LSU Football: Despite Spring Performances, Tigers Still Have a QB Problem

"When you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks."

It's an old cliche that's not often applicable in this day and age of college football, where quarterbacks get injured and coaches are well-schooled at using signal-callers with different skill sets.

For LSU in 2014, though, it was a 100 percent accurate description of the state of the quarterback position.

Anthony Jennings completed just 48.9 percent of his passes on the season, lost his job to Brandon Harris and was forced back into action after Harris completed just three of 14 passes in just over two quarters in his only career start—a road matchup vs. Auburn in early October 2014.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

At the spring game over the weekend, though, the two quarterbacks gave the staff and Tigers fans a little glimmer of hope.

Jennings completed 13 of 20 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns while Harris completed 11 of his 17 passes for 178 and two touchdowns of his own.

"We threw the football much more in spring ball," head coach Les Miles said in quotes released by LSU. "We did the same in the spring game. I felt that both quarterbacks really executed their throws at a very high level."

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

The same kind of confidence resonated among the entire offense, as wide receiver Malachi Dupre stated, according to LSU:

"

I feel like they've both improved mentally. It's never been a physical problem. They've both become much better leaders and have just taken charge. I think it's shown. Moving forward, we have a lot of work we still have to do, but I feel confident and am looking forward to the season.

"

Progress of any kind is earth-shattering news in Baton Rouge, but there's still a quarterback problem.

As Russ Mitchell of CFN points out, most of the damage done by the quarterbacks came against the second-team defense—which was clearly a tremendous step back from the first-teamers.

The fact that, for the most part, the Tigers' No. 2 offense was on the field when facing the first-team defense can certainly be used to explain some of the struggles. It's still a major concern to see the quarterbacks go through many of the same issues they went through last year.

One of Jennings' major issues last year was indecisiveness in the pocket, and he took three sacks on the afternoon while playing with the purple team (second team). It was for that team that Harris threw the only interception of the afternoon—to true freshman Kevin Toliver II.

As Hunter Paniagua of TigerSportsDigest.com points out, even third-string early enrollee Justin McMillan lit up the second team like a Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon.

Spring game success is always a double-edged sword regardless of team. If one unit looks great, it can easily be used as an indictment on the other side of the ball. LSU's second-team defense has major issues and is a big reason why the quarterbacks looked good on Saturday.

Does that mean a sequel to last season's box-office flop is in store for the Tigers in 2015?

Not necessarily.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Both quarterbacks looked in control with the first-team offense, appeared capable of making the tough throws and helped more weapons—like Dupre and spring phenom D.J. Chark—develop over the course of the 15 practice sessions.

As a result, LSU now has something it hasn't had in a long time at the quarterback position—hope.

Let's hold off on closing the book on LSU's quarterback issues, though.

Hope is great, but now both quarterbacks have to build off that foundation during summer workouts and fall camp—something they were unable to do last year. 

This spring was a small step forward, but now the real challenge begins for Jennings, Harris and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

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.