BATON ROUGE - LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron confirmed to the media Thursday evening that Ponchatoula native TJ Finley will be the first quarterback onto the field in their game against South Carolina on Saturday night.

"Could've been a flip of a coin. I want to play them both. I want to see what they can do," Coach Orgeron said.

Orgeron said both Finley and fellow freshman Max Johnson will see playing time in the game, however, Finley's ability to navigate practices this week in the lead-up to kickoff was the determining factor for who would get the start.

Finley is a 6'6", 242 pound pocket-passing quarterback who had shown a commitment to improving while on campus as he tightened up his body mass and lost a significant amount of weight in advance of the season.

LSU will be replacing Myles Brennan, a junior who has started the first three games of the season but was injured with a "significant lower-body" injury according to Coach Orgeron in the Missouri game. 

Here's Finley's Bio from the LSU Sports website:

The top quarterback in the state of Louisiana in 2019 … Prepped at Ponchatoula High School in Ponchatoula, Louisiana … Rated a three-star pro-style quarterback by 247Sports and Rivals … Three-year starter for Ponchatoula High School … Accounted for 72 touchdowns during his high school career (58 passing, 14 rushing) … Completed career-high 168 passes as a senior for 2,738 yards to go along with 21 touchdowns … Rushed for eight touchdowns as a senior … Amassed 28 touchdowns during his junior season, 23 through the air and five on the ground … Passed for 2,736 yards in 2018 … Accumulated a total of 7,357 yards through his three years at quarterback … coached by Hank Tierney … Will enroll at LSU in January of 2020.