Write up from this summer discussing the LSU QB Battle (prior to Brennan Injury), pretty exciting stuff about Brennan.
Despite his 1-2 record (thanks Bo), Myles Brennan absolutely looked the part in his three-game stint as the starting LSU quarterback. Overall, Myles Brennan posted a PFF grade of 87.5 with a passing grade of 88.3, both numbers a hair shy of the elite 90 benchmark.
He posted a superb big time throw percentage of 7.5 with a minuscule turnover worthy play percentage of 0.7. He was an absolutely incredible deep passer, posting a 97.5 (!!!!!) grade on balls past 20 yards down the field, which was behind only the likes of Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Spencer Rattler, Sam Howell, and Trevor Lawrence. It’s unfair to compare him to those guys given the sample differences but it shows how good he was in that time.
Facing pressure Brennan really shined. It’s important to note that performance under pressure is inherently unsustainable and volatile given the fluidity and unpredictability of pressure situations. That said, Brennan’s passing grade when pressured was an astonishing 82.8 (under pressure that’s incredible but probably unsustainable). His yards per attempt under pressure came in at 11.4 (!!!), with an absurd big time throw percentage of 12.8. His passing grade when blitzed was an elite 90.2 with a BTT percentage of 8.2. Those numbers themselves are unsustainable, but it does show that Brennan can make plays and move the football when the bullets fly, which is important because LSU’s offensive line still projects to underwhelm. More predictive benchmarks occur when kept clean, because it eliminates the fluidity and variance of pressure situations. Brennan posted an 87.2 overall grade with a rock solid big time throw percentage of 5.3 and a tiny turnover worthy play percentage of 1.1. That’s decently high level stuff; it’s a shade under stardom, and it displays the high end ability he flashed before his injury.
I didn’t just source data from PFF. SEC Statcat does amazing work over on their site which gives you metrics that tell you a bit more about accuracy. Brennan posted a somewhat solid but far from elite accuracy percentage of 61.07. That said, he made up for it with a really good to great depth adjusted accuracy (accounts for accuracy downfield, a function of your depth of target and accuracy metrics) of 57.64, which was good for third in the SEC ahead of players like Matt Corral (who is really great at everything except avoiding turnovers) and Kyle Trask (who was a Heisman finalist and second round pick).
