Peyton Russell continues to emerge as the most surprising success story and one of the leaders of Ozark’s youth movement.
Russell followed up an impressive outing in his first varsity start at Carl Junction in Week One with another admirable performance last week versus Republic.
The super soph’s stats through two weeks include 25-of-37 passing for 330 yards. He’s yet to throw an interception.
Russell’s soft touch on passes, his maturity and poise are all standing out as special.
Making his home debut in front of one of the best Ozark crowds in recent years hardly proved to be overwhelming for Russell.
“We practice enough that I was prepared for it,” he said. “I try not to let emotions get the best of me. If I did, that would make me play worse.”
Russell’s rapid rise up Ozark’s depth chart this summer was one few could have saw coming. During the Tigers’ first 7-on-7 session, they struggled mightily to complete any sort of pass. Receivers’ frustration grew with each errant throw.
Three quarterbacks took snaps from center before Russell threw his first pass.
Two of those QBs are no longer with the team.
By the first week of summer camp, Russell had made a strong enough impression that his teammates were very vocal in their support that he was their choice to be QB.
All the while, Russell has adapted to entirely new schemes, with coach Jeremy Cordell incorporating a gun rocket spread offense.
With the quarterback having to know where everyone is on the field, learning a new playbook was no easy chore for Russell.
“At first, it was a struggle,” he said. “You’ve got to keep studying the playbook every day. It took a long time, but was worth it.”
