against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

after a concussion. He was replaced by Dak Prescott and only played sporadically for most of the rest of the season, although he did start late-season games against

and

after Prescott was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Russell left the Arkansas game after injuring his shoulder and did not appear in any more games during the season.

Statistics

Professional career

Russell was signed to the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

practice roster on August 19, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Tyler 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Players of American football from Meridian, Mississippi