Brian Kelly breaks down what qualities earned Garrett Nussmeier starting job

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•04/11/24
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LSU will have to replace Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, but there won’t be a quarterback battle in Baton Rouge this offseason. Redshirt junior Garrett Nussmeier is set to take over.

For coach Brian Kelly, there was little doubt that Nussmeier was his guy after seeing him play a little at the end of 2023.

“Well Garrett has earned, obviously, Garrett Nussmeier has earned the right to be our starter,” Kelly said on the Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday. “I think we saw that in the Wisconsin game, the way he really emerged late in the third, fourth quarter. Led us on a late-game drive, 92-yard drive. The glimpses of him I think in that game all of us felt very confident that we could turn this over to him and really continue to have a great offense.”

Garrett Nussmeier certainly threw it around the yard that day in the Reliaquest Bowl against the Badgers. He finished with 45 passing attempts, connecting on 31 of them for 395 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw one interception.

But that kind of output was enough to help LSU earn a 35-31 win, reaching the 10-win mark for the second straight season under Kelly.

The Tigers head coach isn’t making any bones about it, though. He knows Nussmeier will be up against it to some degree when he takes over as the starter this fall.

“Look, we’re losing the Heisman Trophy winner and two No. 1 draft picks at wide receiver, so you’re losing a lot of production,” Kelly said. “But we have some really good players coming back.”

Kelly definitely sounds confident in his new quarterback’s ability to manage the offense, which will be key going forward. Garrett Nussmeier has all the tools.

That includes his surrounding cast.

“I think he’s going to be surrounded with one of the best offensive lines in the country,” Kelly said. “And he’s got tight ends and he’s got depth at the wide receiver position. So he doesn’t have to do it himself. Feel really good about the surrounding cast and his ability to go in and impact games.”