by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
November 1st, 2021 marks a strange day for LSU's #15 QB Myles Brennan.
Since he committed to LSU, April 30th 2016, Myles Brennan has been a Tiger....but now the former St Stanislaus QB, hailing from Mississippi's 2017 class, has put his name in the transfer portal.
Wanting a full season to start somewhere, anywhere but Baton Rouge, Brennan is casting his lot elsewhere....a tough decision after giving everything to LSU for 5 years.
Some would call his LSU tenure "unlucky"....however, I choose the word "cursed":
Joining during the 2017 season as a freshman under Danny Etling, Brennan was thrown into the Troy defeat to try and save the game; While he threw a touchdown and sparked the team on his first drive, his next came with a heavy price....a theme which would rear its head throughout Brennan's time at LSU: throwing a pick six right as he sustained a nasty concussion from a head shot, Myles would be removed from the game for Etling, dashing his hopes of taking over the job.
Then, coming into the 2018 season, it seemed Justin McMillan and Myles Brennan would be battling for that starting job....until April-May of that spring when Joe Burrow signed his letter of commitment on May 18th, 2018....the same day the Grey Ghost himself passed away.
It wasn't long before McMillan, pissed off at Orgeron's obvious love for Joe, transferred elsewhere....but Myles Brennan hung in there, taking a red shirt year as he studied under Joe's leadership, having a front row seat for the evolution of Joe Burrow.
Appearing in 1 game across 2018 as LSU steadily grew, Brennan was ready to compete for the starting job during the 2019 offseason, hoping he could persuade the new offensive axis of Ensminger / Brady.
He would have no shot of that, becoming LSU's definitive #2 behind Joe Burrow as the Ohio man led LSU through not only the university's greatest of all time season, but also the best single season for a collegiate quarterback, an offensive unit, the highest producing group of receivers, and a freakishly versatile running back corps: the greatest team in college football history.....and while Myles was a part of it, he didn't come to LSU to watch.
But that's what he did....watch Joe win it all....
For him to be able to stand there and watch Joe's all-encompassing, all-swaggering performances, one display after another....Myles deserves an Oscar for refusing to show one ounce of jealousy or bitterness.
But he didn't need to feel jealous: 2020 was going to be his time.
Myles had been primed for this all throughout 2019, helping him feel better about Joe's accomplishments and stranglehold over the team. Coach O had kept telling him "this is your year", even Steve Ensminger said "hop on the bandwagon" when talking about Myles, forecasting a great season for Brennan.
Most, if not all, Tiger fans bought it....believing Brennan could step right into Joe Burrow's shoes and deliver the Tigers yet another championship.....and if not win it all, at least contend.
Though Myles' first 3 outings of 2020 rank #1 all time for an LSU Tiger QB's first three starts, putting up numbers that nearly matched Joe's first 3 appearances of 2019 (1,112 yards, 11 TDs, 3 INTs), LSU couldn't win games in this one-dimensional "pass-first / pass-only" offensive set-up, with new hire Scott Linehan greatly failing Brennan.
James Cregg's Offensive Line also let Myles down, allowing him to take back to back shots to his abdomen @ Missouri, resulting in an internal tear of his muscles from throughout his chest and down into his kidney area.
Perhaps this moment will be what Myles Brennan is most remembered for at LSU:
Despite ripping his chest and stomach apart during the first quarter, his upper body held together by osmosis, trainer Jack Marucci having to shoot him up and "keep the seriousness of Myles' injury on the DL", Brennan finished the Missouri game heroically (or crazily) tossing 430 yards, 4 TDs for 29/48 as well as 0 INTs....
Toughness defines Myles Brennan....
Sadly, so does the word absence....
We wouldn't see him again for the rest of the 2020 campaign, a season lost in hell......but what if LSU had never lost Brennan to that horrorshow Week 3 injury?
What would've happened?
We'll always ask ourselves....
Coming into 2021, everything seemed set up for Myles, again:
Unlike the 2020 offseason, Brennan knew the QB job would be a battle this time around:
Against experienced sophomore Max Johnson (who already had a win against a Top 10 team on his 2 start resume), future Auburn transfer TJ Finley, and freshman wunderkind Garrett Nussmeier, Myles knew it would be an uphill climb....though most of the LSU staff and brass privately pulled for him.
During Spring and Summer practices, the questions were all about Myles' abdominal injury from last year, and how it was doing....how well he had recovered. Could he make those throws, could he extend plays??? Could he even pick up a football? Could he survive a hit?
Set up for a showdown August Fall Camp, where the next seat at the QBU Throne would be decided between Myles or Max, everything seemed to be right where it should've belonged:
If Myles was good enough to be LSU's starting quarterback, he would prove it......
Instead.....he never had the chance....
Slipping on his family's boat and breaking his humerus bone only a day before Fall Camp began, it was yet another cruel blow to Myles Brennan.....
When told of the news, only a day after I'd finished writing this profile on Brennan, I actually laughed, shook my head and without even needing to look, I knew it was true.
It sounded like something that could only happen to Myles Brennan.
After a 2021 fall where he's been mostly silent, except via his takedown of Matt Trent, or randomly seen talking a play over with Max on the sidelines during a game, maybe it was time for Brennan to go before anything worse happened to him in Baton Rouge.
The school of his dreams....the place that took 5 years of his life, and yet....when it came time for Myles to receive something in return, the connection was never quite there....the stars never aligned for him.
When the fans were ready to anoint Myles after the Missouri game, LSU's season was over after 2 quick losses and he was out for the season;
When only Justin McMillan stood in his way heading into the 2018 season, featuring a loaded WR corps, Joe Burrow showed up almost out of the sky;
When Myles was about to enter a showdown vs Max, a mano e mano Fall Camp which could've been a special competitive experience, sharpening both quarterbacks & the offense, instead, Brennan's summer hangout on the boat turned into a summer hangover that nightmares are made of.
Through it all, he never bitched, he never moaned, he never blamed anyone else....
LSU owes Myles Brennan a lot....not for what he did on the field, sadly he was never given the opportunity to achieve his LSU destiny; the Tigers owe Brennan for keeping it real during a time of significant locker room upheaval and change:
Recruited by Cam Cameron, Ensminger and Les Miles.....
The Mississippi-native was there when Joe Alleva was Athletic Director for a few more years....then, he watched as Scott Woodward came in during early 2019.
He was there when Arik Gilbert committed to LSU, caught a TD from Myles, opted out, transferred, was about to transfer back, and then transferred away to Georgia....
He was there when Coach Ed Orgeron first took over the interim job after the 2016 Auburn game....
He was there when Joe Burrow's shaggy hair was still made fun of and everyone talked about his "moxy".
He was there when Derek Ponamsky was a radio host....
He was there when Derek Ponamsky became, perhaps, the most influential member of Coach Ed Orgeron's regime....
He was there before, during and after the immediacy of LSU's Title IX scandal....
He was there for the Troy game....
He played alongside Devin White, Danny Etling, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Terrace Marshall, Greedy Williams, Grant Delpit, D.J Chark, Derrius Guice, Will Clapp, Kelvin Joseph, Arden Key, J'Kori Savage, as well as Lowell & Ja'Vaughn Narcisse among so many others....
Just relating to his position alone, in over 5 years, Myles was coached by Cam Cameron, Matt Canada, Steve Ensminger, Joe Brady, Jorge Munoz, Scott Linehan, Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas.....
He was there for the UCF game, the Fiesta Bowl in which he thought, 'maybe I'm going to have to replace Joe in this game'....only to find his QB had far more cajones than anyone knew....
He was there to be the first one to hug Steve Ensminger, only minutes after hearing his daughter-in-law had passed away in a tragic plane accident....
He was there when LSU took over the college football world on 1/13/2020....
And he was there when LSU lost the crown, from 2020's grim darkness into 2021's devastation and dismay.....Myles Brennan has been there as LSU's silent witness....all along, watching, witnessing....
He still had 2 more years of eligibility at LSU....meaning theoretically, Brennan was already the Tigers' 'Chris Weinke'.....the 22 year old is still very young, although it feels as if he's been at LSU for a decade....it probably feels to him like he'll wake up in 20 years and still hear Tommy Moffitt's wake-up whistle in his ear.
How much longer was he going to wait around at LSU?
Or was he going to finally walk out the door and find somewhere he can start football games, unquestioned, get this collegiate experience over with, and finally try his hand at the NFL?
All in all, the Myles Brennan story tells us one great trend about LSU football:
Over the past 5 years, beginning with Myles' commitment, the quarterback position has improved so markedly at LSU in recruiting, talent evolution, development & management, that we held on to Myles, the 6th overall QB of his class, for 5 years... even through Joe Burrow and Max Johnson....
But enough is enough....we need to cut the kid loose and he needs to take his shot....because looking at Max Johnson, Garrett Nussmeier and 2022 freshman prodigy Walker Howard, LSU isn't where he's going to get it.
This dude just wants to play some f***in football....and that's exactly what he deserves:
An unblemished shot at the stratosphere....
A chance he couldn't find at LSU, even after 5 years....through two huge injuries, being the #2 guy for a pair of seasons, having opportunities taken from him.... he now had to take this next roll of the dice for himself.
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc
SHOUTOUTS: Myles....thank you brother!