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Brandon Harris leading LSU Tigers QB competition over Anthony Jennings?

By Patrick Schmidt

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The quarterback battle at LSU is one of the more intriguing position battles to watch this spring, but does Anthony Jennings or Brandon Harris have a leg up on the competition?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but if LSU can get solid play from the quarterback position, the Tigers can be national title contenders.

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This has been on repeat for years in Baton Rouge where LSU has had dominant defenses and talent at the skill positions and offensive line but have not developed the quarterback and gotten the results at the game’s most important position to bring another national championship to Death Valley.

Should this year be any different after watching Anthony Jennings struggle for much of last season and Brandon Harris look completely overwhelmed in his lone start as a freshman in 2014?

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron’s biggest task this spring is to get Jennings and Harris ready to play this year and complement the skill players like Leonard Fournette, Malachi Dupre and Trey Quinn around him and get LSU back to the top of the SEC west standings after a disappointing 8-5 season.

Whoever wins the job will have no excuses for poor performance with the talent surrounding them, but who is the favorite to win the job?

Jennings is a year older and has more experience than Harris, a rising sophomore who enrolled early as a freshman last year to get a head start on battling for the job, and could be the early leader in the clubhouse based on that alone, but at the first scrimmage, the reps were an even 50-50 split.

This isn’t uncommon for teams do that, especially so early in spring practice and a decision on the starter likely won’t come until a few days or a week before the team’s season opener vs McNeese State on Sept. 5, but the good thing is Les Miles likes the tempo the two had during the scrimmage.

So the reps were split down the middle and the tempo was a little faster suggesting the two signal-callers are feeling confident and comfortable in the offense, so who looked better today and could be leading the race to start?

Harris “might” have the edge today doesn’t mean he’s going to start the opener against McNeese State, but this is a sign that he is more ready in his second spring session with LSU and is mentally prepared to handle the rigors of digesting the playbook.

If you poll LSU fans, they are probably hoping Harris wins the job after seeing what Jennings did as a starter last year when he completed 48.9 percent of his passes and only five of his 11 touchdown passes came against SEC opponents. Throwing seven interceptions doesn’t help his case either.

The upside is clearly there for Harris but now is the time to prove to his coaches, teammates and himself that he’s capable of leading LSU to the top of the SEC and finally answering the question that has lingered for years.

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