Players transferring in college football is nothing new, but when two players at the same position leave within a few hours of each other, it's time to take notice. LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron officially has one-third of his quarterback room gone inside of 24 hours.
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First, it was redshirt freshman quarterback Lowell Narcisse to announce he would transfer out of his home state for greener pastures. Now, a two-time high school state champion is calling it a career at Louisiana State University.
Redshirt junior quarterback Justin McMillan announced yesterday that he would be the second quarterback to transfer out of the program. The redshirt junior leaves with two years of eligibility left.
McMillan only attempted one pass as a member of the Tigers against Jacksonville State in 2016.
While Narcisse, a former top-10 quarterback recruit, is the more highly coveted player, McMillan is no slouch, and was expected to compete with sophomore Myles Brennan to replace Danny Etling, who left for the NFL after last season.
That was, until graduate transfer Joe Burrow landed in Louisiana by way of Ohio State and supplanted almost everyone in the quarterback room.
Although Ed Orgeron hasn't announced a starter for week one's huge matchup against the Miami Hurricanes, all signs are pointing to Burrow being LSU's starting quarterback this season.
For McMillan, a 6-foot-3, 210 pound southpaw from Cedar Hill, Texas, it was about finding playing time with his remaining two years of eligibility — McMillan earned his degree over the summer and is eligible to play immediately under the NCAA's graduate transfer rules.
The redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse has said he'll transfer to a JUCO program before coming back to a Division I program for the 2019 season. He discussed his reasons for leaving LSU:
"The biggest thing people didn't understand was that I was going to play at LSU this year. They did have some situations where they were going to utilize me and my abilities. But for me personally, I felt and what I believe is that I am a quarterback. I don't want to just be labeled as a Wildcat guy or a guy who just comes in and runs in certain situations. So, we were just kind of on two different pages"
These two transfers looks bad at the surface, as LSU is now two injuries away from a serious problem, but both transfers, and their timing, make complete sense.
Both McMillan and Narcisse obviously had become the No. 3 and 4 options on the team, so there was no reason for them to hang around.
Joe Burrow will have another year of eligibility in 2019, and Myles Brennan is only a true sophomore.
Lagging behind is Tennessee Tech transfer Andre Sale and freshman Jordan Loving, neither of which are serious candidates to start at quarterback in 2018.
Playing time is at a premium, and it was time for two of LSU's signal callers to split from Baton Rouge.
Looks like the three-horse race is down to a two-man sprint.
