LSU quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan works with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier (13), LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels (5), LSU quarterback Myles Brennan (15) and LSU quarterback Walter Howard (14) in the Tigers' first preseason practice, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the LSU indoor practice facility.
LSU offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Mike Denbrock coaches in the Tigers' first preseason practice, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the LSU indoor practice facility.
LSU quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan works with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier (13), LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels (5), LSU quarterback Myles Brennan (15) and LSU quarterback Walter Howard (14) in the Tigers' first preseason practice, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the LSU indoor practice facility.
LSU offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Mike Denbrock coaches in the Tigers' first preseason practice, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the LSU indoor practice facility.
Mike Denbrock was asked Monday how soon he’d like LSU’s quarterback derby settled.
“Today,” the new offensive coordinator said with a grin.
Who says football coaches are overly insulated? Denbrock certainly has his finger on the pulse of the people — the LSU people who are eager to find out what kind of offense their Tigers will have this fall. And who will run it.
The horses in the starting gate are Myles Brennan, a sixth-year survivor of some of the freakiest injuries you’ve ever heard of and also Danny Etling’s backup from 2017. You have Jayden Daniels, a transfer from Arizona State where he was an established starter. You have Garrett Nussmeier, the gun-slinging true freshman quarterback from 2021 who wasn’t afraid to throw it long and often in his four games last season. And Walker Howard, the freshman legacy whose father Jamie played the position back in the 1990s.
Everyone’s looking for an angle. An edge. Is it Daniels, who seems to most fit the mold of a dual-threat quarterback like Denbrock had at Cincinnati last year with Desmond Ridder? Is it Brennan, who new coach Brian Kelly persuaded to exit the transfer portal? Is it Nussmeier, who brings a “Top Gun” vibe to the position with his howitzer right arm? Or Howard, who appears destined for a redshirt, but who knows?
The answer: No one knows, really. Not the quarterbacks or Denbrock or Kelly. They don’t have to know yet, but they’ll soon have to figure it out.
“There comes a line of demarcation when we’ve got to get ready to win game one,” said Denbrock, referring to LSU’s opener Sept. 4 against Florida State in the Caesars Superdome. “We’re not anywhere close to that.
“Maybe it’ll be a two-man battle and that will be awesome. Maybe it’ll be three. The more the merrier, but we have to get ready for the season.”
Denbrock indicated it would be a mistake to read too much into the kind of offense he called at Cincinnati last year, an offense helmed by Ridder that helped the Bearcats to a surprising CFP semifinal appearance. He insisted he isn’t wedded to a dual-threat quarterback, that his offense can adapt to the talent he has to work with. And one of those talents, he stressed, had better be a penchant for not making turnovers.
Mobility will be key but not the deciding factor. It may turn out to be a really important one that could skew the battle in Daniels’ favor because of LSU’s offensive line situation.
This wasn’t a strength of the team last season. Kelly has promised it will be better, but the early reports about the O-line are not exactly “five blocks of granite” kind of stuff. Players are getting worked at different positions across the line, with the likely exception being that talented freshman Will Campbell will be hard to dislodge at left tackle.
“Right now, the depth chart isn’t really so much a depth chart,” sophomore lineman Garrett Dellinger said Tuesday. “It’s an organizational tool for the coaches.”
Dellinger, a tackle by trade, has been training intensely at center. If he has to play there over the likes of Charles Turner and Marlon Martinez, it will be an interesting set of musical chairs to fill before the pregame music stops Sept. 4.
Meanwhile, the parallels between this season and LSU’s 2000 campaign — the one that started the Tigers' unprecedented two decades of success filled with three national championships, five Southeastern Conference titles and a Heisman Trophy winner — continue to grow.
The 2000 season was LSU’s first under Nick Saban after two straight non-winning seasons to close the Gerry DiNardo era. This season is LSU’s first under Kelly after two straight non-winning seasons. This year, for the first time since 2000, the Tigers aren’t ranked in the USA Today preseason coaches poll (the AP poll comes out next week). And like this season, back in 2000 LSU had three quarterbacks vying for the starting job — Josh Booty, Rohan Davey and Craig Nall — with no clear-cut favorite at this point of preseason camp.
That season had its highlights — beating Tennessee and Mississippi State in thrillers, beating Alabama in Tiger Stadium for the first time since 1969 — and its lowlights — losing to UAB. In the end, LSU wound up 8-4 after a Peach Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.
An 8-4 record is my current over/under for the Tigers this regular season (Caesars currently has LSU’s over/under at seven wins).
Whether the Tigers can get there depends not only on who plays quarterback and how well they play but also how well LSU’s offensive line can block for that quarterback and open holes for the running backs.
Everyone is focusing on the quarterback spot, but LSU can probably win a similar number of games with Daniels, Brennan or Nussmeier running the show. If they’re running and scrambling behind an unsettled line, it won’t matter much.
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Brian Kelly prefers to build his teams through traditional recruiting classes, but in the short term, LSU added 16 scholarship transfers. Many of them will contribute — if not start — this season. This is how LSU assembled the class.
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