LSU Football: Les Miles' Biggest Challenge for 2016 Spring Practice

There are starting jobs to be earned, and the head coach actually went to Cuba for spring break, but there’s really only one thing fans focused on during LSU Tigers football's spring practices, and it’s not Leonard Fournette.

Everyone already knows what the outstanding running back can do. Instead, it’s the passing game, which was the story with the Tigers all last season, through their bowl game and every day since.

Consider what head coach Les Miles said in a press conference after the team’s first spring workout.

“We took the field throwing the football and took the first part of practice and worked our throws,” Miles said. “We’re heading toward the opportunity to throw the football better. That’s what we intended to do with the spring, and that’s what we are doing.”

That first part of practice was open to reporters, so LSU throwing the ball out of the gate was as much a public-relations move as signaling to the team its importance.

Miles continued: “I think everyone realizes comfortably that we need to execute the passing game more efficiently with higher completion percentages. We all recognize that is something that makes our team better.

Category	National Rank
First downs	T83
Third-down conversions	63
Passing offense	105
Passing yards per completion	7
Red zone offense	58
Scoring offense	44
Team passing efficiency	65
Time of possession	37
Total offense	39
Turnovers lost	2
Sacks allowed	T30
Tackles for loss allowed	T45

“I want to throw the football 15 practices just like we threw it today. That’s our plan. What that means is we are taking an inordinate amount of time at the beginning of practice to set up technically our throwing game.”

The first scrimmage, held before LSU went on spring break, was more of the same. Miles said during his post-scrimmage comments on March 17:

"

We continue to throw the ball. We threw more than 50 percent of the time [today]. I don’t know if today was their most spectacular day, but we threw and caught a number of deep balls.

We can improve there pretty quickly and our approach on a couple of throws. If we do that, we are just where we want to be.

"

What’s caused so much angst among Tigers fans has been the frustrating lack of passing proficiency—again. After throwing for 3,263 yards (251.0 per game) in 2013, that number dropped to 2,118 (162.9) a year later and was just 2,165 (180.4) yards last season.

It corresponds to the departure of quarterback Zach Mettenberger, whom Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel barely beat out for the league lead in passing efficiency in 2013, and finished fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

LSU has nationally been in the bottom half of passing efficiency in each the last two seasons despite having one of the game’s highest-paid coordinators, Cam Cameron. Coupled with the lack of consistency by starting quarterback Brandon Harris and the Tigers have again become known as being a one-dimensional offense.

Granted, Miles has never been known for being a passing-first kind of coach, but statistically the best offense he had was 2007 when LSU executed 1,054 plays for 6,152 yards in 14 games and was balanced in its output. The running game tallied 2,998 yard, and the passing attack had 3,154.

That offense also set a program record for points with 541 (38.6) while winning the national championship. By the time the Tigers played in the BCS title game in 2011—and lost, 21-0, to rival Alabama—the passing game had clearly taken a step back.

Last year, LSU ran for 3,082 yards, which topped the SEC while it was just 11th in passing yards. 

That’s especially what LSU fans don’t want to see happen again this fall, a chance at another title slip through its fingers because the Tigers can’t effectively throw the ball. It’s the perceived difference between making the playoffs and being relegated to the Texas Bowl and finishing 9-3.

Year	Rank	Rating
2005	20	142.56
2006	4	163.30
2007	37	133.61
2008	80	117.44
2009	49	131.87
2010	92	117.61
2011	24	147.53
2012	77	127.10
2013	6	164.72
2014	68	128.27
2015	65	130.13

Yet one thing that’s giving them hope is what happened against Texas Tech in Houston, a 56-27 victory in which the offense appeared to be all but unstoppable. In addition to Fourntte having an epic bowl game, with 212 rushing yards on 29 carries and five total touchdowns (four rushing), LSU coaches tried something new.

Harris asked for Cameron to move down from the press box and work with him on the sideline during the game. He completed 14 of 23 passes for 261 yards and one touchdown as LSU amassed 638 total yards and gained 10.3 per snap. Miles said during his postgame press conference:

"

It helped, I thought, tremendously. I thought that he brought energy to it. I thought that Brandon Harris, seeing Cam and listening and getting instruction, not even so much what was said but how it was said, just made a tremendous difference to him and his approach. What we needed to have happen in this game, to improve, we needed to have our quarterback play. I think our quarterback played extremely well. I shouldn’t say extremely well, he took a stride certainly. But that is what we needed to have him to do to have victory today. I think Cam being down was exactly the right thing.

"

Miles went on to say that “maybe the synergy and the things he did on the sideline were very probably the difference.”

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

That’s the momentum LSU is trying to build upon with a team that returns nearly all of its starters.

Among the few who need to be replaced include tackles Vadal Alexander and Jerald Hawkins, (according to Randy Rosetta of Gridiron Now, sophomores Maea Teuhema and Toby Weathersby are the leading contenders to replace them), safety Jalen Mills and linebacker Deion Jones.

Also gone via transfers are reserve wide receivers John Diarse, Trey Quinn and Kevin Spears, along with quarterback Anthony Jennings, who had played in 24 games and made 13 starts.

On the flip side is quarterback Danny Etling, who sat out last season after transferring from Purdue. He played in eight games as a freshman, but five games into his sophomore year, he lost his starting job. 

Etling passed for 2,490 yards with a 55.5 completion percentage, 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for the Boilermakers. In comparison, Harris completed 53.6 percent of his passes for 2,158 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions last season.

“I think Brandon is probably the starter and I think Danny is coming like heck,” Miles said, according to the Advocate’s Ross Dellenger.

Just about everything depends on their development, including Miles’ job.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.