Usage / Role
97%
Featured defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2017-2021Memphis
JJ Russell
LB • 6'1" • 225 lbs • Grenada, MS, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
JJ Russell shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 53.8 disruption score.
Impact Production
100
Top-tier box-score impact for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
95
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
87
Elite ceiling indicators
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2021 Regular Season · Memphis
1718181919202021
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Memphis
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: East Carolina
Player Story
JJ Russell built his college career from 2017 through 2021 as a linebacker from Grenada, MS wearing No. 23, spending time with Memphis. The clearest part of JJ Russell's career was his defensive production: 306...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- —
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2024
JJ Russell, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2021 Regular Season · Memphis. JJ Russell shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 53.8 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 306
- TFL
- 24
- Sacks
- 5
- QB hurries
- 19
- Passes defended
- 7
Quick Answers
JJ Russell quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Memphis · LB
- Career Tackles
- 306
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 8 entries · 57 games
- Best season
- 2021 Regular Season · Memphis
- Top game
- East Carolina
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Atascocita
- High school pipeline
- Atascocita · 33 FBS recruits · 2 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 23 · Senior
- 2021 Tackles rank
- 123 tackles · LB 14th (top 2%) · American Athletic 1st (top 1%) · National 14th (top 1%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | Memphis | 6 | 9 | - | 0 | 1 | - | 0 | 8.5 |
| 2018 Postseason | Memphis | 14 | 5 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 49.3 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Memphis | 14 | 53 | 8.5 | 3 | 3 | - | 0 | 49.3 |
| 2019 Postseason | Memphis | 14 | 3 | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 51.5 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Memphis | 14 | 55 | 5.5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 51.5 |
| 2020 Postseason | Memphis | 11 | 9 | 1.5 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 48.3 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Memphis | 11 | 49 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 48.3 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Memphis | 12 | 123 | 6.5 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 75.1 |
Related Context
Keep exploring JJ Russell
JJ Russell played LB for Memphis. Across 5 tracked seasons, JJ Russell recorded 306 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2021 with Memphis.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2021 Regular Season
Memphis paired 17.5 primary output with 53.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
2021 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 53.8 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2021 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: East Carolina
Loss with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2021 Regular Season · Memphis
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
1.5
Efficiency
53.8
Usage
14.2
Consistency
46.7
Best Game by takeover score
East Carolina
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Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Nicholls: 1. Arkansas State: 1. Mississippi State: 1. UTSA: 2.5. Temple: 0. Tulsa: 1. Navy: 1. UCF: 1. SMU: 3. East Carolina: 3. Houston: 2. Tulane: 1
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
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High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Nicholls: 7 by 39.2. Arkansas State: 8 by 43.3. Mississippi State: 14 by 60. UTSA: 18 by 75. Temple: 14 by 50. Tulsa: 5 by 30.8. Navy: 11 by 55.8. UCF: 9 by 47.5. SMU: 6 by 55. East Carolina: 12 by 80. Houston: 9 by 57.5. Tulane: 10 by 51.7
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.3 · Games = 6 · -0.3 vs Losses
Losses1.6 · Games = 6 · +0.3 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
12 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
East Carolina
Best efficiency game
80 vs East Carolina
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 11/28 | vs Tulane10+ tackles | W 33-28 | 10 | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/20 | @ HoustonSplash game | L 13-31 | 9 | 8 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/13 | vs East Carolina10+ tackles · Splash game | L 29-30 | 12 | 7 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/6 | vs SMUSplash game | W 28-25 | 6 | 4 | — | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Fri 10/22 | @ UCF | L 7-24 | 9 | 5 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 10/14 | vs Navy10+ tackles | W 35-17 | 11 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/10 | @ Tulsa | L 29-35 | 5 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/2 | @ Temple10+ tackles | L 31-34 | 14 | 12 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/25 | vs UTSA10+ tackles · Splash game | L 28-31 | 18 | 11 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/18 | vs Mississippi State10+ tackles | W 31-29 | 14 | 10 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/11 | @ Arkansas State | W 55-50 | 8 | 4 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/4 | vs Nicholls | W 42-17 | 7 | 5 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
JJ Russell story
JJ Russell built his college career from 2017 through 2021 as a linebacker from Grenada, MS wearing No. 23, spending time with Memphis. The clearest part of JJ Russell's career was his defensive production: 306 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, and 1 interception across 57 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2021 with Memphis. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
Defensive careers can be hard to read from one number, but JJ Russell's production has multiple signals. With 57 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Memphis.
The arc is straightforward: JJ Russell moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Memphis
2017-2021
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
20172018201820192019202020202021
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | Memphis | 1 | 7.9 | 1.8 | — |
| 2018 Postseason | Memphis | 14.5 | 27.6 | 6.5 | 13.5 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Memphis | 14.5 | 27.6 | 6.5 | 0 |
| 2019 Postseason | Memphis | 13.5 | 26.9 | 7.1 | -1 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Memphis | 13.5 | 26.9 | 7.1 | 0 |
| 2020 Postseason | Memphis | 9.5 | 30.6 | 6.4 | -4 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Memphis | 9.5 | 30.6 | 6.4 | 0 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Memphis | 17.5 | 53.8 | 14.2 | 8 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs East Carolina
Week 11 · L 29-30 · Conference game
Loss with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3
Havoc Plays
90.3 takeover
3 disruption/tackle impact with 90.3 takeover score.
#2
vs UTSA
Week 4 · L 28-31
2.5
Havoc Plays
86.1 takeover
Loss with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 86.1 takeover score.
#3
vs SMU
Week 10 · W 28-25 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
85 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 85 takeover score.
#4
vs Cincinnati
Week 15 · W 29-24 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
83.6 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 83.6 takeover score.
#5
vs Southern
Week 2 · W 55-24
3
Havoc Plays
82.2 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 82.2 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2021 Regular Season · Memphis
17.5 primary output · 53.8 efficiency · 14.2 usage
75.1
#2
2019 Postseason · Memphis
51.5
13.5 primary · 26.9 efficiency · 7.1 usage
#3
2019 Regular Season · Memphis
51.5
13.5 primary · 26.9 efficiency · 7.1 usage
Milestones
17
Impact games
15
Splash games
6
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring JJ Russell
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