Despite what sophomore quarterback Brandon Harris said about checking from pass plays to run plays, while defending No. 13 LSU's conservative play-calling against Mississippi State last week, Les Miles said Harris doesn't have the freedom to check plays at the line of scrimmage, according to Nola.com's Jerit Roser.
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"He has little freedom to check into things that we have not already given to him, and we did not check much in the game at all," Miles answered on his weekly radio show. "I guess our new quarterback, he can certainly say that. And the ability to throw the football, certainly there were some called passes that certainly were not complete. We were also in a position where we've got a back that was going to rush for just under 200 yards, and we kind of enjoyed giving him the ball as well.
"We're talented. We have the ability to do both things, and we'd like to be a little bit more balanced, but, frankly, the game didn't call for it."
Harris, who completed 9 of 14 pass attempts for 71 yards and rushed for 48 yards against the Bulldogs, said earlier this week that LSU (1-0, 1-0 SEC) could have passed the ball more but he checked passing plays at the line of scrimmage into running plays, when the situation deemed it appropriate.
"A lot of pass plays were called at the line of scrimmage, and we had some blitz looks and some things where I don't think we could have picked it up because we had a lot of guys going out for passes," Harris said. "So at the line of scrimmage we checked into run plays, and those run plays broke off for 14 yards. ...That's a positive."
"I would not be surprised to see him throw the ball a few more times," Miles said according to Roser. "I just want him to execute the offense. If he does those things well, he'll have plenty of throws."
