BATON ROUGE - I coached Little League baseball, so I know how Little League parents can be.
"Why don't you play my son more? I did more than the other parents with the candy sales," I was once told by a parent.
I did not know at the time that candy sales were bargaining chips - or bargaining almonds or nuggets.
Her son had been playing. So had the kid who ate all his candy and told me he sold it. Then he told me the dog ate it.
I said, "Ate what - the money or the candy?"
"Uh, both," he said.
There are Little League rules. Every kid has to play a minimum of six defensive outs with one at-bat, and that makes a lot of sense.
But college football is not Little League, even though sometimes a parent or two thinks their kid is owed a little something extra for whatever reason. Often, an air of privilege develops from the recruiting process in college athletics.
LSU quarterback Myles Brennan was likely recruited out of St. Stanislaus High in Long Beach, Mississippi, in 2016-17 as if he was going to be the Tigers' next starting quarterback. Of course, so maybe was Lowell Narcisse out of St. James High at the same time. Brennan beat out Narcisse to become the Tigers' No. 2 quarterback last year behind senior Danny Etling. Brennan exited spring practice as a likely favorite to be the 2018 starter, though he was clearly not setting the bayou on fire. In fact, junior Justin McMillan, who had never been considered as a possible starter, suddenly entered the picture during spring and, particularly, in the spring game.
But Brennan, although he was up and down in the spring, was still most likely going to start to start the season.
But then, Ohio State graduate transfer quarterback Joe Burrow - a junior with more experience than the other three put together and not rail thin like Brennan and in need of a weight gain plan - has been tossed into the quarterback room. And he's a big, tall and athletic fish at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds with a strong arm. And this has rocked Brennan's world, whether anyone in the New Orleans restaurant dynasty cares to admit it or not.
Brennan (6-4 193) is basically back where he was last year, having to beat out a more seasoned and older quarterback to become the starter.
Burrow is not nearly as seasoned as Etling, to be sure, as he only completed 29 of 39 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons and 10 games at Ohio State as a backup. This is not much more than Brennan, who completed 14 of 24 for 192 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions in six games as a true freshman backup last season. In fact, Burrow played less last year than Brennan as Burrow was only 7 of 11 for 61 yards in 2017. But Burrow is a much better runner and scrambler than Brennan. He rushed 12 times for 58 yards in 2016 and just moves better.
And Burrow played parts of two seasons and was in the Ohio State program for three years as he red-shirted in 2015 as a freshman signee.
The Ohio State program under three-time national championship coach Urban Meyer, who took over in 2012, has been much more successful overall and particularly on offense and at quarterback than has LSU over that span. It has also had much more continuity in the offensive coordinating department. Meyer is on his third offensive coordinator in five years, but Tom Herman (Houston and Texas head coaching jobs) and Tim Beck (offensive coordinator at Texas) left because the offenses were doing very well. Not because they were fired for bad offense or because the head coach couldn't get along with the offensive coordinator.
LSU, meanwhile, is on its fourth offensive coordinator in less than two years - Cam Cameron in early 2016, Steve Ensminger for the rest of 2016, Matt Canada in 2017 and Ensminger again going into 2018. Brennan is on his second offensive coordinator, and he hasn't been here a year yet. He was also identified and recruited by one head coach and signed with another.
Burrow signed with a program coming off the 2014-15 national championship. While red shirting, he practiced with and watched the Buckeyes finish 12-1 overall, 7-1 in the Big 10 and finish No. 4 in the nation. As a redshirt freshman, he played briefly for a team that finished 11-2 and 8-1 and reached the college football playoff final four. And last year, he played briefly for a team that finished 12-2 and 8-1.
This excellence on the field and the continuity of coaching cannot hurt a player coming to a LSU program that has been skidding to an average of four losses a year for the last four years.
Another point in Burrow's favor is the fact that the only experience Brennan has with the latest "new" LSU offense is one spring with Ensminger. Whatever Brennan learned about Canada's offense is moot now.
Those are all reasons why Brennan's life suddenly changed last week at about the time Burrow tweeted this - "Excited to be playing in Death Valley next season. Ready to get to work."
But Brennan's father, Owen Brennan, stayed on the high road. He didn't go all bad Little League parent. And many parents, and fans for that matter, could learn from his reaction to LSU signing Burrow, which if you remember did not come out of nowhere. LSU coach Ed Orgeron said on signing day in February he would likely sign a transfer quarterback as he was unable to sign target quarterback James Foster of Montgomery, Ala., as he instead went to Texas A&M.
"He's good where he is," Owen Brennan told the Biloxi Sun-Herald on Monday about any possibility of his son transferring. "He's going to compete and feels very comfortable with where his position is right now. I think he's in a very, very good position to compete for the starting job. I really do. That's just my opinion. If I thought the opposite, if they were bringing in Tom Brady or something, I'd say, 'Hey, Myles, look,' but I don't see him in that position."
Notice, Brennan did not say his son was already the starter and would be facing new competition. He said he will be competing for the job. Well said.
Brennan also praised Orgeron and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, neither of whom are into candy sales. They just want to win and keep their jobs, which in truth are both still somewhat more interim than most.
"I have the utmost trust in Steve Ensminger, and I have more than enough trust and belief in Coach Orgeron," Brennan said. "I think it will be a fair battle. They're going to play the best quarterback. Short of somebody telling him (Burrow) they guarantee he'll be the starting quarterback, he's going to be in a battle, I can tell you that."
Good for you, Mr. Brennan.
All any major college athlete is owed is a scholarship, a fair chance and some free snacks, according to a NCAA rules change a few years ago.
"Here's what I think," Brennan added. "I think Joe Burrow has three years and 15 pounds on Myles. That's it. I don't think he has a huge upper hand."
That's not entirely accurate. Burrow is a better athlete with a stronger arm who has received better coaching. But I like Owen's spirit. And again, he's being refreshingly not boastful. It doesn't sound like he thinks his son invented the forward pass. In other words, he does not sound like the high school coach of Ryan Perrilloux.
He's even admitting Burrow already has somewhat of an upper hand.
And at the same time, he did take up for his son as he has gotten a large taste of social media LSU style. Apparently, Burrow is the next Tom Brady in some Tiger Nation circles.
"I try not to read social media," Brennan said. "But with these developments and the quarterback coming in, some people are losing their minds," he said. "I want people to know that emotionally, it has not affected Myles at all. He's fishing 24 hours a day right now (before returning to LSU for summer workouts)."
And I understand he has a quick release.
Sounds like Mr. Brennan has a smart head on his shoulders. It is wise to stay away from social media, which he must be doing for the most part. Because if he wasn't, he would have said "people have lost their minds" instead of "people are losing their minds."
But it's only May. Give him time.
And give Orgeron credit. He has signed the first LSU quarterback since JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn that Les Miles has no fingerprints on whatsoever. That's another bird in Burrow's hand right there.
Judging from the mature tone of Owen Brennan's comments and human nature in general, though, Burrow may have just lit a fire under Brennan.
Whatever happens, Orgeron has done his job. He made the long suffering LSU quarterback position better by signing Burrow whether Burrow wins the job sooner, or later, or not.
