[bigboydan]

QB JaMarcus Russell took the LSU Tigers to a 10-1 record last year before going down with a shoulder injury, and his replacement Matt Flynn went on to earn MVP honors in the Peach Bowl. Russell is currently pencilled in as the starter for Les Miles' team, but Flynn had a better TD-to-INT ratio and passer rating than Russell last season. Is JaMarcus Russell really the right guy to try and lead the Tigers to an SEC title in 2006?

[pags11]

maybe the strongest arm in college football...lot of experience too...I just think their offense runs better with Flynn at QB...

[Razz]

Glad to see you around pags.

I personally have no faith in Russell.

[pags11]

Razz, good to see you around too...yeah Miles just likes the "athletic" QB's whereas I really like the way Flynn looked in that bowl game...

[onlooker]

Blue Ribbon Yearbook.

For all of the innuendo and speculation surrounding the three Tigers' quarterbacks, they are long overdue for a reality television series of their own.

Playing the "lead under fire" is junior JaMarcus Russell (6-6, 252), the starter for all 11 regular-season games and the SEC Championship. Russell was the quintessential steward of the offense, producing workmanlike passing numbers (60.3 percent completion rate, 15 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 202.9 yards per game) while the ground game and defense mashed all comers.

Then the plot thickened -- Russell suffered a separated left shoulder in the second half of the Tigers' dismal loss to Georgia in the SEC title game. Junior understudy Matt Flynn (6-3, 228), whose turn under center has been long awaited by some Bayou Bengal followers, was christened the starter against the voracious Miami defense in the Peach Bowl.

Here's where the director inserts the flashback sequence. Two years ago, in the Capital One Bowl, Flynn replaced a sputtering Marcus Randall and misfired on three of four passes. In relief of Russell against Georgia, Flynn was worse -- 3-of-11 with an interception whip-lashed into six points the other way.

Before the Peach Bowl, the vultures circled Flynn. Would he return for his junior season or transfer to a Division I-AA program? If he came back, how would he fare in a three-horse race with Russell and hotshot redshirt freshman Ryan Perrilloux (6-2, 222)?

Naturally, Flynn was the picture of poise against Miami -- 13-of-22 for 196 yards and two touchdowns with nary an interception -- as LSU romped.

Then, just to further stir the pot, Russell missed the entire spring while rehabilitating his shoulder and surgically repaired wrist. That meant Flynn and Perrilloux shared all the first-team snaps.

In the final, scripted scrimmage of the spring, Flynn went 10-of-22 for 145 yards with two touchdowns. He was sacked four times and ran for 14 yards and a two-yard touchdown in a goal-line sequence.

Meanwhile Perrilloux, the 2004 USA Today National Offensive Player of the Year out of East St. John High in Reserve, La., completed 11-of-24 passes for 145 yards with one touchdown. He was sacked three times and ran for 18 yards.

In other words, one would be hard pressed to slide a sheet of paper between Flynn and Perrilloux heading into the fall -- a cliffhanger better than many network TV season finales.

Despite broadcast reports that Perrilloux was pondering a transfer, the youngster who spurned Texas at the last minute denied he was shopping around. "I'm not going anywhere," Perrilloux told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in late May. "I'm definitely not transferring. I'm in Baton Rouge right now."

Miles has all but etched Russell into his starting lineup for UL-Lafayette on Sept. 2, as long as Russell is healthy. But one poor showing by the incumbent will flush the Flynn backers from the bulrushes -- or is that the Perrilloux partisans from the reeds?

Flynn and Perrilloux have better wheels than Russell, but the elder statesman has the gamesmanship and a cannon for an arm. Keeping all three of these talents in Baton Rouge for another year, let alone two, seems as likely as killing off 24 hero Jack Bauer.