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Brian Kelly's injury update on LSU QB Michael Van Buren

On3 imageby: Matthew Brune08/19/25MatthewBrune_
LSU Michael Van Buren
LSU Michael Van Buren

LSU sophomore quarterback Michael Van Buren was putting together a quality fall camp in preparation for the 2025 season, but on Monday morning, he was limited in practice, wearing a splint on his right hand.

On Tuesday afternoon, head coach Brian Kelly provided an update on Van Buren’s status for the remainder of LSU’s fall camp.

“He got index finger jammed on his right hand. He will be throwing tomorrow. He had an X-Ray and MRI and there’s no damage. He was just sore, so we shut him down a little bit, but he’ll be back. He did light throwing in the afternoon today and he’ll be back up tomorrow.”

It seems like the Tigers’ backup quarterback is OK and will be available for the remainder of fall camp and into the first week of game preparation.

Van Buren broke onto the scene in the SEC as a true freshman in 2025, totaling 1,886 yards and 11 touchdowns to seven interceptions at Mississippi State, starting the final seven games of the season for the Bulldogs. After the season, he transferred to LSU for his second year in college, looking to learn and grow behind Garrett Nussmeier and under Joe Sloan.

With Van Buren sidelined, redshirt freshman Colin Hurley got the second team quarterback reps in practice on Monday. He continues to be a work in progress as a young player looking to grow his game.

Just over a week ago, LSU’s starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was battling Patellar Tendonitis and wore a sleeve during practices. Kelly quickly calmed down any fears of a substantial injury, saying it’s a “1.5 on a scale of 1-10” and insisting he was fine. Nussmeier has not missed any more practices this fall.

“Just for the record, he has patellar tendonitis,” Kelly said earlier this month. “He does not have a torn ACL. We have not amputated his leg. He has a PO, and you know the initials of that: patella tendon. He was out there today throwing; tomorrow he’ll likely be back in a practice situation.

A lot of this stems from his 2023 Osgood-Schlatter surgery, when the tendon was irritated. This is just a chronic condition, we’ll calm it down and everything will be fine. no long-term effects. It’s tendonitis, and it’s managed every single day. He’ll be back out there, just like coming back from a bad ankle. He practiced today and will again tomorrow. I think he just planted wrong, and when you have a pre-existing condition like this, it’s easy to aggravate. That’s what happened — tendonitis in the patella.

It’s the patella tendon — not torn, no fraying. This was a pre-existing issue, and he probably just planted wrong. There’s nothing on film, but it aggravated the tendon. He’ll be fine. We’ll let it calm down, maybe use a Medrol pack to reduce inflammation. On a scale of 1 to 10, this is about a 1.5.”

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