Mel Kiper questions how Garrett Nussmeier will manage with rebuilt offensive line

After a breakout 2024 season, his first as LSU‘s starting quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier opted to forgo the 2025 NFL Draft. Instead, he chose to return to Baton Rouge to make one final stab at winning a College Football Playoff national championship this upcoming season.

But after the Tigers underwent multiple roster changes around him. That included replacing four of five starters along their offensive line this offseason, as well as adding several offensive playmakers out of the transfer portal. Nussmeier is now facing new questions entering the 2025 regular season.

That includes those from longtime ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., who suggested the LSU senior quarterback could face an uphill battle playing behind a relatively brand-new offensive line this year. Especially when paired against a loaded defensive in Saturday’s season-opening Top 10 showdown vs. No. 4 Clemson (7:30 pm ET, ABC).

“(He’s an) anticipatory thrower, but he had a stretch of three games where he had eight touchdown passes, but nine interceptions, some bad interceptions in some of those games. But late in the year, final three games, he’s over 70%, seven touchdowns, only one pick,” Kiper Jr. said Thursday morning on ESPN’s Get Up. “This is a guy, one year as a starter only, keep that in mind, and they have a rebuilt offensive line. How does Nussmeier deal with operations in this game, with the offensive line being pretty much all new and some new-ish wide receivers as well that he’s got to get on the same page with?”

Of course, Kiper isn’t the only ESPN analyst who expects Nussmeier to struggle Saturday. Enter Greg McElroy.

Greg McElroy predicts Garrett Nussmeier will throw two interceptions in a loss to Clemson

There may not be a better quarterback matchup in the sport of college football this season than Clemson‘s Cade Klubnik vs. LSU‘s Garrett Nussmeier. It will go down in both teams’ season-opening blockbuster matchup this Saturday night.

Nussmeier excelled last season in his first year as LSU‘s starter, as he passed for 4,052 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has a big opportunity ahead of him this weekend to really make his mark on the college football landscape, but ESPN‘s Greg McElroy doesn’t quite see that happening.

“Garrett Nussmeier throws two-plus interceptions,” McElroy said on Thursday morning’s edition of ‘Get Up.’ “I look at this offensive line for the LSU Tigers, I think they’re going to struggle against an elite defensive front for Clemson. We’ve seen in the past, Garrett Nussmeier in big moments, will press. I also don’t know how committed to the run LSU will be to take the pressure off the passing game. So, he throws in traffic couple times, gets picked off a couple times. Clemson wins the game.”

As LSU‘s starter last season, Nussmeier played in three games against Top 25 competition (No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 11 Alabama and No. 14 Texas A&M). In those three such games, Nussmeier completed 74-of-143 passes for 981 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions. He threw at least two interceptions in all three marquee matchups and threw three in the game against Alabama. LSU went 1-2 in those games last season.

— On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this report.