Les Miles' Idea to Play 2 Quarterbacks in 2015 Would Be a Recipe for Disaster

The quarterback battle raging at LSU between sophomore Brandon Harris and junior incumbent Anthony Jennings is arguably the most important in college football. Head coach Les Miles boasts a wildly talented team that seems to be a quarterback away every season since Matt Flynn led the Tigers to the 2007 national title.

Jennings completed just 48.9 percent of his passes last year, and when Harris got his lone start—on the road at Auburn—he completed just three of 14 passes before being pulled.

Coach Miles, however, is pleased with the progress of his two signal-callers through spring practice.

"There's a real closeness," he said during Tuesday's teleconference. "One guy hasn't separated himself from the other, and both guys are playing much better."

Player	Comp./Att.	Comp. %	Yds.	TDs	INTs	Rush Yds.	Rush TDs
Anthony Jennings	111-for-227	48.9	1,611	11	7	292	0
Brandon Harris	25-for-45	55.6	452	6	2	159	3

It's May, not August, so an unsettled quarterback position isn't exactly the most alarming development in the world.

What is alarming, though, is Miles' admission that both could play if no leader surfaces before toe meets leather in the season opener against McNeese State.

"I could also see a time where we have a necessity to play them both," Miles said. "I would like to see those guys going into fall camp and one separate from the other and be a clear-cut decision. With that being said, if that does not happen, you can't make it happen and we'll end up playing whichever is best for our team.

"If we have a guy who's going to compete with whoever the starter could be and step in maybe in the second series and say, 'OK, we're ready to do this,' I think there's an advantage to that as well."

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Miles is wrong, at least in this situation.

Jennings and Harris are too closely related in terms of what they bring to the table to make a two-quarterback system work. They're both dual-threat quarterbacks who can make things happen on the ground and through the air, but they have proven to be inconsistent with the pass on a game-by-game basis. 

If neither wins the job, what message would it send to both of them if LSU plays musical quarterbacks early in the season?

The same message Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron sent early last season: They have no confidence in either quarterback.

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

That's the last thing the eventual No. 1 needs this season, which is a critical juncture for Miles and Cameron. Cameron is in the final year of a three-year contract, while Miles could land on the hot seat in 2016 if the Tigers don't return to SEC West contention in 2015.

LSU hasn't finished out of the top six in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings over the last three seasons, and with that kind of talent on board, November contention should be an annual event. The Tigers are still a quarterback away, and if musical quarterbacks doesn't work this year, it's clear that there's a coaching problem.

The easy solution would be to let Cameron walk, and as I wrote earlier this year, he is coaching for his job in 2015. If he is let go, that brings Miles one step closer to shouldering all the blame in 2016.

A decision needs to be made during fall camp, and barring a meltdown or injury, that decision needs to stick.

Miles has used two quarterbacks at times during his LSU career.

When LSU won the national title in 2007, Flynn combined with Ryan Perrilloux to lead the Tigers to the promised land. In 2010 and 2011, Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson made the collective stress level of the LSU fanbase rise, but did lead the Tigers to the 2011 SEC title. In 2013, Jennings was the running quarterback who came in during drives in place of Zach Mettenberger.

The common thread among all of those situations is the difference in style between the pro-style passer and the dual-threat quarterback.

LSU doesn't have that in 2015.

A two-quarterback system in Baton Rouge in 2015? Nope.

That would do more harm than good.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.