TJ Russell played on all three sides of the football.

Offense? He’s a second team all-Cascade Conference wide receiver.

Defense? Honorable mention defensive back.

Special teams? Russell repeated as the league’s best punter.

“It was cool making first-team punter again this year,” Russell said.

Punting is his standout talent, unique for high school athletes.

His ability to punt the pigskin

50 yards may be difficult for other high school students, but not Russell. The first-team punter has booted the football since he first played organized football in the second grade with South Whidbey’s Pee Wee teams.

“He’s the best punter in the [Cascade Conference], hands down,” said South Whidbey High School football coach Andy Davis.

The first team all-conference punter could have been the quarterback, however.

Tyler James “TJ” Russell was a quarterback until last season, his junior year. He played behind Hunter Rawls and wanted more playing time, so he moved to wide receiver and found a new talent in running routes.

After the position change, Russell discovered his experience as a quarterback and defensive back helped him better understand the receiver position.

“I knew exactly what the quarterback was looking at, defensive-wise,” Russell explained.

As a receiver, Russell pulled in passes for a season-high 107 yards on four catches, including a touchdown in a win against Granite Falls.

Russell explained he expected to be honorable mention as a receiver because other schools threw the ball more often than the Falcons. Even so, his receiving exploits were enough for a second-team nomination.

“The last two years he’s been our best receiver,” Davis said. “He’s really sure-handed, and quarterbacks trust him and are willing to throw him the ball.”

Russell’s defensive stats are less flashy (one interception in the homecoming win against Sultan High School), but he moved from cornerback last season to a pass-defending safety this season (rather than a ball hawking/tackling safety), limiting the opportunities for interceptions. He would move to the same side as the other team’s best receiver to help the cornerback.

“I was a little disappointed I didn’t make second team again,” Russell admitted.

Still, he was more proud of limiting the other team’s top receiver to minimal yardage than of an all-conference award. Davis credited Russell’s field vision for his defensive prowess. Russell was moved from a cornerback to safety after Sam Lee was injured.

“I think TJ’s best position is cornerback,” Davis said.

His highlight-film moments came from his work on special teams. And they were indeed special. He had at least five punts of 47 yards or more and four of those were 50 yards or more, including a pair of 57-yard punts against Granite Falls and Bellingham. According to Russell, his punting power stemmed from technique and coaching from Leo Langer.

“He’s helped me a lot since my freshman year,” said Russell of Langer.

Not all of his punts were perfect, Russell admits. He had at least two 30-yard punts, which is still a respectable high school distance.

“There are some where you can feel the punt and you’re like, ‘Holy crap that went really far!’” Russell said, “And you don’t know how it went that far. And then there are other times you think you punted it as hard as you could, and it only goes 30 yards.”

Russell’s most memorable football play was his punt against Bellingham in the crossover playoff game after the end of the regular season. He remembers one player had already blocked his punt earlier in the game, so he found the Red Raider before the snap on the left side of his blockers. The Bellingham player broke through and rushed Russell, but he dodged the tackle, ran right and punted the football 57 yards, where his teammates downed the ball on the 1-yard line.

“You have to be fast or else it’ll get blocked,” Russell said.

In his freshman year he was the only ninth-grade student on varsity. He recalled the starting punter, Nick Tenuta, being injured and his name was called to warm up. It was his first varsity game. He was on the sideline, warming up his legs and practicing the punting motion. He caught the snap and went through the routine, step-step-step-leg swing-kick, but slipped on the wet grass at Waterman Field in front of the South Whidbey bleacher crowd and fell to the ground — just as Tenuta came off the field to applause.

Russell, though, gathered his composure and trotted onto the field for a solid punt.

A three-sport varsity letterman in football, basketball and soccer, Russell is a veteran of Cascade Conference postseason honors. Last year he was the first-team punter and a second-team defensive back in football, and a second-team goalkeeper in soccer, his self-proclaimed “lifetime sport.” Both his parents played soccer and were goalkeepers.

After a year away from basketball, Russell tried out and made the varsity squad under new boys head coach Henry Pope, his former coach at Langley Middle School.

The all-conference-everything senior said he enjoys spending time with his mom and dad, Jim and Julie Russell, and watching his younger brother Cody play sports.

“He’s probably going to be a way better football player than I was,” Russell said of his younger brother.

The senior at Island Christian Academy has not set any plans for next year or for life after South Whidbey. He is considering enlisting in the Army or Coast Guard; his father was an Army Ranger.

Football could figure into his decision. He feels confident he could walk on at smaller schools such as Central Washington University. And his coach is confident in his ability to punt, too.

“If he wanted to go to the next level and punt, he could do that,” Davis said.