What Will Steve Ensminger’s Offense Look Like?
Steve Ensminger has been at LSU since 2010 primarily as tight ends coach with a brief stint as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the latter half of 2016 when Les Miles and then offensive coordinator Cam Cameron were fired four games into the season. Although the offense made significant improvements with Ensminger calling plays for the final eight games of the season, Orgeron opted to hire former Pittsburgh offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, to handle the offense last season.
Orgeron and Canada never saw eye to eye and Canada left after one season, opening the door for Ensminger who was named offensive coordinator in January.
Although we have seen Ensminger call plays and run the Tigers’ offense, he was doing so with Cam Cameron’s offense after taking over midseason. So what exactly the offense will look like with Ensminger calling plays from his own playbook is yet to be seen.
During his introductory press conference, he indicated that he planned to run some variation of the spread offense relying on run-pass option plays. “I think we have to put three and four receivers on the field. I think we have to be an RPO (run-pass option) team. I think we have to be a more fastball team. I think we have to go no huddle. That’s the direction that we’re going.”
Given LSU’s strength and depth at wide receiver, it would make sense to run a system that puts three or four receivers on the field at a time. And RPO-heavy offenses have worked well at both the college and pro level in recent years, especially in situations with less-experienced quarterbacks.
With only a few weeks of practice to install a new scheme, the offense LSU runs this weekend will be limited but will still be the first look at Ensminger calling his own plays and should give some indication of how the young offensive unit, quarterbacks in particular, are adapting under his tutelage.
Who Starts at Quarterback?
Myles Brennan (So) – Pro-Style, 6’4″, 195 pounds – appeared in 5 games in 2017
Lowell Narcisse (RS Fr) – Dual-Threat, 6’2,” 230 pounds
Justin McMillan (RS Jr) – Dual-Threat, 6’3,” 210 pounds
As the only quarterback on LSU’s roster who has taken a snap at the college level, Myles Brennan is the presumed starter coming into spring practice. The job is by no means his though. Brennan was a four-star prospect coming into the program a year ago and was heavily recruited by former offensive coordinator, Matt Canada. He checks all of the boxes for what you’d look for in an ideal pro-style quarterback in terms of size, arm strength, and mechanics. As a freshman, playing only sparingly last season, he wasn’t overly impressive especially under pressure and going through progressions when his primary target was covered. But as a true freshman, with limited opportunity in a new offense, that’s to be somewhat expected.
Brennan will likely be challenged for playing time by redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse. He matches Brennan in terms of arm strength and although he is a much more athletic and mobile quarterback, he is a solid pocket passer and does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield when scrambling rather than just automatically tucking the ball and running. Like Brennan, Narcisse was also a four-star recruit coming out of high school in 2017.
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McMillan will get his share of reps on Saturday but the fourth-year junior isn’t expected to push for playing time. It will more than likely be a two-man competition with a slight edge to Brennan just based on experience.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Narcisse win the job though. Just from watching film of both in high school, Narcisse looks much more comfortable when faced with pressure and going through progressions and hitting his second and third option.
We’ll have a much better idea of who the leads the competition after this weekend though