When it comes to the LSU Tigers, one position is the biggest storyline headed into the summer and that’s the quarterback. After the last couple of season of having less than ideal choices at QB, the new offensive coordinator seems to have quite the conundrum on his hands.
According to head coach Ed Orgeron, throughout spring practice LSU’s offense won most of the battles early on. However, during the first half of the spring game that was open to the public, they saw an offense get taken to task by the defense.
After the spring game concluded, Orgeron explained that it was really Danny Etling’s job to lose and that the competition was still open. Now, there’s been a reason as to why the Tigers haven’t named a starter just yet.
“The reason we opened it up is we have a new offense.” Orgeron said during Monday’s SEC Coaches Teleconference when asked about what Etling needs to do to get the starting job, “I want to give a pro-style quarterback a chance, dual-threat quarterback a chance, give Matt (Canada) a chance to see what these guys can do given an open lane to run the plays he wants to.”
Another big reason is because of the fact that no one has currently beaten out Etling when they’ve practiced with the first team. However, there is one player that the Tigers will definitely be given a chance and that’s Myles Brennan. Once he gets on campus, that’s when the real battle begins according to Orgeron.
With Etling, there’s only one thing that the Tigers head coach wants him to do and that’s be a game manager. He knows he has the talent as a QB because he saw what he could do all last season after coming in for Brandon Harris back in week two. Orgeron said that he’s a guy “that can go through a game, manage a game, make the short throws, make the checks, be a leader out there, and has great pocket awareness.”
When it comes to the Purdue transfer, his health will also be a huge factor going forward after his back procedure. If he’s able to get back in time for fall camp, then there should no concerns. “I think when he’s healthy; he’ll be hard to beat.” Orgeron said on Monday.
Extra Points:
Signing Day Is a War: While Orgeron currently has the number two recruiting class in the country; there are some new hurdles that many teams will have to deal with: another national signing day in the month of December. Outside of dealing with the holidays, many teams will be dealing with preparations for their respective bowl games. Orgeron mentioned that “it’ll be different obviously because of the man power and hours it will take. Signing day, it’s a war out there and now there’s two of them. A lot of teams will be practicing for some very important foes, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
Basketball On Grass: Possibly one of the more well-received proposals in recent years is the new redshirt rule. It would make it so that if someone were to play in four games in a season, their redshirt wouldn’t be used up. Several coaches and fans have endorsed it and Orgeron explained about how this works when you look at the current state of football. “This is basketball on grass these days. Some offenses are out there trying to run 100 plays. The game has doubled since we first played. The more guys we can play without burning a year would be great.”
-Clint Domingue