Waseca’s Deron Russell Deron Russell 6'0" | 165 lbs | DB Waseca | 2026 State MN has been around since Day 1 of PrepRedzoneMN 2026 rankings as a high-profile, top-tier talent who is entering his fourth season as a starter for the Bluejays varsity program that seems to be a perennial contender in Class AAA. A big reason for Russell’s notoriety can be credited to his older brother Damarius, a 2025 Washington State commit who flipped from South Dakota State with new WSU Head Coach Jimmy Rogers & co. The younger Russell is quite the competitor, putting together one of the best individual showings of any prospect in attendance at Minnesota’s opening prospect camp of the 2024 summer. Russell was a fiery, effective, and blazing-quick coverage corner during 1v1s of the RTB Prospect Camp, playing both press and off-man coverage and breaking up a ton of passes throughout the event while locking down some legit scholarship talent. He was one of only a handful of prospects to earn a D1 offer due to his camp performance, as the old SDSU staff (the new coaching staff has since reoffered) and Northern Iowa offered almost on the spot. Also a stud hooper who can put some serious dunks for a high schooler, Russell then transferred the success to the gridiron as a junior, posting 50 catches for 745 yards and 5 TDs as a WR while adding 20 solo tackles, 3 PBUs, and 2 INTs with his 8-2 Waseca squad in 2024.

As an off-man CB, Russell opens his tape with a beautiful INT that saw him jump a deep out route and hurdle himself high off the ground (his feet are at the WRs head) to pluck the ball out of the sky and finishing the catch through a big fall to the ground. Great quickness, body control, and ball skills on display in the junior’s first rep. He’s twitchy both at the top of the route and after catch, as well as balanced, and he can consistently create separation at the top of the route as a wide receiver. This is where I love to see the high-level basketball backgrounds come into focus, as the quickness you need on the hardcourt translates very well to the gridiron. Russell also owns noticeable bounce and can win 50/50 and contested catches through tight coverage and tracks and plays the deep ball very well, showing a big catch radius and soft hands who can make catches while fully extended and far in the air. I love him as a slot receiver, where he can take advantage of 1v1 mismatches as well as zone coverage, and he can win vertically and take the top off the defense. Russell has no problems being left on an island in man coverage and will also stick his head into run support and make 1v1 tackles on the perimeter, with proper leverage I’d like to add too. Overall, the tremendous ball skills and 50/50 ball ability, as well as twitch, standout most on tape, but the big question to watch with the younger Russell in regard to how high he projects is what that top-end speed is going to look like. His brother is the all-time 100M record holder at Waseca (10.88), so we’ll see how Deron matches up to that this spring & summer.

The younger brother of standout 2025 Waseca DB Damarius Russell Damarius Russell 5'11" | 170 lbs | DB Waseca | 2025 State MN – now a SDSU Jackrabbits commit – 2026er Deron Russell Deron Russell 6'0" | 165 lbs | DB Waseca | 2026 State MN popped his recruitment off early, earning South Dakota State and Northern Iowa offers after camping with the Golden Gophers in early June at the PJ Fleck RTB Prospect Camp. Fantastic out of his breaks and when triggering on the ball, Russell broke up a ton of passes over the course of the Gophers camp, playing with a fired up, competitive, physical, and high-energy coverage style you want to see out of a CB prospect. Great to see his recruitment kick off early. More offers are coming!