This offseason has already been packed with confusion for LSU. With plenty of drama to go around, perhaps nothing has been as shrouded in speculation as the quarterback situation.

It started with a baffling defensive performance in the Music City Bowl, which made more sense when defensive coordinator John Chavis up and left for Texas A&M in the immediate aftermath of that loss.

There was plenty of “will he stay or will he go?” drama around several key LSU players: Kwon Alexander, Danielle Hunter and Jalen Mills were all engaged in the media back-and-forth before announcing what they’d be doing with their futures; Alexander and Hunter decided to go pro, while Mills returned to school for his senior season.

The high-profile defensive coordinator search generated plenty of intrigue, drawing out names like Bob Shoop and Kirby Smart before the Tigers settled on Kevin Steele.

Nothing has been as juicy as the quarterback rumors, though.

We all know how that position played out for LSU in 2014. Anthony Jennings played and was mostly inconsistent and often completely ineffective. Brandon Harris got very few chances, impressing in some and expectedly struggling in his only start of the year, on the road against then-No. 5 Auburn. After that disastrous outing, in which Harris went 3-for-14 passing, the freshman rotted on the bench the rest of the way, despite Les Miles’ insistence that he’d find the field again.

Through the early phases of the offseason, rumors bubbled up. Ohio State’s Braxton Miller wanted to transfer to LSU, as did Notre Dame’s Everett Golson. As of yet, neither has come to pass. With all of that in the air, another bit of speculation developed: that Harris, recently seen as a potential savior, should look to transfer.

The talk came from Harris’ high school coach, David Feaster, who went on radio in Shreveport, La. to talk about his former pupil. Feaster said he encouraged Harris to leave LSU for a junior college where he could play immediately, although Harris rebuffed his coach and is apparently happy at LSU.

It begs the question: should Harris be thinking about packing his bags and finding a school that could use his talents, either at the JUCO level or elsewhere in FBS?

With a tight-lipped coach in Miles and an embargo on offensive coordinator Cam Cameron speaking to the media during the season, we never truly learned why Harris was unable to secure playing time over Jennings. Miles said that Harris and Jennings both improved on a weekly basis, but the results and snap counts didn’t reflect that.

What we do know is that Cameron did not give his best coaching performance in 2014, something the OC admitted after the season. He didn’t tailor his scheme to fit the skills of his quarterbacks, instead operating like he still had classic pocket passer Zach Mettenberger under center. Cameron also copped to not doing a good enough job teaching his young quarterbacks, something that has to change for LSU’s offense to rebound in 2015.

What could Harris gain from a transfer? If he went the JUCO route his high school coach suggested, he would get to play right away, although on a far smaller stage than in the SEC. But what would coaches think of a player who had to go from LSU to a junior college in order to secure playing time? The perception wouldn’t be positive.

Despite what happened in 2014, Harris appears to have as good of a shot as ever to legitimately earn the starting job in 2015. He won’t find a better array of weapons than what LSU has on hand, featuring a crew of young, talented skill position players.

For now, it seems the quarterback competition will be unchanged going into next season. Harris will duke it out with Jennings for the job, with Golson and Miller nowhere on the horizon.

If that’s going to wind up being the right decision, Harris needs to do all of the things that he didn’t do well enough to overtake Jennings in 2014. He’ll need the help of the coaching staff, with both coaching and game planning.