ESPN Analyst Kirk Herbstreit Talks Myles Brennan, LSU Football Offensive Performance in Week One
Perhaps there was no bigger national cheerleader for the LSU offense in 2019 than ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit. From the first time he saw the Tigers play against Texas in Austin, he was sold and week after week, Joe Burrow and company continued to prove him right.
Following LSU's disappointing 44-34 loss to Mississippi State to kick off the 2020 season, Herbstreit gave his thoughts on the LSU offense and Myles Brennan on an episode of the CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack & Neghandi.
"Now, poor Myles Brennan, who grew up in that state, dreamed of one day putting that uniform on, was an elite high school player. It's not like he was a walk-on — this guy's a great player. My reaction was not, 'Oh, man, this guy's not any good.' It was more of, 'If you needed more of a reason to appreciate who LSU was last year,' this is back not to where they were system wise pre-2019. This is more of, 'This is normal.' This is a young quarterback who is hesitant, unsure and just waiting that extra hitch or holding onto that ball just an extra second."
Brennan passed for 345 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions against the Bulldogs. There were times where he looked tentative and times where he missed open receivers down the field. But there were also flashes of brilliance, including a pair of very nice touchdown passes to Terrace Marshall.
Herbstreit is unwilling to make any sweeping declarations about Brennan or this offense for another few games as the Tigers were able to hang up 27 points (seven came off a Jabril Cox pick six) and able to spread the ball around to nine different receivers.
"I want to give Myles Brennan and this offense a chance to just kind of get through a game or two. And you imagine the shoes that he stepped into, in that stadium? That is tough," Herbstreit said. "And now you've got fans that are going to be like, 'This guy sucks. I mean, what are we doing with this guy?' And they need to just take a deep breath and be realistic. Unfortunately, they can't do that. Fans can't do that with what they saw last year. And it might not get, eventually, to that — they might get to where they're executing better. But cut Myles Brennan some slack, man. That is a tough ask."
