James Carlton "Carl" Russ (born February 16, 1953) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. He played professional football as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

from 1975 to 1977. He also played college football at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1972 to 1974.

Early years

Russ was born in 1953 in Muskegon, Michigan. He attended

Muskegon Heights High School Muskegon Heights Academy High School is a public charter high school located in Muskegon Heights, Michigan Muskegon Heights is a city in Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,856 at the 2010 census. Geography Acc ...

where he competed in three sports.

Michigan

Though recruited to play for the

Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers have played their home games at Memorial Stadium since 1960 ...

team, Russ enrolled at the

in 1971 without a football scholarship. He tried out for the

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

team as a walk-on and played for Michigan's all-freshman team in 1971. He went on to become a backup in 1972. As a junior in 1973, he started all 11 games at the wide linebacker position for the undefeated

1973 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1973 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1973 Big Ten Conference football season. In his fifth year as Michigan's head coach, Bo Schembechler led the team to a 10–0–1 record. It was Michigan's ...

that held its opponents to an average of 6.2 points per game and finished the season ranked No. 6 in both the AP and UPI polls. Russ tallied 66 tackles during the 1973 season, including 11 against

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

and a career-high 15 tackles in a 10-10 tie with

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. As a senior, Russ started 9 of 11 games at the wide linebacker position for the

1974 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1974 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1974 Big Ten Conference football season. In their sixth year under head coach Bo Schembechler, the Wolverines compiled a 1 ...

that held its opponents to an average of 6.8 points per game and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll and No. 5 in the UPI poll. During his two years as the starting wide linebacker at Michigan, the team compiled a record of 20-1-1. Russ concluded his collegiate career with a total of 118 tackles for the Wolverines.(To retrieve Marsh's statistics, enter "Russ" in the space for "Enter last name" and "Carl" in the space for "Enter first name.")

Professional football

Russ was selected by the

in the 13th round (315th overall pick) of the

1975 NFL Draft The 1975 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartko ...

. As a rookie in 1975, Russ was a backup for

Tommy Nobis Thomas Henry Nobis Jr. (September 20, 1943 – December 13, 2017) was an American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football at the University of Texa ...

, but he appeared in 14 games. Russ was released by the Falcons in early September 1976. Russ was acquired on waivers by the

after being released by the Falcons. Jets' coach

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...

acquired Russ to start in place of Steve Poole, who had been injured. Russ appeared in three games for the Jets in September 1976, two of them as a starter, but he sustained a knee injury in a game against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. As a result of the injury, Russ missed the remainder of the 1976 season and underwent knee surgery during the offseason. Russ returned to the Jets in 1977, but he was released in early September. He was re-signed by the Jets in late October 1977 and appeared in two games during the 1977 season. Russ was released by the Jets after the 1977 season and signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in January 1978.

Later years

In 1994, Russ was inducted into the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russ, Carl 1953 births Living people American football linebackers Atlanta Falcons players Michigan Wolverines football players New York Jets players Sportspeople from Muskegon, Michigan