Brian Kelly questions Arch Manning’s chance to pass Garrett Nussmeier for first-team All-SEC spot

SEC Media Days are still more than a month away, but LSU head coach Brian Kelly is already making the case for his quarterback, Tigers senior Garrett Nussmeier, to get the preseason All-SEC first-team nod over Texas QB Arch Manning when the league’s assembled media votes in Atlanta.

“Look, we hear it every day because (Manning is) from Louisiana. … And listen, there’s another guy that hears it all the time and that’s Garrett Nussmeier,” Kelly told ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel during Tuedsay’s episode of the College GameDay Podcast. “He’s committed, and more than anything else, he’s experienced. And in this league, you need to see the bullets flying. Ask Jayden Daniels when he threw for (80) yards against Auburn (in 2022). We were coming back on the plane and I told Mike Dembrock and Joe Sloan at the time, ‘If we keep throwing for (80) yards, we’re not going to be together very long. We need (Daniels) to develop.’

“All I’m saying is, Nussmeier has seen it. He knows what he’s going to get,” Kelly added. “There’s a confidence he’ll bring each and every game through experience, maybe even through some scar tissue, that’s going to allow him to be, I believe, the best quarterback.”

Brian Kelly: Arch ‘Manning is extremely talented, but he’s got to go do it’

Manning, the much-ballyhooed former No. 1 overall recruit in 2023, is entering his first season as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback after two seasons backing up Quinn Ewers in Austin. Meanwhile, Nussmeier returns for his second season as the Tigers’ QB1 after ranking second in the SEC last season with 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns on 64.7-percent passing in 2024. The only quarterback with a better statistical season last year was Ole Miss‘ Jaxson Dart, who was selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the New York Giants in late April.

That said, Manning does have starting experience after a pair of 2024 spot-starts for an injured Ewers, during which he combined for 583 yards and four touchdowns to two interceptions on 68.3-percent passing against Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State last season. Manning finished 2024 with 939 yards and nine touchdowns on 67.8-percent passing while serving as a chance-of-pace option for Texas.

“Now, Manning is extremely talented. But he’s got to go do it. And there’s going to be a couple of days where it doesn’t come out the way it’s supposed to,” Kelly continued. “How do you bounce back, how do you come back from that? How does it work the next week in your gameplan? So there’s a lot out there. I can see the assessment of Manning, he’s an outstanding player. But I’ll take the guy that’s been in the SEC and seen what it looks like.”