DISCLAIMER 1: Harris has many qualities to be a terrific QB. He has a strong arm. He is fast and elusive. He improvises well when the play breaks down.

DISCLAIMER 2: This is not a post to advocate for Jennings. He is a true sophomore and is going through his own growing pains.

Regardless of what you think of Harris' potential, he is a true freshman. He was not ready mentally to play on the road against Auburn. He was not anywhere near ready. As he repeatedly stated in his post-game interview, he played "terrible."

That's not an indictment of Harris or his playing ability. It's just a fact. He's a true freshman. And to a reasonably knowledgeable football fan, it should not be an indictment of Miles or the LSU coaching staff.

SEC teams rarely start true freshman QBs. (LSU fans were looking for the first time a true freshman won his first starting road game. Nobody found one.) It's incredibly difficult to be a successful starting QB in the SEC. It's nearly impossible for a true freshman.

Harris was not mentally ready to start the Auburn game. This should not surprise anyone. He didn't look ready to start in the Wisconsin game. (Yes, I am well aware that it was only three plays. However, he still managed to look confused in just those three plays, monsterballads' defense notwithstanding.) He didn't look ready to start in the ULM game. LINK He played well coming in relief against an MSU three-man rush. However, without an unbelievably bad snap causing an MSU turnover with 1:48 left, Harris is nowhere close to looking like a savior. Harris played lights out against NMSU in relief; however, no one will ever confuse NMSU and their 2-4 record with a good team.

Miles did the smart thing by not starting Harris in the first five games. Even though Jennings played horribly against NMSU, Miles took a huge gamble starting Harris against Auburn, an SEC, top five team, on the road. There is little reason to think Harris would play well. Again, in Harris’ own words, he was terrible. (Harris showed character in repeatedly admitting just how bad he played. He completed three of fourteen passes, and most of his passes were not even close to being on target. He fumbled a snap, ran the wrong way, and panicked out of perfectly good pockets.

There is absolutely no reason to think that Harris looked better in practice than he did in the Wisconsin, ULM, and Auburn games. There is absolutely no reason to think that the coaching staff should have believed that Harris was ready to start against Auburn. (However, after Jennings seemed to wilt from booing in Tiger Stadium, the staff did not have much choice.) Therefore, the game plan should have been as protective of Harris as possible. There was absolutely no reason to think that Harris would perform well against an SEC rush of more than three linemen.

And the coaching staff was right. Harris missed badly on nearly all of his pass attempts. Even though the game plan put Harris in a position to succeed after big gains on first down, Harris’ errors put LSU in a bad position on the following downs: fumbled snap, errant throws, poor running, and abandoning clean pockets.

Harris actually had more yards per carry running the ball, even including the lost yards from sacks and fumbles), than he had yards per passing attempt. Harris only had one pass completion for 3+ yards. In fact, Harris had more 3+ yard runs than 3+ yard completions. Stats like those make an OC call QB draws instead of pass plays.

So those of you who had not seen Harris in practice, and more importantly, those of you who did see Harris in the Auburn game, who wanted to see a more wide-open offense, should stop to think that perhaps the coaches knew the limitations of Harris and the likelihood that he would have succeeded in a wide-open offense.

Harris may end up being the best QB the universe has ever seen. However, he is a true freshman. He is not ready to start. He proved that fact. Even if he is the best choice to start against Florida, the coaches would be wise to not put him into a position where Harris feels that he has to win the game. Harris performed poorly on second down even when he was put in a terrific position after successful first down play calling.

Harris is not a veteran. He’s a rookie. The coaches cannot call on him to play like a veteran. Moreover, they cannot rely on schemes that require Harris to play like a veteran. We saw what happened to Lee when Crowton called on Lee to do too much in 2008. It would be foolish for the coaches to ask Harris to do too much in 2014. The only thing more foolish would be for the fans to call on the coaches to call on Harris to do too much. Of course, LSU has its share of foolish coaches. [And to monsterballads, Harris is super-awesome and super-mature, but he’s a true freshman. There is no evidence to suggest Harris will respond to pressure any better than Lee. If you want evidence to the contrary, the Auburn game ought to be proof enough.]

P.S. The terrific thing about the Rant is that some Rantards will willfully ignore the Disclaimers at the top of this post.

P.P.S. LSU has had trouble recruiting QBs in the past. However, since Cameron showed what he can do in 2013, QBs are beginning to line up at the door. The future looks very bright for the QB position at LSU.