Brian Kelly updates what he's looking for in LSU quarterback competition

The biggest question new LSU head coach Brian Kelly has left to answer is who will start at QB for the Tigers this fall? Jayden Daniels, Garrett Nussmeier and Myles Brennan will all be fighting for the top spot down in Baton Rouge. When asked at SEC Media Days about what he’s looking for in the competition, he gave out three qualities he’s keeping his eyes on.

Brian Kelly’s top standard is leadership qualities that show you’ll value possessions during a game.

“The price of admission to being a quarterback at LSU is you’ve got to have leadership capabilities or we’re not even going to take you. That’s first and foremost,” said Kelly. “When you step on the field you’ve got to take care of the football. You can’t just be cavalier with the football. You are the guy that touches it every time. You’ve got to take care of it.”

From there, he says he needs someone to take advantage of the weapons on the LSU offense. Kelly is looking for a QB that’ll get the ball into the hands of a now-healthy Kayshon Boutte. That leads into his third condition which is a playmaker for himself as much as others. Having all those traits certifies a starting quarterback candidate in Kelly’s book.

“You’ve got to get it to the playmakers. We just talked about Kayshon Boutte, you’ve got to get him the football. Somebody’s got to get the playmakers the football,” Kelly said. “Then, No. 3, you’ve got to make plays. Whether you’re extending plays, whether you’re smart in the way you check protections or identifying the Mike and moving protections, you’ve got to be able to make plays yourself. If you get those three things down, you’ve got a chance.”

The problem for Brian Kelly is that he thinks the entire trio exudes those qualities. In order to weed out the starter, it’s now about setting up the next phase of LSU’s offense. As they dive deeper into the playbook, Kelly believes he’ll undoubtedly find his man heading into the September 3rd opener against Florida State.

“All of them have those capabilities. Will that set the offense to make sure that that quarterback can succeed under those circumstances? We just laid down the system in the spring. It had to be whole first so I didn’t gear it toward any one of the skill sets. Now we’ll go into camp and I’ll start to move toward the skill sets within the offense and then I think the separation will start to take place.”