As Kentucky football gears up for its SEC opener against Alabama, it once again prepares to face the dreaded dual-threat quarterback.
Last week, that was 2025 Walter Payton Award (FCS Heisman Trophy) winner Beau Brungard. This week, it’s Alabama five-star sophomore Keelon Russell.
Russell was the No. 2 quarterback in the class of 2025 and the No. 2 player overall, just behind Michigan QB Bryce Underwood.
Luckily for Kentucky, new head coach Will Stein has been dubbed a “quarterback whisperer” from his time as Oregon’s offensive coordinator and, with that, he has some familiarity with Russell from his recruitment.
“I recruited him at Oregon for a little bit,” Stein said on his weekly radio show. “His recruitment really blew up kind of midway through, I guess it would be the ’24 season, towards the end is when he became really a national type kid. So, I got to know him a little bit.
“He won a lot of games at Duncanville in Dallas, Texas,” Stein continued. “Goes to Alabama and obviously he’s playing in a really good system with Ryan Grubb as OC and Kalen DeBoer as the head coach.”
Stein’s show wasn’t the first time he brought up having experience with Russell specifically, also doing so during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. There, though, he admitted that the Ducks likely weren’t ever in front of Russell’s recruitment.
“We recruited him late in the process,” Stein said. “You know, he’s kind of a late bloomer in terms of how much a priority he became throughout his high school career. He obviously ended up an extremely talented and heavily-recruited player. So, it was towards the end of it, we were never really in it, but, yeah, he’s a really good player, really talented player. He can run it, he can throw it and obviously they’ve done a good job so far with him.”
Russell made his first career start last Saturday, having been a backup to now Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ty Simpson last season, and in it, while not perfect, he impressed.
Despite what some considered a few “forced” throws and an unwillingness to avoid contact, Russell threw for 256 yards, completing 18 of his 30 throws, and only missed out on his first passing touchdown due to some dropped passes.
That’s not what makes him so dangerous, though.
“Keelon, he can make all the throws,” Stein said. “He’s extremely fast. (He) looks like he wants to be a pocket passer, pro-style passer, but when he does escape, he causes a lot of troubles on the outside.”
Like Brungard a week ago, Russell also led the Crimson Tide in rushing against East Carolina, carrying the ball 13 times, four more than Crimson Tide lead back Daniel Hill.
With those 13 carries, Russell amassed 86 yards, 39 more than Hill, for a touchdown.
In other words, Kentucky’s defense will once again be forced to play multiple and contain the quarterback, lest it get too aggressive and surrender a big gain. Last week alone, Russell’s longest rush was for 23 yards or, in layman’s terms, two first-downs worth on one carry.
“I think being gap sound and being able to contain any quarterback we play, specifically the last guy (Brungard),” Stein said. “You look at Keelon, he’s a special talent that can run. We have to make sure that we know where he is at all times.”
It’s yet to be seen how beneficial, if at all, Stein’s prior relationship with Russell may be when the Cats take on the Crimson Tide this Saturday in search of their first win since 1997 and only third ever, but the connection does all an interesting wrinkle to what should already be a thrilling SEC opener.
Russell will take the field for Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 12, with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The contest is set to air live on ABC with Alabama currently sitting as a 10-point favorite.
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