No doubt Russell is going to be a great player as well, but Mack and the staff have to make difficult decisions and you do not lose when you take the commitment from Gilbert. At least Mack is honest with the players and that is one of the reasons why players do commit early to the horns and Mack.
As far as the competition goes, there will always be competition for the qb position at Texas. But if you can go to LSU and play earlier, why not do it. I think that Mack knows as well as anyone here that Shepard is a good, possibly great player and will have A LOT of success. But he also knows he has the necessary piece in Gilbert to do the same thing here. We cannot get EVERY great player, and sometimes having BOTH of the best quarterbacks here at the same time is not the best thing for either or the program.
I think the timing of Gilbert coming in, taking a red shirt to watch and improve behind Colt is the BEST thing for this program for the next four years.