A future af2 star

[GreenBat]

LSU's Perrilloux: A can't-miss star -- and third-string QB

July 28, 2006

By Dennis Dodd

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

HOOVER, Ala. -- Sometimes you have to laugh at guys like Ryan Perrilloux. His kind come along every few years to remind us that Teen Nick is bad basic cable, not Masterpiece Theatre.

Some teenagers don't have their own shows. Some actually have perspective, humility, a clue.

The Ryan Perrilloux Show is still in development. Two years ago, it looked like a fall prime-time hit. The best dual-threat prospect since Lemon Pledge (it's a dessert topping and a floor wax!) was going to rock our world.

LSU's redshirt freshman quarterback is now 19 and, by some people's standards, maybe even a bust. No starts as a freshman. Certainly no Heisman as a freshman. That's kind of impossible when you sit out as a freshman.

And depressing when you expect both playing time and hardware as a rookie.

Perrilloux spoke brashly of "competing with" (read: beating out) often-injured JaMarcus Russell. That task was complicated when Matt Flynn became the hero of the Peach Bowl.

It's Year 2, Perrilloux, and we're still waiting.

Only 17 months ago, Perrilloux came out of the New Orleans area as a five-star, can't-miss, No. 1 quarterback in the country. Now he's part of the deepest quarterback rotation in the country. The most talented insurance policy in the SEC.

He's part of the question coach Les Miles gets most often: Who is going to be the starter? He got it from a soldier, a Louisiana native, late in the night during a visit to Iraq. He got it from his wife after he nudged her in bed for some late night, uh, conversation.

"She was mad," Miles said Friday during SEC preseason media days. "So she rolled over and said, 'So tell me, who are you going to play at quarterback?' That seems to be a question I've gotten routinely."

The answer technically includes Perrilloux, but not really. Not when the kid hasn't taken a college snap. Not when he hasn't been allowed by the school to talk to media since he stepped on campus.

"It's everybody's high school dream to come in and play, but he's mature now," receiver Dwayne Bowe said. "He knows he has two great quarterbacks that have been here."

The conclusion is obvious: LSU kicks off in 36 days with the former five-star, prep All-American from Reserve, La., as the third-string quarterback.

There have been rumors of a transfer to Grambling, but those have been on the wane. If Perrilloux transfers after this season, he will have two years of eligibility left.

LSU might be his best and last option.

Which suggests that Perrilloux not only didn't pick the right school, he didn't pick the right SEC school. At least five SEC teams could be breaking in new quarterbacks this year -- Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Vanderbilt.

There are enough openings in Perrilloux's chosen conference to list on monster.com:

Alabama is following up Brodie Croyle with sophomore John Parker Wilson. Vanderbilt lost Jay Cutler. For better or worse, Arkansas might go with true freshman Mitch Mustain starting against USC. Georgia has its own high school star, Matthew Stafford, who still has to beat out senior Joe Tereshinski.

Ed Orgeron is so desperate at Ole Miss he promised the starting job to junior college transfer/former Tennessee starter Brent Schaeffer before he actually became eligible.

Texas, the school Perrilloux reneged on at the last minute, is deciding between a freshman and redshirt freshman to replace Vince Young.

Meanwhile, back in Baton Rouge ...

"His time will come," Miles said of Perrilloux. "Who's to predict when that time may be?"

Exactly.

Florida's Urban Meyer is giving a crash course in heading off prima donnas. He has the burden/bonus of having this year's No. 1 recruiting class, according to some services.

To diffuse the hype, Meyer has had a team meeting telling his recruits he likes to work backwards when rating conferences: Let's see what you accomplish.

"What happens in places like Florida ... is, all the sudden it's not a matter of when, it's where they're going to put their Heisman when it happens," Meyer said.

There's a message in there somewhere for Jimmy Claussen. He's the Notre Dame recruit who committed in April at the College Football Hall of Fame. Wearing three high school championship rings, Clausen said he wanted to add four more national championship rings at Notre Dame.

Ah, the symmetry: Perrilloux is 17 months removed from signing day. When Claussen committed, he was 17 months away from throwing his first pass at Notre Dame.

Let's hope their paths cross soon, and some sense is spoken.

Perrilloux can't speak for himself until next month's media day, so we'll have to rely on Bowe and others at LSU.

He gets it. He's humbled. He's a teenager, still in development.

[LongJim]

LSU's Perrilloux: A can't-miss star -- and third-string QB

Ah yes. Lyin' Ryan.

The Perrilloux debacle is a major reason that MB now recruits the way he does.

Kid is a nutjob.