Since Les Miles took over at LSU, the Tigers have consistently produced NFL talent at every position but one: quarterback. The biggest problem is that, over the last several years, LSU hasn’t brought in much top-shelf talent at the position.

Since 2009, Zach Mettenberger stands out as the only consistently productive quarterback the Tigers have brought in, and he was a junior college transfer that only started for two years in Baton Rouge. The rest of the players LSU has recruited to play the position have not come close to meeting expectations.

Russell Shepard stands as the biggest disappointment of all of them. In 2009, Shepard was the top dual-threat quarterback in the country coming out of Houston. He had offers from major programs all over the country, from Southern California to Florida. He chose LSU because he thought he would be able to play quarterback in Baton Rouge.

However, Shepard never attempted a pass for the Tigers. He opened his career playing quarterback, but was moved to a running back/wide receiver hybrid role, then to full-time receiver. He eventually found his way to the NFL as a receiver, catching on with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and then with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite his immense talent, Shepard never became a star at LSU, much less a game-breaking quarterback.

There have been other misses as well. Stephen Rivers (2011 recruiting class) was never able to win the job, eventually transferring to Vanderbilt after last season. Chris Garrett (2009) redshirted as a freshman before transferring to Northwestern State. Zach Lee (201o) chose baseball over football, never playing a down for the Tigers. Jerrard Randall, a four-star recruit in 2011, redshirted his first year on campus, then was the scout team quarterback before transferring to Arizona. Hayden Rettig (2013), another four-star recruit, transferred without seeing any game action.

LSU has two formerly touted recruits vying for the job now, Anthony Jennings (2013) and Brandon Harris (2014). Jennings certainly didn’t look the part of big-time quarterback this year, completing less than 50 percent of his passes. Harris, despite his obvious talent throwing the ball, was unable to beat Jennings out for the job in practice all year and seemed to have problems grasping the palybook.

The Tigers will enter 2015 with serious questions at the position. Chief among them: when will LSU get its quarterback?