LSU Spring Game 2012: Zach Mettenberger Is Not Tigers' QB of the Future

Despite a semi-impressive spring game for LSU Tigers' quarterback, Zach Mettenberger, he still leaves no hope that he'll be the quarterback of the future for Les Miles' squad.

Mettenberger threw for two touchdowns and led his White team to a 24-17 victory over the Purple team in LSU's intra-squad game.

Although he did make some long connections down field, Mettenberger was barely over 50 percent for his completion percentage and didn't show a great deal of accuracy throwing the ball.

He also threw two picks, both of which occurred in enemy territory. One was returned for a touchdown, while the other was picked off in the end zone.

Mettenberger will have to take better care of the ball inside the 50 if he wants to be successful and put points on the board as a starting quarterback.

Granted, it's extremely early in the process, but Mettenberger must play better if he hopes to beat some of the stiffer competition in the SEC.

The bad thing for the Tigers' quarterback is that intra-squad games greatly weaken each team overall and spread the best players thin. If he had problems throwing the ball against a weakened LSU Purple team defense, one can only imagine the struggles he'll have against some of the best teams in the country.

It isn't always about arm, something Mettenberger certainly has. LSU's offense appears to be taking more shots down the field, and while that benefits Mettenberger's style, he'll need to make the touch passes as well.

Unless he continues to improve, which he definitely has time to do, I can't see Mettenberger being the reason the Tigers become the best team in the nation next season.