Five Things: Myles Brennan

By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor

Editor’s Note: This feature appears in the latest edition of Tiger Rag Extra, on newsstands and available for purchase online next week. To buy a copy, visit www.tigerrag.com/subscribe

1. Breakout Star

Already a prolific prep passer, Brennan burst onto the nation scene after an impressive showing at the Elite 11 quarterback camp over last summer. He’s since become one of the highest-touted quarterbacks in the 2017 recruiting cycle after authoring arguably the best senior season of any passer in the country (57 total touchdowns, 3 interceptions) and netting an invite to the Under Armour All-America Game. Suffice to say, Brennan is the caliber of quarterback LSU hasn’t been able to sign in some time. “I think LSU is confident this class is one that now they’re moving in the right direction with quarterback recruiting,” says Shea Dixon, a recruiting analyst for 247Sports. “It’s been a while since they got a guy like Brennan, who everybody in the country is talking about.”

2. Recent Uncertainty

An early addition to LSU’s 2017 haul, Brennan remained a rock solid commitment through the firings of Les Miles and Cam Cameron — his primary recruiter — and Ed Orgeron’s stint as interim coach. Even with the program’s future in doubt, it seemed as though the Tigers had finally found its franchise quarterback, so to speak. That’s changed a bit lately, however, as news broke that LSU extended an offer to five-star Alabama commitment Tua Tagovailoa. Brennan later tweeted “interesting” with a link to the recruiting story about the offer, though the tweet has since been deleted. Shortly after, he reported receiving an offer of his own from Oklahoma State, a program he visited — but was not initially offered by — weeks before committing to Cameron and LSU. One day later, Brennan re-opened his recruitment and announced his intentions to visit other schools and weigh his options while remaining a part of LSU’s class.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#461d7c” class=”” size=”18″]“We’re a Louisiana family,” Brennan says. “Then we moved back so my parents could raise us on the water here in Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina hit, and we had to move to Florida, but we came back.” [/perfectpullquote]

3. Still a Fit?

While still interim coach, Orgeron said he’d continue to recruit pro-style quarterbacks to LSU. He’s done something of an about face on this topic since landing the full-time gig, declaring the following at his introductory press conference: “I do believe that nowadays you have to run the spread offense. You have to have dual-threat quarterbacks that can run the ball and throw it.” That doesn’t necessarily jive with Brennan, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound pocket passer. It’s not that Brennan isn’t athletic enough to thrive in a spread offense, but it’s not the system he feels most comfortable in. In fact, St. Stanislaus coach Bill Conides actually dialed back some of the spread elements of his offense this season in order to allow Brennan to gain experience working under center and calling plays in a huddle, hoping to minimize two learning curves that’ve proved problematic for young quarterbacks in the past. It’ll be difficult to decipher much more on this front until LSU names its new offensive coordinator, a move that’ll factor heavily into where Brennan ends up.

4. Louisiana Roots

Perhaps you’ve dined at Brennan’s Restaurant in the French Quarter during a trip to New Orleans — reviews say its best known for its Creole flair. Well, it’s a family establishment owned and operated by relatives the young quarterback. Myles Brennan’s Louisiana roots run even deeper than that, though. His parents met as student athletes at Tulane, where his father played football and his mother lettered in basketball and volleyball. Myles himself was born in New Orleans. “We’re a Louisiana family,” Brennan says. “Then we moved back so my parents could raise us on the water here in Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina hit, and we had to move to Florida, but we came back.” Time will tell if its where he spends the next three-to-five years.

5. The Favre Connection

During his senior season, Brennan broke Mississippi career prep records for passing touchdowns and yards previously held by former St. Stanislaus quarterback Dylan Favre, the nephew of Brett. The summer before, the Hall-of-Famer reached out to Brennan’s family to invite the state’s top quarterback over for a workout session. Brennan spent a day at Oak Grove throwing, watching film and picking the brain of one of football’s all-time gunslingers. “It was really cool to learn from a guy who’s been through it all,” Brennan says. “The all-time highs and the all-time lows, he’s been through it all. It was a unique experience to work with a Hall-of-Famer like an hour from where I’m from.”