There aren’t a whole lot of concerns surrounding the LSU football team heading into the 2016 season.

That’s not to say there aren’t any or that they aren’t causing some degree of anguish among Tigers fans. Replacing two offensive tackles is a big concern. Vadal Alexander and Jerald Hawkins were rock solid and anchored one of the best offensive lines in the country when healthy. The first seven games of the 2015 season bore that out.

Replacing two linebackers is perhaps an even bigger question mark for next season. Thank goodness the guy in the middle, Kendall Beckwith, decided to stay another year; because losing the other two – Lamar Louis and Deion Jones, the Tigers’ leading tackler in 2015 (88 total, 54 solo, 12.5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks) is tough enough.

But what is the biggest concern for LSU heading into the 2016 season? Well, I guess you could call it, “same song different dance.” The biggest concern for LSU heading into the 2016 season will be the quarterback play of Brandon Harris.

How the junior quarterback, with a full season of experience under his belt, has developed and improved will be the key, again.

His stats have been deplorable in big games. He hasn’t proven yet that he can perform under pressure. That must be overcome if LSU is to get over the hump.

Harris stunk it up in his first start, a 41-7 shellacking at the hands of Auburn in 2014. To be fair, he wasn’t ready. Not even close. But with impatient fans clamoring for a change at quarterback, the same way they screamed for his predecessor Anthony Jennings when came off the bench to rally the Tigers past Arkansas in the 2013 regular season finale.

Jennings wasn’t ready, either. That’s how Harris ultimately wrestled away the starting job in the first place.

And so it seems we’re back to square one. Unless Harris can show he has matured into the leader of a national championship quality team.

We thought we were seeing that unfold through seven games of the 2015 season. He missed an additional opportunity to hone his skills when the 2015 season opener was cancelled by weather. Though efficient (21-for-31) Harris didn’t turn any heads with a combined 145 yards passing in what were LSU’s 2015 season openers against Mississippi State and Auburn.

But he appeared to relax into his role and even looked capable of winning some games in throwing for 200-plus yards in consecutive games vs. South Carolina, Florida and Western Kentucky.

However, the junior-to-be couldn’t keep it going against the better teams in the SEC. And as injuries decimated LSU’s running game, Harris proved he couldn’t pick up the slack. The difficult task of throwing when he had to rather than when he wanted to proved to be a situation he still isn’t ready to handle. It was also a circumstance that seemed to suck all the confidence from the 6-foot-3, 206-pounder over the next three games.

And there’s the biggest concern for LSU football heading into the 2016 season. Can LSU remain healthy enough to pound opponents with Heisman hopeful Leonard Fournette for an entire season? And when he has to, can Harris come through in the clutch and do his part to move the Tigers past the better teams in the SEC West?