All aboard the Nuss Bus
Fall Camp is under way for LSU football, the calendar has flipped from July to August and school starts this week for yours truly so it’s time to get back into the grind that is football season.
I wrote leading into the 2020 season that Myles Brennan had the unenviable task of trying to be the guy replacing THE GUY and we only got three games out of Brennan before his career was cut unceremoniously short by a freak abdominal injury. Four years later LSU is in a nearly identical situation: a veteran player who has stayed patient waiting for his moment finally gets his shot and has to replace a Heisman winner. Fate was cruel to Brennan, how will it treat Garrett Nussmeier?
*At Vanderbilt
Let me be the last to break the news to you: Garrett Nussmeier is going to be LSU’s starting quarterback when the Tigers kickoff the season in Las Vegas against USC. If there was ever even a hint of doubt, that went out the window when Brian Kelly took Nuss to SEC Media Days in Dallas last month.
Nussmeier has been QB1 in Baton Rouge from the moment Jayden Daniels announced he would be skipping the bowl game against Wisconsin. He took all the reps with the 1s during bowl practices, he took all the reps with the 1s during spring, and he’ll take all the reps with the 1s for the duration of camp. Now the only question is what does Nussmeier look like when the lights are shining bright?
I am not nor will I ever pretend to be the Xs and Os guy that Max is, so I’ll keep this simple: if Nussmeier has the type of season that Max alludes to in the ReliaQuest Bowl Film Review then the LSU offense will once again be very, very good, the Tigers make the CFP and Nussmeier plays his way into a day one NFL Draft pick.
I think LSU is in a win-win situation with Nussmeier this year and potentially 2025. If Nussmeier is awesome this year then there’s likely a lot of individual success for him and high level team success (think SEC champs, top-four seed in the CFP) for the Tigers; and if Nussmeier has a “good” year like Joe Burrow in 2018 or Jayden Daniels in 2022, LSU maybe still makes the CFP as an 11 or 12-seed and they’ll get their starting QB back in 2025. Put it another way: if Burrow and Daniels took those massive leaps from year one to two, imagine what Nussmeier could do if he’s back for a second season as a starter. Here’s hoping he’s so good in ‘24 that he won’t need to come back in ‘25.
The battle for QB2 is far more interesting. LSU brought in AJ Swann from Vanderbilt to push Nussmeier in spring and be ready should something happen. Keep in mind, Swann is the most experienced quarterback on the roster, not Nussmeier. Is there such a thing as a season-long battle for the backup quarterback spot? Because I have the sense that Swann will be the primary backup for USC, but eventually redshirt freshman Rickie Collins takes the QB2 job from Swann.
Colin Hurley is a super talented true freshman and could be the biggest wildcard in the QB room because of his age. Not only did Hurley enroll early, he reclassified to the 2024 class. He was 16 when he arrived on campus in January and the now 17-year-old Hurley ought to be entering his senior year of high school. Instead he’s been on a college campus for eight months and might have something to say about Bryce Underwood being the future LSU quarterback.