Well here are the numbers. Max is 5-1 since becoming a starter and from a post by Lsu_4_life; 'It’s difficult to argue with Max’s stats in his 6 starts. His numbers are extremely impressive. It’s like 2000 yards and over 20 TD’s'. All this with as everyone here says is a terrible offensive line.
I’m not sure if his exact numbers, but his stats in his 6 starts are nothing to complain about. He is a sophomore playing better than an average sophomore but I think he is more of a system QB. I think he is being over coached and told to stay in the pocket. That bugs me. Let the kid play. Also, his deep ball leaves a lot to be desired.
Yes his deep balls tend to be short not all the time but it's a flaw. Brennan throws a better deep ball but he doesn't have Max's pocket presence or mobility.
Before he got hurt last year Miles was playing like a 5 yr player should with an OL probably even worse than the one we have now. As a 6th year qb Brennan has better processing skills than Johnson. He was reading the defense and getting rid of the ball faster than Max. He has a stronger arm than Max and can throw it out there for the receivers to run under as opposed to having them wait on the ball. He knows he could be injured again, but that his his call. He put in the work and waited his time. If he gets hurt then back to Max.
Since it’s obvious we will NOT get the run game going this year and we’re going to have to throw the ball all over the yard, I think when Brennan is ready you have to open up the offense with Max or go with Brennan. The fact that we haven’t opened it up yet is because we’re playing scared not to lose football trying to keep him healthy, or we’re just limited by his abilities as a sophomore QB. Which would mean we should put the senior with the bigger arm in there. In Max’s 2 starts last year he was a threat with his legs and he extended crucial drives. In just those 2 starts, he rushed for 100 yards and 2 scores. This year in 4 games he has just 10 yards total rushing. Which includes rushes of 10 yards and 12 yards (yes you read that correctly). He’s no Lamar Jackson, but this stand in the pocket “no matter what” bullshit is killing us. Especially behind this terrible o-line. He can get hurt just as easily on a sack as he can running the ball. If we’re going to have any chance to compete in the rest of our SEC schedule we have to open the playbook one way or another. Either using Max in more zone reads, rollouts, throwing on the run, etc. or with Brennan’s bigger arm. Max’s lack of arm strength and confidence in ball placement takes away a big portion of the field for our offense. We need to do something to get the defense on their heels more often. I thought that one RPO Saturday to Boutte was a nice play. The other 3 touchdowns left a lot to be desired. TD # 1 Max made a great move to avoid an easy sack and bailed us out. We ran the same play on the down before and it looked like hot shit. TD #2 was a great play call and great execution. RPO, great read by Max and hit Boutte in stride. That works against Mississippi State. TD #3 was busted coverage by Mississippi State. Don’t count on that happening all year. TD #4 was lucky as well. He threw the ball off his back foot in desperation while getting hit, into coverage and the unintended receiver bailed his ass out. 9 times out 10 that ball is picked off going the other way. Again, the stat line is tough to argue with, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. The opponents game plan is simple. Blitz and attack the young QB with no fear of his ability to make the correct reads or beat you with his arm. That hasn’t worked for McNeese, CMU or Mississippi State. It did well for UCLA. I feel good that the meat of the SEC will have more success than the 3 teams we just played.
Brennan also executed the RPO extremely well in his back up days of 2019 and early 2020. That can really open up running lanes. Max is still making some mistakes but is farther along than i would’ve imagined. Brennan won’t be back for a little while though, so lots of tape before a decision has to be made.
Watch Jr Max Duggan TRY to throw a deep ball at TCU and you will then think Johnson has a radar guided throw. Just sayin, there are many that are really bad.
Everyone here slams our O Line as sub par yet at the same time are now down on Max of all people. You guys want it both ways. If the line is as horrible as y'all say it is, and I am not totally disagreeing with y'all, then any QB we have will not look too good. However I do totally disagree that Brennan is better. With this line he would be sacked even more. Lastly from what I have seen Nuss is a year away from challenging Max or even Walker Howard. The boy gas some skills but he is not SEC ready yet. Max is our QB.
