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The LSU spring football game probably didn’t go as well as sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings would have hoped.
As a result, it looks like the presumed Tigers’ starter has a little work to do if he aims to lead LSU in the fall.
Jennings struggled in Saturday afternoon’s National L-Club Spring Game, battling accuracy and turnovers throughout the day.
As he struggled, true freshman Brandon Harris tossed for 195 yards and three touchdowns to presumably move closer to Jennings on the depth chart.
The White team beat the Purple on the afternoon by a 42-14 count.
But all of the talk after the game was about the quarterbacks and how the race is beginning to heat up between the pair of youngsters.
“Anthony Jennings started out with a couple of misthrows, and it was a great opportunity to play beyond adversities,” LSU football coach Les Miles said after the game. “And he did so. Brandon Harris made some good plays. He threw the ball at times extremely well. There’s some real optimism surrounding the quarterback position right now.”
Jennings’ day started off horribly if one is an LSU fan.
The rising sophomore quarterback turned over the ball twice in the first half, throwing a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns – one while playing for the White team and the other for Purple.
Linebackers Deion Jones and Kwon Alexander were the beneficiaries of the picks, taking them 67 and 26 yards to the house, respectively.
Miles said similar plays absolutely can’t happen in the fall. Jennings agreed and said he learned from his errors.
“I had two interceptions in this game,” Jennings said. “I wish I had those back, but you can’t take them back. I just had to overcome adversity.”
To Jennings’ credit, he did perform better statistically in the second half of the game, finishing 9-of-17 passing with 157 yards and a touchdown – a 13-yard strike to Travin Dural.
“If you throw an interception and you don’t come back, you aren’t a good quarterback,” Jennings said. “Every quarterback goes through adversity. It’s about how you respond, not how you fall.”
But the reason why the quarterback race may be a little tighter in the fall is because Harris didn’t fall at all throughout Saturday’s game.
The true freshman wowed LSU’s defense, completing 11-of-29 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. The completion percentage stat is a big skewed, as Harris was just 3-of-10 when playing for Purple – the team comprised of second and third team players.
Harris also rushed for 77 yards in the game, including a 41-yard scamper in the second half of play.
“He made some really big plays and nice passes in the game,” Miles said. “But he also made some mistakes. It was certainly reviewed very positively by us. We’re a ways away (with Harris), but there needs to be improvement in both sports. … We think that both guys are pretty good, and we would like to think that they would continue to improve and be well beyond where they are today (this fall).”
Per LSU rules, Harris was not eligible to talk to reporters, as freshmen are prohibited from the press except in extraordinary circumstances.
But Jennings said he is happy his teammate played well and had a nice day.
“The competition brings out the best in everybody,” Jennings said. “He pushed me to do better and I pushed him to do better. He did a great job this game. He made a lot of great plays with both his feet and his arm.”
One player both quarterbacks hit throughout the night was receiver Travin Dural, who snagged five passes for 130 yards with two touchdowns, looking like a shoe-in to replace Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham as the Tigers’ top target.
No other LSU receiver significantly impacted the game, as the team’s depth chart has been depleted by injuries throughout the spring.
“Timing – we have to get our timing and our depth down,” Dural said. “We need to be consistent. We would have a good day and then two bad days (this spring). We need to stay working on our timing and being consistent.”
Perhaps one of the reasons for LSU’s offensive struggles is the Tigers’ improvements on defense. The LSU White defense (first-team) had a dominant day throughout Saturday’s game, limiting Purple to 179 yards on 46 offensive plays.
The Tigers’ defensive line dominated the action throughout the afternoon, limiting the Purple team to 53 rushing yards on 27 carries, while recording two sacks. Young linebacker Lamar Louis led the White team with seven tackles. Defensive end Danielle Hunter had both sacks.
Total, linebacker Ronnie Feist led all players with 14 tackles.
“We push each other every day,” Jones said of the defense. “We try to get better at the little things. Today, that paid off.”
But no matter how well LSU’s defense may have played, it’s all about the quarterbacks and the battle that is going to ensue in summer camp.
Miles maintained following the game that the Tigers do not have a starting quarterback yet.
After the way Harris played on Saturday, he may not yet be that guy. But he’s closer than he was before last weekend.
“We’re going to let the competition continue and see how things play out,” Miles said. “It serves us to say that there’s some talent at that spot. We really think both will develop quite nicely.”
LSU quarterback Brandon Harris slings a pass at Saturday’s spring game. The true freshman had three touchdowns in the game, wowing the 17,000 in attendance.
