Every summer, the best high school and college quarterbacks in the country flock to the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, La., to learn the ins and outs of playing under center.
 
This summer, college signal callers like Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Boise State’s Kellen Moore helped host the camp led by Louisiana legends Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning.
 
Even LSU junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson made the trek to Thibodaux.
 
But almost all the top-level college gunslingers at the prestigious camp were from out of state, representing a recent trend in Louisiana.
 
Lately the fertile recruiting soil of the Bayou State has come up dry at the most important position on the field — quarterback.
 
Louisiana has two Scout.com three-star quarterbacks in the 2011 recruiting crop compared to Texas, which has two four-star and 10 three-star gunslingers, and California with three four-star and six three-star quarterbacks.
Ren
e Nadeau, college football analyst for ESPN and TigerVision, said the lack of high-profile quarterbacks coming out of Louisiana high schools has affected LSU.
 
“Louisiana just hasn’t produced them,” Nadeau said. “It’s not a recipe for disaster, but it makes LSU’s quarterback situation worse.”
Louisiana high schools have only produced six Scout three-star signal callers, no four-star quarterbacks and one five-star quarterback, former LSU and East St. John passer Ryan Perrilloux, since 2004.
 
“I can’t remember a drought this long,” said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Mike Scarborough. “Louisiana has never gone this long without a marquee quarterback.”
 
There have been seven Louisiana Scout three-through-five-star quarterbacks (one for every 641,428 people) compared to 89 Texas three-through-five-star quarterbacks (one for every 278,426 people) in the eight-year span.
 
“It’s extremely easy [for LSU to recruit in-state players],” Scarborough said. “High school quarterbacks from Louisiana who grew up wearing an LSU bib in the crib are easy to recruit. When you go out of state, that’s a different story.”
 
Nadeau said one reason the state isn’t developing college-level quarterbacks is the trend of moving toward run-first offenses focused on the option instead of spread and pro-style formations.
 
“A lot of programs are going to play a certain type of offense because of the athletes they have,” Nadeau said. “They play more of a read-option type of offense because it’s hard to defend.”
 
Louisiana high schools aren’t using a prototypical drop-back quarterback as often as other states, according to Nadeau.
 
“You haven’t had the pure quarterback come through Louisiana,” Nadeau said. “You have to go elsewhere to go get them.”
 
Only four native Louisiana quarterbacks have started for LSU since 2000 — Josh Booty, Marcus Randall, Jefferson and Perrilloux.
 
Alabama native JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn from Tyler, Texas, panned out well for LSU, but the last three quarterbacks to sign with the Tigers have gone different routes.
 
Mississippi native Chris Garrett left the program this past summer, and Scout five-star dual-threat quarterback Russell Shepard from Houston, Texas, moved to wide receiver.
 
Two-sport athlete Zach Lee was the lone quarterback from the 2010 class, and he opted to play baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
 
“Things that you didn’t think would happen, happened,” Nadeau said. “If you would have those guys, you wouldn’t be in the position you are right now.”
 
LSU passed on in-state Scout three-star quarterbacks Zach Oliver and Dak Prescott for 2011.
 
The Tigers did nab Athens, Ala., quarterback Stephen Rivers on Aug. 6, but they are still seeking another passer.
 
“They want to hit a home run here at the end,” said Shea Dixon, managing editor for Tigersportsdigest.com. “LSU’s in a situation that they need to get a bigger, more ready name.”
 
Junior college quarterback Zach Mettenberger will be in Baton Rouge on Nov. 20 for the Ole Miss game. The former Georgia gunslinger, who also has offers from Arizona, Cincinnati and Troy, will also visit Texas A&M.
 
Scout three-star quarterbacks Cleveland, Ohio, native Cardale Jones and Jacoby Brissett from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., are also on LSU’s radar.
 
 
 
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Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]