The first part of this eight-part series highlighting the main football positions starts off with the team leader: the quarterback.

LSU has been familiar with quarterback controversy since the days of Rohan Davey and Craig Nall. Davey, if you are not familiar with him, was the starting LSU quarterback in the early 2000’s. He was about 6-3 and weighed around 240 to 250 pounds.

Does that sound familiar?

It almost seems Davey has reincarnated himself in the form of current starter JaMarcus Russell. Russell stands around 6-6 and tips the scale at nearly 260 pounds. The Mobile native has stepped up onto the LSU Football stage as the star and seems comfortable in the spotlight.

In the 2003 National Championship season, a freshman JaMarcus Russell watched as Matt Mauck took the Tigers to the Sugar Bowl. As a typical LSU fan reminiscing is always easy, but it has been almost three years since that surreal season and almost all the players from that team are gone.

Those experiences have molded Russell into the player into he is today. After sharing time with Marcus Randall two years ago, the red shirt junior Russell is taking what is rightfully his. He has compiled a 17-3 record as a starter and is only the third quarterback in school history to win 10 games in a season.

Last year Russell started in 12 games and went 10-2 passing for 2,443 yards and 15 touchdowns. Also, in his two years as starter he has led the Tigers to six fourth quarter or overtime victories with four coming in the 2005 season. If that is not impressive enough, Russell ranks in the top ten in school history in: completion percentage, career passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions. May I remind you all these statistics are with over half a season remaining, and Russell has been named to the 2006 Maxwell Award which is awarded to the top player in college football. Every quarterback has a favorite receiver and Russell is no different connecting with Dwayne Bowe 12 times placing them sixth on the all-time pass-catch tandem list in school history.

Though Russell’s career has been promising, he was hit with a setback in the 2005 season with a shoulder injury. After sitting out the Peach Bowl victory against Miami, Russell had surgery and seems to be showing no signs of the injury this season.

Russell’s incredible play can be attributed to his hard work, but the competition behind him keeps him on his toes. Along with JaMarcus on the bench in the National Championship season was red shirt junior Matt Flynn. Flynn stands at 6-3 weighing in at a solid 230 pounds. Flynn is a native of Tyler, Texas coming out of high school as one of the top ranked players in the state. Flynn has somewhat shadowed JaMarcus Russell but showed his capabilities in last season’s Peach Bowl victory against Miami. Through doubts and questions Flynn started and played like the quarterback he can be passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns on the way to the game’s MVP award. Flynn’s ability has not been the question for LSU’s fans, however the opportunity has not often presented itself for the ready Flynn.

After Russell and Flynn, sit one of if the not the best third string quarterbacks in the country. Coming out of high school Ryan Perrilloux was the number one quarterback prospect according to many recruiting websites. After sitting his first year at LSU as a red shirt, Perrilloux sits and awaits his opportunity to shine as obviously so many other quarterbacks have done at LSU. Fans have cried to see Perrilloux play but you must ask yourself, what has he done to show he is ready to play? That may sound crazy because he has not played but the quarterbacks in front of him have proven track records. There are simply no questions about his ability, as in high school he showed flashes of what he can bring to the Tigers with his incredible arms and legs. Perrilloux must take this time to learn even though he may be ready to play because once he becomes the starter there will more than likely be another young player here vying for his spot.

In college football, age does not mean anything but it always pays to have some form of experience to lead and for the young players to follow. As far as the quarterback position goes, LSU will be well equipped for the next years.

Coming up next week part 2 of the series with the running backs.

Contact Jonathan at sportseditor@b-now.com