The circumstances have changed since August 2014, but the speculation continues a year later as the same two options at quarterback stare LSU coach Les Miles in the face.
Despite his frontrunner status, sophomore Brandon Harris is still battling junior Anthony Jennings for the starting quarterback job with fall camp coming to a close. While Miles downplays the drama of the announcement, he doesn’t appear to be any closer to officially giving either player the nod for the Tigers’ opening game against McNeese State on Sept. 5.
Throughout the summer, the recurring sentiment from the 11th-year coach is significantly improvement by both players. The only distinction between them is the number of reps Harris has received with the first-team offense in fall practice, which was “half a dozen or so” more than what Jennings received in the team’s Aug. 15 scrimmage, Miles said.
That improvement, though, is tough to quantify.
Miles didn’t distinguish between the two signal callers’ performances in the Tigers’ first scrimmage, mentioning only a 20-for-34 total passing clip. After the second scrimmage on Saturday, Miles shed a little more light on the situation, saying the quarterbacks combined for 250 yards and seven passing touchdowns and one interception.
Miles also said Harris completed “probably” 12-of-17 passes and rushed for 16 yards on five carries, but Jennings “probably threw for more touchdowns.”
Other than that, the coach hasn’t gone into any more details of possible differences.
In fact, Miles believes the quarterbacks share more in common than most fans would believe, and he’s open to the possibility for both to play on a situational basis.
“There’s more similarities than there are differences,” Miles said at LSU Media Day. “I would not hesitate to make a call if there was a real advantage to one over the other in a situation. Again, they’re both competing for that first game. Again, they’re very similar.
“I think Brandon is obviously a little bit more explosive, but Anthony is a little bit more veteran.”
Harris steps to the forefront following a forgettable freshman season, during which he appeared in nine games with nine total touchdowns and two interceptions. Though Harris nearly led a 24-point comeback in a loss to Mississippi State and accounted for five scores in a blowout of New Mexico State, he stumbled in his only start of the season against Auburn, completing just 3-of-14 passes before being replaced by Jennings in the second half of a 41-7 loss.
From there, the Bossier City, Louisiana, native played sparingly in only two more games the rest of the season.
His sporadic play was mostly due to a self-acknowledged lack of command for the offense and discomfort under center, which he attempted to rectify this summer with more attention to detail and training sessions with quarterback coach George Whitfield in San Diego. Harris also added more than 20 pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame, an improvement he considers significant.
“That was one thing [strength and conditioning coordinator Tommy Moffitt] and I and [offensive coordinator Cam Cameron] talked about before I left in May and went out to San Diego was to come back in the proper weight,” Harris said. “They asked, and I tried to do [that].”
When Harris returned from the West Coast quarterback school, the door for him to claim the starting job opened even further when Jennings was arrested, and subsequently suspended, for unauthorized entry into a dwelling with a current and former teammate.
Although Jennings missed most of the summer workouts, he was reinstated prior to the start of fall camp. But Miles would not reveal if last season’s primary starter would miss any potential game action.
The Marietta, Georgia, native acknowledged the off-the-field incident was an “immature act,” and said he’s grateful for the opportunity to suit up again for the Tigers.
“You can’t take football, scholarships or LSU for granted,” Jennings said. “This is something you get once in a lifetime. It was tremendously missed while I was gone, and I obviously know how much it really means to me.”
Unlike other positions where substitutions are more frequent, the quarterback competition draws questions of contention between the two players off the field.
But Jennings and Harris agreed what happens between the white lines is about pushing one another to improve and has nothing to do with their personal relationship. “We can be friends, and we can also push each other to our limits,” Jennings said. “I think that he is doing the same with me. Every time, we’re correcting each other if we miss a step here or miss a step there. But also when he throws the perfect pass, I’m right there to cheer him up.
“It’s great to see him getting better each and every practice, and I’m going to let him know that.”