BATON ROUGE, la. (AP) LSU quarterback JeMarcus Russell knows all about being a hot college prospect.<br>
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Russell was part of what the experts dubbed the No. 1 college football recruiting class in the nation back in 2003.<br>
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He hit Baton Rouge as a high school star, but didn't get on the field until last year. And even then, success was hard to come by.<br>
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This fall Russell is penciled in as the Tigers' starting QB. But he has a couple of other hot prospects Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux breathing down his neck.<br>
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``I was always confident,'' Russell said. ``It's just about me being confident in what I'm doing and knowing what's going on with our team.''<br>
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That confidence was important during the year Russell spent on the sidelines and last year when he and Marcus Randall split time.<br>
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``As he mastered the offense, he still believed in himself,'' said offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher said. ``You worry that when a guy is learning something and struggling with it he might lose that inner confidence. The really good ones keep that confidence and know it's just a matter of time, to know that they've got to keep grinding to get it right.''<br>
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Russell did not gain much confidence in his first college start. Last year against Florida, Russell threw two first-quarter interceptions that quickly dug LSU a two-touchdown hole.<br>
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Randall bailed him out and led the Tigers to a last-minute 24-21 victory.<br>
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``Anytime a guy experiences failure, you always wonder,'' Fisher said. ``You've got to put him back up on the horse after it throws him off and see what happens. We did, and he gained that confidence back, and I think at the end of the year when he really played well in the bowl game, it came out, and it showed.''<br>
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Russell started three more games, all victories, with Randall coming off the bench in a role that suited him often throughout his LSU career.<br>
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Russell's health is better than at any time during his LSU career. Soon after the bowl game, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his long-bothersome right elbow.<br>
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Fisher said he couldn't be happier about Russell's fitness level.<br>
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``He looks good,'' Fisher said. ``He's been between 245 and 250 here now even less when he sweats it out during practice. I think he's in really good shape.''<br>
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And Russell's game is shaping up as well.<br>
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``The little things he does that I see, things the fans might not see, are so much better now,'' Fisher said. ``Little things. He calls plays. He manages the game, manages the clock, manages the players, the signals, the checks.''<br>
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Information from: The Advocate, http://www.theadvocate.com<br>
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(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
