BATON ROUGE — It was said at the Shreveport Regional Airport on Monday, Nov. 11, 2013.
"A tremendous quarterback — kind of a future for us," then-LSU coach Les Miles told the Shreveport Times on his way to a home visit of Parkway High quarterback Brandon Harris.
Later, Miles said Harris would end the quarterback malaise that had afflicted his program since 2008 — except for 2013 when transfer Zach Mettenberger had one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in LSU history, finishing fourth in the nation in efficiency at 171.4 with 22 touchdowns amid but eight interceptions. He became just the third Tiger to throw for more than 3,000 yards.
Harris, the No. 5 dual-threat prep quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com for the class of 2014, had some moments and actually put up some impressive efficiency and third-down numbers for part of his only full season as the starter in 2015. But in the end it did not work out for him or for Miles. Miles was fired four games into the 2016 season, and Harris transferred to North Carolina, where he finished his career in 2017.
Ed Orgeron, who replaced Miles in 2016, made a comment frighteningly similar to Miles' last Thursday on a radio show on 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge.
"I think it's finally going to happen. I believe we're finally going to have a quarterback that LSU's been looking for for a very long time," Orgeron said.
Maybe he will be proven right. But excuse me if I do not believe it right off, based on history.
Orgeron, who began spring practice with his Tigers Sunday morning, was not talking about one quarterback. He was speaking about his trio on scholarship as a whole, but the projected starter is sophomore Myles Brennan. You may hear and read differently elsewhere, but the projected starter is Brennan. Redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse will get a chance and may get more and more chances during the season as Orgeron has said he may play both of them as he doesn't have one yet. Junior Justin McMillan will not play much or at all unless one of the other two are injured or both play very badly.
Word out of the football offices is that Brennan could be the next Tommy Hodson, who is the gold standard for LSU quarterbacks along with Bert Jones and JaMarcus Russell, who finished No. 3 in the nation in efficiency in 2006 at 167.0 with 3,129 yards, 28 touchdowns with but eight interceptions.
Yeah, I'll believe that Hodson comparison when I see it, too, and then see it a few more times for a few years.
Brennan, who was not very good in 2017, may be very good in 2018. He may indeed be everything LSU needs and has been craving desperately at the position for basically the last decade. He has a very good quarterback coach in offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger. Brennan does have a quick release. But then, Harris had a very strong arm.
What worries me about Brennan is the fact that the same man who never found or kept a good quarterback out of high school in his 12 years at LSU — Les Miles — is the one who picked Brennan and Narcisse. He was recruiting them before Orgeron took over!
And that's what you're going with?
Miles is the same man who thought Russell Shepard could play quarterback until shortly after Shepard got to campus. Miles is the same man who thought Jordan Jefferson was better than Jarrett Lee in 2011 no matter how well Lee played in just about every game but one and how badly Jefferson played in just about every game but one or two. Miles is the same man who wanted Dak Prescott to play tight end at LSU.
This is the man whose recommendation you're going with?
At least Miles did actually sign quarterbacks, though. Orgeron has been at LSU since January of 2015 and has yet to sign a quarterback he identified and recruited first. He tried and failed on a few for the Class of 2018, but none were very highly ranked.
In the end, he lost No. 18 dual quarterback James Foster of Montgomery, Alabama, to new Texas A&M coach/quarterback guru Jimbo Fisher. But Foster, a three-star prospect, was not nationally ranked as an overall prospect and was not offered by nearby Auburn.
Another thing that worries me about Brennan is who was not recruiting him. He played at St. Stanislaus High in Long Beach, Mississippi — just four hours from both Alabama and Mississippi State. Neither offered him a scholarship. He was a four-star prospect, but only No. 212 nationally and just a decent No. 12 ranking as a pro style quarterback. In addition, St. Stanislaus is not known for playing strong competition.
In addition, Narcisse was not even ranked nationally and was just the No. 16 dual-threat quarterback, but interestingly Alabama, Auburn, Clemson and Georgia did offer scholarships. Then again, he's coming off two knee injuries and has been an erratic passer.
Orgeron will not say it, but he may not feel too confident about his quarterback situation either. One of his priorities this spring is a graduate transfer quarterback.
Orgeron is in the hunt for Grant Gunnell (6-foot-6, 205 pounds), the No. 3 pro-style quarterback in the nation for 2019 out of St. Pius X in Houston, Texas, and No. 70 ranked overall prospect.
Now this is the highly ranked pro-style quarterback prospect LSU has not had since Mettenberger. He could be "the future." Everyone is after him, including — unfortunately — Fisher, who inherited a class not even in the top 50 last December at Texas A&M and yet finished 16th in Rivals.com with LSU just three slots ahead.
Maybe Gunnell will catch wind of what Tony Kornheiser said on his ESPN show "Pardon the Interruption" recently.
"How come LSU can't get a three-star quarterback? This team has more people in the pros right now than any other school. They've got 51," he said. "If they had a quarterback, they'd win everything. I'd force my kid to go to LSU."
Yes, LSU's inability to sign, keep and develop a decent quarterback out of high school since Russell and Matt Flynn signed in the class of 2003 is one of the most amazing stories in all of college football.
"It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," Winston Churchill said in 1939. He was discussing what role the Soviet Union might have in World War II — not LSU's quarterback situation and sophomore Leo Bird of Shreveport that year.
Funny, LSU has a new head coach going into his second full season and fourth on campus, but he is still mired in the same mysterious malaise at quarterback that Miles was. He is also carrying on one of the Miles' torches that was so criticized — running one offense with two types of quarterbacks. At times, it seems like LSU only tweaked the coaching staff in 2016-17 as opposed to replacing it and changing the culture ... because that is what it did.
At least, Miles brought in top tailbacks — three second- or first-round picks from 2012 through 2015 in Jeremy Hill, Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice. Orgeron failed to do that in the last class, too, as well as not signing a cornerback.
And recruiting is supposed to be his strength.
Who knows? Orgeron could still succeed. Dabo Swinney was a very similar football field promotion in 2008 at Clemson. LSU's offensive line may actually be a strength this season, and a better than average line can give a no-name running back a nickname. There are very good wide receivers again. And LSU did manage to beat Fisher to keep defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, so the defense should be very good again in 2018.
And note this: So far, Orgeron's numbers are strikingly similar to that of Swinney. Orgeron was 5-2 overall and 4-2 in conference as interim coach in 2016 after Miles was 9-3 and 5-3 just the year before. Swinney was 4-3 and 3-2 as interim in 2008 after Tommy Bowden was 9-4 and 5-3 just the year before. Orgeron went 9-4 and 6-3 last year in his first full season. Swinney went 9-5 and 6-2 in his first full season, then fell to 6-7 and 4-4.
LSU could be 7-6 and 4-4 next season if neither Brennan nor Narcisse develop very well, or maybe even a little worse. But Swinney has not looked back since his worst season. His low is 10 wins with two 11-win seasons, a 12-win season and two 14-win seasons with a national championship and a national championship runner-up.
If Orgeron can finish off his class of 2019 in the top five with a highly ranked quarterback, 2019 and 2020 could be close to or right at what LSU "has been looking for for a very long time."
A season with less than three losses.
