Do We Have Faith in Les Miles to Develop Zach Mettenberger and Gunner Kiel?

When we watch LSU play football, we know what we're getting. We're going to get a team that has a top-of-the-line defense and a team that runs the ball above average. It's going to include a head coach that is wacky, takes risks and eats grass. And the quarterback play will be below-par, borderline terrible.

Seriously, when was the last time Les Miles brought in a top quarterback, devolved him into something special and gave opposing defense something else to worry about? Let's break it down to try and answer that question.

In 2005 and 2006, Miles had quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who was there before Miles arrived. He had tons of potential and a very strong arm, but was never really an elite quarterback in college. If he were, they wouldn't have scored a combined 13 points in their two losses in 2006 when he had his best year at LSU.

In 2007, Matt Flynn finally got his chance to shine after riding the bench for three seasons. He showed signs of greatness, like in the BCS National Championship Game against Ohio State, where he threw for four touchdowns. But the majority of the year, he completed around 50 percent of his passes and only went four games without throwing an interception.

Then, from 2008-2011, you had Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson. Both quarterbacks were used more as game managers than anything. They both had seasons where they threw more interceptions than touchdowns, and they both completed less than 60 percent of their passes for their career.

If you watched the national championship game last night, you'd know that quarterback is not one of the Tigers' strong points. Truth is, it has never been under head coach Miles.

But the Tigers have a chance to change this, as they have two quality quarterbacks on the roster in Zach Mettenberger and Gunner Kiel. Both were top recruits in their respective classes and have all of the tools to succeed. Kiel has the accuracy, football IQ and can make every throw on the field. Mettenberger has the size, arm strength and decision-making.

This has really been the first time that Miles has had one quality quarterback on his roster. Well, now he has two of them that are capable of leading this team and giving this offense a different dimension.

"I'm going to go down there and work as hard as I can for the starting spot or backup spot or whatever I can earn," Kiel said. "I really want to be the starting quarterback, but you have to earn it."

There's no question that either one of these quarterbacks can lead this talented team and make them more complete. The question is, can coach Miles do his part and give the Tigers offense something we haven't seen in a long time?

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]