If you designed a modern quarterback in a top-secret desert laboratory in 2026, they’d play like Alabama’s Keelon Russell and Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor.
While Russell is just four games into his tenure as a first-time starter and Taylor is four games into his first full season under center after making two starts late last year, both are already building reputations as efficiency monsters.
Russell possesses a tall, lanky frame, but combines cat-like quickness with jaw-dropping awareness and downfield prowess for a young quarterback. Taylor, who probably won the September Heisman for his incredible start to the season, is the sun, moon and stars of the Bulldogs’ offense, and he plays like a combination of Robert Griffin III and Vince Young.
On Saturday, the pair will square off in a top-20 clash in Starkville that, out of nowhere, carries real stakes and could be a deciding factor in how far both the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs can climb this season.
Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News
Alabama’s Keelon Russell is Defying the Odds as a Young Quarterback
I’m not sure even the most optimistic Alabama fans envision Russell it’s good through four games.
First-time starting quarterbacks often need a window of time, or at least a few games, to get their feet wet and get comfortable with an offense. Not Russell.
Russell defied the odds as a young quarterback by putting up incredible efficiency numbers.
Through four games, Russell has posted exemplary EPA/play (0.51) and EPA/pass (0.41) numbers while completing 69.9% of his passes, per Hudl IQ. He’s averaging 14.3 yards per completion and he’s making chunk pass plays 29.1% of the time and explosive plays on 11.9% of all completions, per Hudl IQ.
Those numbers are almost unheard of for a quarterback four games into his first campaign. They were so impressive that he outplayed more experienced quarterbacks across the SEC, such as Texas quarterback Arch Manning, LSU’s Sam Leavitt and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, and lapped the likes of Oklahoma’s John Mateer and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, two players with College Football Playoff experience from a year ago.
He’s not just completing easy passes to wide-open receivers, either. He got an incredibly impressive 7.4% completion percentage over expectation (CPOE), which is an indicator of how often he completes passes due to the difficulty of his throws.
One of the amazing things about Russell is that he doesn’t just do it with his arm. He is agile, creative and does a great job of using his legs on both designed runs and broken plays.
Russell averaged 10.5 yards per rush and earned a staggering 1.05 EPA/rush figure. That puts him up there with the most lethal and efficient runners in all of college football.
Right now, he doesn’t do anything that isn’t at a high level. His strong play suddenly shifted the Crimson Tide’s season and ceiling calculus.
Many experts thought Russell would be great, but almost no one could have predicted he would be this good, this quickly. Alabama suddenly has a budding superstar quarterback on its hands and looks like a team capable of making serious waves in the CFP later this season.
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Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor is a Big Play Hunter who wears down Defenses
It’s rare when a quarterback of any experience level possesses the ability to catch big plays and beat you in a grind-it-out game. It’s a pleasant surprise when a veteran quarterback can do that, especially when a first-time starter flashes that kind of top-end ability.
Taylor points the needle with a skill set to punish opposing defenses with big plays, while also taking what the defense gives him with two high safeties.
Through four games, Taylor has become the most beloved of the college football season. Right now, he feels like the People’s Champ, and by most accounts, he won the September Heisman, for whatever that’s worth.
On the field, Taylor has been a monster of efficiency. He’s got impressive EPA/play (0.42) and EPA/pass (0.37) numbers, while completing 68.6% of his passes, per Hudl IQ.
When you dig deeper, his body of work becomes even more impressive. He hunts chunk plays with clinical efficiency (28% pass chunk percentage) and makes explosive passing plays nine percent of the time, per Hudl IQ.
Like Russell, he also does it with his legs. Taylor emerged as a cheat code in the run game, averaging 7.7 yards per rush, good for an EPA/rush of 0.63, per Hudl IQ.
Taylor also did a good job of beating defenses at all three levels. He has shown some serious arm talent on deep throws, but has also improved year after year on short and intermediate throws.
His incredible play has been the driving force behind Mississippi State’s offense performing at such a high level. Under Taylor’s leadership, the Bulldogs are averaging 3.5 points per drive and have a down series success rate (DSSR) of 82.6%, which is above the league average, per Hudl IQ.
This weekend, Taylor will play the most fearsome defense of his career. Alabama will certainly try to get creative in getting him out of rhythm, and in all likelihood, will look to put away big plays. But if he continues this red-hot pace, the Bulldogs will continue to be one of the more difficult offenses to stop in all of college football.
Keelon Russell and Kamario Taylor Compare Players to Rise to New Heights
One of the fun aspects of a matchup like Saturday’s game between Alabama and Mississippi State is that we get the chance to compare two superstar quarterbacks head-to-head.
Leading up to the monster showdown, it’s worth comparing how Russell and Taylor compare to each other. You may be surprised by the results.
Using the Hudl IQ Player Comparison tool, we can see that Russell and Taylor are the most comparable to each other from a performance perspective, with the pair possessing an 81.1% similarity percentage to each other.
That means on Saturday, the college football world will be treated to two very similar, rising star quarterbacks squaring off on the same field in a game with serious stakes. As far as storylines go, you couldn’t ask for more.
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