Brandon Harris

There’s been plenty of buzz around Harris and LSU since the end of last season and the hype around Harris kicked into overdrive in July when he was named third team preseason All-SEC. Looking at his numbers from last season (148-for-276 (53.6%) for 2,158 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions) won’t bowl you over, but there’s plenty of reason behind the hype in 2016. First of all, Harris played down the stretch with a sports hernia, which affected him in every facet of the game. Now that he’s healed up and ready for the season, expect Harris to have more confidence in his dropbacks and his ability to keep plays alive, which will bring a holistic improvement to his game overall. Harris (6-3, 206) has a strong enough arm to zip passes to the outside and he has the mobility to extend plays outside the pocket while still looking to throw. He also has two of the most physically gifted receivers in the SEC at his disposal in Malachi Dupre (6-3, 190) and Travin Dural (6-2, 203) -- both of whom averaged well over 15 YPR last season. The primary concern with Harris’ upside is the LSU offense, which leans heavily on a run game that features Heisman frontrunner Leonard Fournette in addition to hyper-talented Derrius Guice. Furthermore, LSU figures to be playing with sizeable leads a good bit this season, which limits the need for Harris to throw more than 20-25 passes per game in most cases. In all, Harris will look like a drastically improved quarterback this season, but team context suggests that LSU simply won’t need to lean on him to succeed and with that, he’s unlikely to put up gaudy fantasy numbers on a weekly basis.