Don’t expect any sort of closure on Saturday in Baton Rouge or Oxford.

A pair of SEC West teams will close the conference’s spring slate with scrimmages that, in all likelihood, will leave us wanting more. Neither starting quarterback battle will be decided, despite what the optics might say.

The optics say that a pair of decorated Pac-12 transfers are about to step in and become their team’s respective starters. Saturday might confirm that Jayden Daniels and Jaxson Dart are each poised to lead prolific offenses in their new digs. Alternatively, perhaps the ageless Myles Brennan and the incumbent next-in-line Luke Altmyer will both show a deeper understanding of their respective offenses en route to a banner day.

Either way, a telling Saturday awaits both programs.

These are indeed battles. In many ways, they’re what we should expect to see more often in the transfer portal world.

Recent history suggests that going out and getting a player via the portal doesn’t necessarily guarantee a path to the starting job.

Speaking of Pac-12 transfers, remember Keller Chryst at Tennessee? Even though the new coaching staff recruited him, he still didn’t beat out Jarrett Guarantano for the starting job. What about JT Daniels at Georgia? Injuries or not, he clearly didn’t have an immediate path to the top of the totem poll. Malik Zaire couldn’t beat shaky underclassman Feleipe Franks at Florida in 2017 and TJ Finley didn’t unseat veteran Bo Nix at Auburn in 2021.

That’s important to remember with LSU and Ole Miss because both teams needed to add depth in the quarterback room this offseason. LSU lost Max Johnson to the portal and Brian Kelly convinced Brennan not to transfer so that he could stick around to battle Garrett Nussmeier and Kelly’s dance partner Walker Howard.

So why did Kelly seek the services of Daniels if he already had 3 quarterbacks? Well, there’s not really anything preventing a Nussmeier departure considering he was recruited by the previous staff. He can play elsewhere immediately if he enters the portal before May 1. That’s not to say Nussmeier will transfer. He’s out to prove that he’s “not just some stupid gunslinger.” But with Daniels on board, Kelly can now protect against that possibility if Nussmeier doesn’t like where he’s at despite his reported spring growth.

As for the Daniels part of this, Kelly doesn’t have anything to lose by bringing in someone who has more experience in Power 5 games than the rest of the quarterback room combined. Talk to an Arizona State fan like ESPN’s Matt Barrie, and you can get a pretty clear scouting report — awesome freshman season with weapons, struggled to develop during the pandemic season and never got better within the offense in 2021. Talent? It’s there. With a loaded receivers room like LSU has with Kayshon Boutte and Jack Bech, Kelly’s pitch was obvious (and effective).

Will the spring game serve as a reminder for why Daniels was considered one of the better returning quarterbacks entering 2020? Or will he look like someone who isn’t on Brennan’s level making those decisions? The latter could happen, though even Brennan is still trying to learn a new offense. In his final chance to start and finish a season at LSU, Brennan has all the motivation in the world to study up and look the part.

Let’s not forget a year ago how jacked up Brennan was battling Johnson in LSU’s spring game:

I fully expect to see this version of Brennan. Shoot, maybe we’ll see Nussmeier bust out Bike Life after a TD pass as the forgotten QB of sorts.

A quarterback decision for a Year 1 coach can absolutely be pivotal. Take Lane Kiffin. It wasn’t long ago that he had to decide between Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee. It was Plumlee who overtook Corral for the job the previous year, though that was in the run-heavy Rich Rodriguez offense. Still, Kiffin’s decision to roll with Corral allowed Ole Miss to develop one of the most electrifying offenses in the sport (when at full strength).

Fair or not, both Dart and Altmyer are going to be held to the Corral standard. Can they use their legs and show toughness in the open field? Can they effortlessly connect on downfield throws? Will they command a presence within the huddle?

We should get some insight into that on Saturday. It’ll be the first time seeing both of them playing in the same setting. Wipe out your impressions of Altmyer’s struggles against a top-10 Baylor defense in relief in the Sugar Bowl. Look past the fact that Dart is No. 4 in the way-too-early Heisman Trophy odds.

Shoot, even look past Dart posing with Kiffin in front of an Aston Martin:

What money can’t buy is experience in Kiffin’s offense. Remember that it’s Altmyer who has it, not Dart. Altmyer has a 1-year head start on Dart. Will we see that play out with the decision-making? Or will Dart look like he’s already caught up and ready to be the guy?

On the flip side, Altmyer looking more polished than his classmate wouldn’t guarantee he’s ready to be the starter. It would perhaps pump the breaks on the belief that it’s Dart’s job to lose.

What Ole Miss and LSU would both ideally want is pretty simple. They’d like to retain all of their scholarship quarterbacks and not have any hit the portal ahead of the May 1 deadline. Altmyer and Nussmeier can both do that with 4 years of eligibility remaining and play immediately at another school. Brennan could also bolt and play immediately, though obviously, his situation is a bit different because he’s entering Year 6 at LSU.

What Ole Miss and LSU would also like to see is a true battle wherein all quarterbacks look like top-end SEC starters. Is that realistic? Probably not. Dart and Daniels are still just getting their feet wet while Altmyer and Nussmeier are just trying to make that Year 2 step.

Plenty of moving pieces will be at play come Saturday afternoon. Kiffin and Kelly have no shortage of things to keep an eye on.

Figuring out QB1? That’s priority No. 1.