"Don't believe what you read on (the Internet). He's not close to weighing 300 pounds," Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said by phone Friday.
Russell's oversized frame is within the accepted window of 265 to 275 pounds, according to Knapp, who should know because he's been spending lots of time recently with Russell.
Two weeks ago, Russell voluntarily reported early to Raiders HQ, an effort designed to get his brain "hardwired" on the Raiders' scheme.
"This is the best time to spend quality time with the quarterback on pre-snap procedures on every pass play in our scheme," said Knapp, noting how well this "hardwiring" worked with two of his former pupils, Michael Vick and Jeff Garcia.
Russell had to take a crash course in NFL terminology after the Raiders drafted him No. 1 overall last April, and after he missed all of training camp because of contract haggling.
"It's a way to get guys playing at a high level in the offense as quickly as possible," Knapp said of Russell's tutorial for the next three months. "He wanted to get a head start and that's worked great for us. I'm very, very pleased."
Russell, along with Knapp and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, have been meeting for 11/2 hours in the morning before he heads out to the field for about an hour of work on fundamentals.
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