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Joe Burrow emerged as steady leader on a team littered with question marks

BATON ROUGE, La. -- It’s difficult to recall an LSU season opener in which there was so much uncertainty hanging over a team.

As the Tigers brace to kick off the 2018 season against No. 25 Miami on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium, there’s an abundance of tough questions that require answers. What will this new offense look like? Can young players step up into key roles? What’s the temperature of Ed Orgeron’s seat before he steps onto the field at Jerry’s World in just his second full season as the head coach?

Running back, right tackle and left cornerback are more specific position battles we await clarity on, but the one answer already in hand is perhaps the most significant. After opting not to disclose his starter under center to the media during his weekly Monday press conference, the team announced that Joe Burrow will get the nod in this Week 1 primetime showdown in North Texas later that afternoon.

Burrow wasn’t the overwhelming winner in this quarterback competition that began in the spring while he was still competing for a job at Ohio State. By the end of it, he likely only received one more snap than the No. 2 guy, Myles Brennan, and the grades were close enough that either passer could’ve feasibly been awarded the job, Orgeron said. But Burrow edged out Brennan, the incumbent, and the only other quarterback that remained in Baton Rouge to vie for the job through September. The difference didn’t come down to accuracy or completion percentage, but intangibles that the LSU coaches felt would be necessary for the Tigers to get a taste of success this season.

“He came in here very low-key and competed at every went he could,” Orgeron recalled. “The first day we ran our conditioning test, he was first on a bunch of sprints. He didn’t say a word. He was in the film room on his own, in the weight room working hard, and when he had a chance he took command of the offense. He showed leadership. He wasn’t perfect, but he bounced back. He showed true leadership and the ability to command the offense.”

Burrow figures to be the silent type, a quintessential leader-by-example, and will be tasked with not only igniting the LSU offense, but reshaping a run-first attack to a 50-50 split between traditional, hard-nosed football and what Orgeron has long desired for this club — a spread offense with wrinkles of RPO and getting the team’s premier playmakers in space to eat up yardage.

This was Orgeron’s vision for the Tigers offense when he accepted the job back in November 2016, he admitted, and now he not only has the play-caller he sought, but the quarterback, too.

“This is exactly the offense I envisioned for LSU — a spread offense, create space and put the ball in our playmakers’ hands and let them play,” Orgeron said. “He (Ensminger) did exactly what he and I talked about. The quarterbacks love him … He’s a tough coach, an LSU Tiger and he’s done a tremendous job for us.”

The buzz of fall camp has centered around the quarterback position for obvious reasons. Burrow emerged victorious from a six-month competition to replace Danny Etling, though the Ohio State grad transfer was only a part of the arms race since June. Earlier in August, the team’s depth took a major blow as redshirt junior Justin McMillan and redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse transferred to Tulane and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, respectively, leaving only two scholarship players at the position to open the season.

Ensminger will return to the press box to call plays for the first time since 2016 when Orgeron tabbed him for the job when he was the interim coach following the dismissal of Les Miles. The focus — as it tends to be in Baton Rouge each offseason — has been on a revamped aerial attack with spread principles and getting more receivers involved in a three- and four-wide sets. Less attention has been paid to a new-look offensive line that’s ushering in three new starters, including the entire right side, a whole new receiving corps and a completely new-look backfield that — for the first time since 2011 -- does not have a projected first- or second-round pick starting at running back.

The decision to lean on Burrow at quarterback comes with ample pressure. In this particular case, the first-year starter bracing for his first game dressed in purple and gold comes with overcoming all of those offensive question marks.

On Sunday night, the pressure is on. The right tackle or the running back won’t be in the spotlight; only the quarterback will be. Only Burrow has a chance to mask the offensive deficiencies or put an end to the lingering uncertainties hovering over the Tigers or merely justify Orgeron’s call to name his QB1.

“The good thing about playing a good opponent is you find out where your weaknesses are soon,” Orgeron said. “We’re strong in a lot of areas. We have some new offensive linemen that are going to be playing in a new position against a fast football team, so they’ll have to jell very fast. We have a new quarterback that’s going to be in a lot of new situations for the first time, but if he handles everything, I think he’ll be fine. We have unproven running backs and receivers, so we’re going to find out about those guys.”

“This is why you come to LSU,” he finished. “This is why we coach at LSU.”

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