Film Review: Oklahoma

2024’s main character puts it all together

WIth LSU in a transition year, the story of this season may ultimately be told by the developmental arc of its next great Quarterback. Outside of a couple defensive games, one good and one bad, it was the only interesting thing to follow on film to be honest. It was often bumpy, especially early, though it felt worse in late October and into November when he started getting punished for habits he previously got away with. In an offense that does not hold his hand, his strengths and weaknesses were laid bare and it was easy to track the things he got better at. Against weaker competition, we could see that he had all the puzzle pieces to be an NFL passer, but as things heated up, partially through no fault of his own, things got hairy despite persistent flashes. At the end of the year, he put it all together and we finally saw the Nussmeier from UCLA and Vanderbilt against an elite defense. Not just any elite defense, but possibly the best on LSU’s whole schedule. After a vicious hit and what looked like a season-ending injury, he was at his sharpest in a display of grit and competitive pride that reminded us all of someone in particular, The Nussmeier that walks out of the 2024 season is one finally ready to push for the Heisman, number 1 overall pick, and if other people do their jobs, the national title.

He continues to get comfortable with pro-style complexity. LSU does not give Nussmeier training wheels, they give him a bunch of options and ask him to cycle through and find the answers. The key thing to understand through these clips is how fast this all happens. To most, it’s a blur, but Nussmeier’s processing has sped up to a point where he can comfortably determine what is and is not open soon enough to stay on time and get the ball out before he gets hit or the windows close. A lot of college QBs aren’t even getting to the backside of anything let alone picking up the positioning of the defender well enough to understand he doesn’t have time to reset his feet while fading from a collapsing left side.

He’s improved drastically at getting his unit into the right protections, which most QBs at this level are also not asked to do. He gets the pressure wadded up and fades away from the rush threats which exposes the weakness in coverage and allows him the space to get to his answer.

Checkdowns never make highlight reels but they are often the plays where you can see processing play out most cleanly. On this play, Nussmeier peeks the fade to the wide side which he will take on ALERT if he gets man coverage and likes the look. An ALERT is a route that’s not part of the progression, but is an option if he sees something he likes at the line. They rotate into Cover-2 with a S over top of it so he works down to the spacing concept to the other side. LSU teaches the read on spacing outside-in, so he has to flip his eyes all the way from one sideline to the other, then work from flat to curl to Taylor’s over-the-ball. He sees the weak hook defender push frontside to cover Taylor and knows to find the outlet in the area he vacated. He goes from ALERT to 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 while having to completely flip his vision and negotiate a dirty pocket. This is NFL stuff, a far cry from the schemed-up, RPO/PA offenses we see across college football designed to shield QBs from having to do anything mentally. The highlight throws get all the social media reactions but plays like this are more rare.

The biggest indicator of his improved command of game speed though is his growth at pocket management. Earlier in the year, he was skittish and avoidant when things got dirty, often panicking and guessing with the football because he felt sped up beyond control. Exactly like this:

Now, he’s able to manage both his read and the negotiation of shifting space around him, finding soft spots in the pocket, keeping his feet under control, and finding escape lanes if necessary.

We’re now starting to see flashes of total command, even to the point where he can adjust his reads on the fly based on what he sees. Here his read is to work from the mesh concept underneath (Anderson runs the wrong route) to the dig behind it to Daniels. The over to Taylor is not part of the progression as an ALERT. The initial look isn’t there for it so he makes the prescribed read, going from Anderson to Lacy to Daniels. However, early in the read he saw that the corner nailed down underneath, so he deduced that the alert would pop open behind it late, getting back to it after the full progression and putting enough velocity on the ball to get it there in time. Again for emphasis, most QB’s short circuit trying to get through any multi-step read at this level, but Nussmeier is now adding layers to them to make plays. He is boxing sushi at maximum speed.

The nuclear arm has always been there, but it’s nice to see it pop back up with a vertical threat finally presenting himself. These are incredibly arrogant throws, placing the first one precisely to the back shoulder to keep it away from the defender despite 60 or so yards of distance and the second perfectly in stride at a similar length. There’s no margin for error on either throw. Selfishly I hope he returns, but even for his sake, I hope the same. He has only reached his final form and with a huge NIL check waiting for him, he should not settle for a borderline first round pick and 8-4 season when there is so much waiting for him in 2025. He is better than that, and he can have more, because this combination of processing, arm talent, creative playmaking, and toughness does not belong on the fringes of the first round, it belongs on a billboard in Times Square.