LSU sixth-year senior quarterback Myles Brennan wants to finish what he started.

On his own two feet.

And not talking to a string of doctors about a unique abdomen tear that ended his 2020 season after three games or with a steel plate where an almost 10-inch scar resides following the surgery to repair a broken arm suffered in a freak accident just before start of the 2021 preseason training camp.

“It’s been an interesting road to say the least,” said Brennan, who spent almost all the last two seasons injured and entered the transfer portal last Nov. 1 before new LSU head coach Brian Kelly talked him into re-joining the team last Dec. 16. “It’s been a whirlwind, but it's all part of it. I understand that. It's not going to stop me from moving forward.”

Before Brennan met with the media Saturday afternoon after LSU’s second spring practice under Kelly, the last time he spoke with reporters was a year ago when he detailed his comeback from the 2020 abdomen tear (“No doctor had seen anything like it,” he said last March.) He had the best spring game of the four QB candidates, completing more passes (11) for more yardage (106 yards, 1 TD) against LSU’s first team defense.

About five days before the start of preseason camp in the first week of last August, Brennan was carrying fishing equipment to a boat when one of his flip-flops got caught in a crack on descending steps. He tripped, landed awkwardly with all his weight on his left shoulder, broke his arm and had season-ending surgery.

“It was tough, and I knew that I had a goal in mind to just keep moving forward,” Brennan said. “I know this is a terrible injury, but I’m never going to give up. I don't believe in quitting. I was going to make sure that I came back from this.”

For just more than a month, he thought he may end his college career somewhere besides LSU. About two weeks after LSU announced on Oct. 17 then-Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron would be fired effective at the end of the season, Brennan entered the transfer portal.

He went on some visits, mulled his options and set himself a deadline of making a choice before Christmas. The very day he was going to make a decision, Kelly called Brennan and asked if he would meet him at his office the next day.

“He (Kelly) made the cut by an hour,” Brennan said with a laugh.

When they talked, Kelly quickly got to the point. He wanted Brennan to return to LSU and battle for the starting job.

“Nobody has the starting position, go earn it,” Kelly told Brennan. “You’ve worked hard, changed your body. Remember when you threw four TD passes vs. Missouri? You’re an outstanding quarterback. Why can’t it be you?”

So Brennan, understanding he would have the most starting experience (those first three games in 2020) of any Tigers' QB heading into spring, agreed to return. Then in early March, LSU announced it was acquiring Arizona State graduate transfer QB Jayden Daniels who had started 29 games at ASU.

But before it was made public, Kelly told Brennan.

“The transparency meant a lot, that’s honesty,” Brennan said. “That's all I've wanted in college ball. It is a business. I really do appreciate it because it doesn't happen a lot (Kelly informing Brennan he was signing Daniels) to someone in our shoes.”

Brennan’s return may give him the unofficial LSU school record for most offensive coordinators (4) a Tigers’ player has been coached by in a career (Matt Canada 2017, Steve Ensminger 2018-20, Jake Peetz in 2021 and now Mike Denbrock) as well as a slew of passing game coordinators.

“The biggest thing is you just hit the reset button,” Brennan said. “This offense (under Denbrock) is a totally different offense. There's correlation (with a previous offense) in our concepts, but the names are different. So, I can't think about last year's play or term, so you just kind of flush it out and restart.

“It (the new offense) is going to be awesome. We're going to spread the ball around and emphasizing getting the ball in our playmakers hands and just making them runners. We know as quarterbacks where to go with the ball. If we get it out of our hands as quickly as possible, we'll be just fine.”

Brennan admitted during his couple of seasons at LSU, he would pay more attention to the competition in Tigers’ QB room rather than self-focus on his game.

“Now, I’m like it’s just another year and another quarterback battle," he said. "This is probably my sixth quarterback competition here. I don’t shy away from it. I know I'm more capable of playing at this level because I've already done it (throwing for 1,112 yards and 11 TDs in his three 2020 starts). I know what I need to do to win the job.”

Brennan has made some changes heading into his last season of redemption.

He got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Erin Hebert on the 50-yard line in Tiger Stadium.

“If I had played at Alabama (last year), it (still) wouldn’t have prepared me for proposing in Tiger Stadium,” Brennan said.

He’s the best physical shape of his career.

“I've done an outstanding job of getting in the weight room, getting my body in the right shape and overcoming having a year off last year,” Brennan said.

Finally, and most importantly, he no longer wears flip flops.

“I’ve actually ordered some new boat shoes,” Brennan said. "They're like waterproof. Michelin makes the bottom of them, so it's like a tire. I will sue the company if I trip and fall because they say they're like trip-free.”

He's also grateful he got that unexpected call from Kelly back in mid-December.

"No one told him he had to call me and for him to give me this opportunity," Brennan said. "I just feel like it's meant to be. This is it. One last ride."