By Jeff Brown

On any college football team, the quarterback is naturally looked to as a team leader -- all the more so if he is an experienced upperclassman.

But given all that Baylor football has been through over the past year, perhaps no quarterback in the country had that responsibility placed as firmly onto his shoulders this summer as fifth-year senior Seth Russell. Many a man would falter under such pressure, but the Bears' QB was ready.

"Being a senior, being through it for five years, [that responsibility] is expected," he says. "I don't look at it any different than if I was a freshman. I have an image to represent, and that image is Baylor, and also the name on my back... To be a leader, you have to be cognizant of that, that whatever you do -- on the field or off the field -- you're not just representing yourself; you're representing your family, and you're representing the university.

"This is an opportunity for me to prove that it's not just about me; it's about what we've done as a university, and proving things that people don't necessarily know about us. Proving that we can overcome what we've faced. As a leader, you have to show that each and every day, and not let the naysayers get to you -- because if you're a leader, but you let the little guy get to you, then you're not a leader."

With all he's seen his team go through in recent months, it would have been easy for Russell to ask, "Why me?" After all, the Bears' quarterback was on pace for perhaps the best season in program history in 2015 -- leading the nation in touchdown passes as Baylor reached No. 2 in the nation -- when he suffered a broken bone in his neck that ended his season.

"Looking back on the injury, it could have all been over with," admits Russell, who was told later by doctors that the break was two millimeters away from causing paralysis. "I could be six feet under right now, but God was holding it all together, and He knew that He had a bigger plan for me. I'm trying to figure out what that plan is, just like everybody is, but I can't worry about my future. I have to worry about right now. If I worry about tomorrow, then I'm not gonna make the best of today."

When he learned in May of the sudden shake-up in the program's leadership, Russell was actually 5,000 miles from Waco, serving kids in Brazil on a Baylor-sponsored mission trip. That experience and that setting likely played a role in his response to the news.

"I wanted to be mad, of course, like everybody," he says. "We always ask, `Why is this happening to me?' Like after I got injured, it was `Why me?' But now, it's like, `Wow, God, I kind of see what you were trying to do.'

"I'm not quite sure what it is, but I have a little image of how it's to glorify Him through it all -- to show that football's not just a game, but it's a platform, an avenue to reach out to kids, to adults, to whomever it may be that may be lost. It's our job to help show them that Christ is the way."

So rather than sulking or questioning what was going on, Russell made a public statement via his personal Instagram account.

"We are broken. We are hurting," he wrote in late May. "But at the end of the day, we are His. With that gift alone, there is no reason to not overcome through these hard times. My prayers for Baylor University are that we never forget that we need God as desperately on our best days as we do on our worst. We will overcome. We will become stronger. We will be who God has allowed us to be."

"I was speaking to Baylor Nation, and to the players," he says today. "We hadn't been together yet; it was in that dead period between spring and summer workouts. I just wanted to send out something that was positive. I felt like one of my duties, as the quarterback, was to let the team know, `Hey, I'm here, and I'm staying.' This is not just my team; this is our team. This is what we've been here for.

"The only thing you can do is try and reach the people who care, who want to care. You're always gonna have those naysayers, and it's our job to prove them wrong. It's our job to prove that what the media is putting out there is not who we are. That's not the way that Baylor is. ... It's our job to try and get back on track with the positive. I feel like we've done a good job so far, but we still have a long way to go."

When the season started, there were still questions to be answered; one of those was how Russell would bounce back from injury. He let his play on the field in the season opener speak for itself, throwing four touchdowns and completing 14 of 20 passes in a quarter and a half before being subbed out after the Bears built a big lead.

"It was exciting to get back out there with the guys," he said after the Bears' opener. "I felt better than ever... It was back to football. Back to business. I'm really excited about it, and we're going to continue to play Baylor football."

What does Baylor football look like with Seth Russell taking the snaps? For starters, he's already the Baylor career leader in pass efficiency, and he ranks among the top five in program history in passing yards per completion, touchdown-to-interception ratio, and passing touchdowns. But the statistic he's most excited about? 11-0 -- as in, the Bears are 11-0 when Russell is the starting quarterback.

After all, while much may have changed around Baylor, one thing hasn't: the team's ultimate goal.

"National championship," Russell says definitively. "That's what we've been fighting for. We're not going to let something negative try and tear us down. We've come a long way not to finish it off right."

Spoken like a true leader.