When Myles Brennan, the 4-star pro-style quarterback from Bay St. Louis, Miss., decommitted from LSU on Wednesday, some LSU fans were quick to bash him.

“We do not need a guy who does not want to compete for the job,” one fan opined in the comments section of our LSU SDS Facebook Page. “Sounds like the kid is a diva,” another said.

Those comments miss the point, both from the Brennan and LSU angles.

So let’s put this thing in context.

The day before Brennan opened up his recruiting process again (and received a new offer from Oklahoma State), LSU offered 5-star dual threat quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Alabama commit.

What message was sent there? A couple of things. The first was that it affirmed the preference LSU coach Ed Orgeron stated on Saturday when he he had the “interim” tag removed from his title.

“I do believe that nowadays you have to run the spread offense,” he said. “You have to have dual-threat quarterbacks that can run the ball and throw it. But you have to have somebody who knows how to run it.”

So, a few days later, LSU is offering the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country in Tagovailoa, who happens to be committed to the school where the guy who is rumored to be Orgeron’s top choice to be offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, is the offensive coordinator.

That seems to affirm what Orgeron claimed at the press conference, doesn’t it?

And the second message is obvious: LSU is serious about landing Kiffin.

But let’s go back to the first, and I think, more important message Orgeron sent. By offering Tagovailoa, Orgeron is further establishing an offensive identity for LSU, something his successor, Les Miles, sort of struggled with late in his tenure.

Ever since LSU’s last national championship in 2007, quarterbacked by pocket passer (and future pro) Matt Flynn, Miles recruited both dual-threat and pro-style quarterbacks, and the Tigers seemed to struggle to establish an identity one way or the other.

They did everything, but none of it particularly well, at least when faced with first-rate defenses.

Jordan Jefferson was a guy they liked to put in the shotgun and run spread stuff. Jarrett Lee was a guy they liked to put under center and run pro stuff. Then it was on to prototypical pocket passer Zach Mettenberger, then dual-threat option Anthony Jennings, then big-armed dual-threat prospect Brandon Harris, then back to pro-style Danny Etling.

Don’t get me wrong. You can pull off being a spread team that uses both running and throwing quarterbacks. Auburn has remained an effective spread team this year despite having started two primarily pocket passers in Sean White and Jeremy Johnson.

So it’s possible. A lot depends on how you want your spread to be run, and there are at least four kinds of spreads, from the Air Raid, which would use a pro-style quarterback, to variations of the spread-to-run offenses, which borrow from the triple option and wing-T traditions (think Auburn).

But the recruiting behavior shows us that Orgeron’s thought is to have a quarterback who is a running threat. Kiffin is running something of a pro-style spread at Alabama, and LSU has traditionally been able to land good running backs. So it sounds like he’s leaning towards an offense that’s a pro-style spread, but maybe leaning towards a power run game.

It’s notable that LSU sent three coaches on Tuesday to visit 3-star dual-threat prospect Lowell Narcisse, another 2017 quarterback committed to the Tigers. Narcisse was a fast-rising star when he suffered a torn right ACL in 2015, then tore his left ACL prior to this season. Otherwise, he might be in the same ballpark as a prospect as Tagovailoa.

Despite the injuries, Orgeron and assistants Dameyune Craig (the current recruiting coordinator) and Jabbar Juluke went to Narcisse’s home Tuesday … on the same day they offered another dual-threat quarterback.

Which brings us back to Brennan. What message does this send to him? It comes loud and clear that he might no longer be considered a system fit and even if LSU takes him, he may have trouble finding a niche with his skill set.

It makes sense then, for Brennan to re-open the process. What if LSU does get a commitment from Tagovailoa? It’s highly unlikely LSU will take three quarterbacks in one class, and given the preference Orgeron has expressed in a dual-threat quarterback and the staff’s public show of support for Narcisse, doesn’t it seem like Brennan would end up being the odd-man out?

So this isn’t about competing. The time to compete for coaches’ attention is past since senior seasons are wrapping up.

No, this is more about reading the writing on the wall.

And the message being written on the wall is clear: Orgeron is going to make LSU a spread team. Not a conventional/spread team like LSU was under Miles, but a spread team, period.

And there might not be room for a young, pro-style quarterback in that vision.