LSU’s spring cliffhanger leaves us waiting for fall

Published 11:02 am Monday, April 20, 2015

BATON ROUGE — First of all, just to clarify: your knowledgeable observer will realize that LSU’s spring football game was never designed or intended to decide or even to shed much light on LSU’s quarterback situation.

Or, more importantly, the improvement thereof.

Maybe there was something that happened in the last month — maybe there was a signature moment when the light bulb went off for young Anthony Jennings or younger Brandon Harris — but it would have happened behind those hermetically sealed practice doors.

It wasn’t going to be detectable during Saturday’s affair, which featured perhaps the most lopsided splitting into White (mostly starters) and Purple (maybe someday) of the teams in memory.

But it’s all we’ve got.

So let’s play along.

First, there’s the party line.

“Night and day,” offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said of the difference since the quarterbacks’ last public struggles in the Music City Bowl.

“Both quarterbacks really executed their throws,” head coach Les Miles chimed in. “Not perfect, but I think both moved forward and both played great.

“We’re much better than we were offensively.”

He wasn’t, of course, ready to pronounced either one head and shoulders above the other.

“I’m going to defer and let the competition play out,” he said.

OK.

For one thing, LSU threw almost 50 percent of the time and the White team alone threw for 411 yards, suggesting this wasn’t as much a spring intrasquad game as the Tigers’ version of fantasy football.

Miles later explained that running back Leornard Fournette & Co. got plenty of work during the lead-up practices.

“But we didn’t want to beat those guys up in this game,” Cameron said.

So the Tigers’ throwing it all over the lot probably isn’t exactly a sneak preview into next season.

But let’s dissect it. What else you got to do in the spring?

The White team won, something like 45-6, as well they should have, what with the bulk of the starters.

Except for one added touch — the quarterbacks kept bouncing back and forth, getting their shots with both teams.

Combined, Jennings was 12 of 20 for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Harris was 11 of 17 for 178 yards and two touchdowns.

Predictably they had their way directing the White, while throwing safer passes and a lot of dump-offs with the Purple.

So first, take a gander at them throwing against the starting secondary, which wasn’t giving away a lot of state secrets with its coverage schemes.

That was the tougher gig.

Jennings was 5 of 6, but only for 27 yards. Harris was 4 of 10 for 37 yards.

Harris has the stronger, sharper arm, but you already knew that. Jennings had the better completion percentage.

If you want to cross-compare, get really nitpicky, take Malachi Dupre’s two long touchdown catches side by side.

He was wide open on Jennings’ 37-yard toss to him, yet had to make an awkward, over-the-shoulder catch to run down the floater before trotting in.

Dupre was well covered at the goal for Harris’ 35-yard touchdown completion. Dupre made the catch of the day, but to his credit Harris threw it where only Dupre could have caught it.

Cameron said he was most pleased in the decision-making of the two quarterbacks.

Whatever.

A year ago in this very same silly exercise, Harris raised a lot of hopes by clearly outplaying Jennings statistically, mostly by throwing a lot of balls up for grabs that somehow, in a spring game sort of way, found waiting arms for a lot of big gains.

That didn’t work so well when he got his lone start against Auburn.

And it’s true that both looked to be going through their check-downs Saturday.

What wasn’t particularly evident was any real change in the passing game. It still didn’t really seem to be attacking, more defensive than anything.

You didn’t see many receivers getting targeted just as they came out of their breaks or led perfectly while defended.

The passing game evidently isn’t quite there yet.

It still seems, for the most part, that it’s based on not making any mistakes, on waiting until a receiver comes open and THEN making the throw.

There happened to be a lot of them running free Saturday.

It doesn’t figure to happen nearly as much during the SEC toils next fall.

But you don’t want to make too much out of the spring game.

So we’ll just pronounce this … to be continued.

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.com

LSU head coach Les Miles talks with players in the first half of the Music City Bowl NCAA college football game against Notre Dame Tuesday

Mark Humphrey