GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU football coach Brian Kelly was adamant Wednesday morning about quarterback Garrett Nussmeier remaining the starter despite five interceptions in his last two games and nine over his last four.
“No, absolutely none,” Kelly said when asked if there was “any consideration for a quarterback change” on the Southeastern Conference’s weekly teleconference. “When a coach gives you a definitive answer like that, everybody kind of raises their eyes like, ‘Oh, well, he’s just digging his feet in.'”
That’s not what Kelly is doing.
“He gives us the best chance to be successful,” he said.
BRIAN KELLY STILL BETTER THAN NICK SABAN IN THIRD-SEASON COMPARISON
LSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC), which fell to No. 21 from No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, plays at Florida (4-5, 2-4 SEC) on Saturday (2:30 p.m., ABC).
Nussmeier, a redshirt junior in his first season as a starter, has thrown 11 interceptions on the season and has dropped out of the top 50 in the national passing efficiency statistics and is No. 10 in the SEC with a 139.5 rating. He is 235-of-375 passing for 2,866 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also lost a fumble against Alabama at the LSU 32-yard line that set up a touchdown for a 21-6 deficit late in the second quarter.
“And that’s kind of where we’re at, relative to first or second (on the depth chart),” Kelly said.
LSU does not have a backup quarterback who threatened Nussmeier for the starting job last spring or in August. The listed No. 2 quarterback is redshirt freshman Rickie Collins. His only college experience is three brief appearances in mop-up duty this season. He is 5-of-5 passing for 35 yards. Vanderbilt junior transfer AJ Swann has not taken a snap this season after starting six games last year with the Commodores and six in 2022.
“We have to do a better job for him (Nussmeier),” Kelly said. “He’s got to do a better job. We believe in him, and we believe that as we continue to grow in the first year of a starter, that he gives us the best chance. So, again, I want to be careful when I’m firm in those answers. It’s because we’ve done the due diligence. We’ve researched it. We just truly believe he gives us the best options for success.”
But Nussmeier needs to improve dramatically.
“Having said that,” Kelly said, which is an entire “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode, “you can understand what we’re working on. You don’t need to have a degree in football of any kind to know that we can’t continue to have the kind of mistakes on offense that we’ve had.”
Nussmeier had three critical interceptions in the second half of the 38-23 loss at Texas A&M on Oct. 26 after LSU led 17-7 at the half. He threw one in the end zone at the Alabama 5-yard line in the third quarter Saturday when LSU was on the verge of getting to within 21-13.
“If we’re not seeing things the way we need to, then we’re doing too much,” Kelly said of Nussmeier. “It’s always been my experience in 30-plus years of coaching that if it’s not resonating, then you need to do less. Less is more.”
Nussmeier’s issues may go deeper than just the interceptions.
“It’s not the interceptions,” Kelly said. “Where are we starting? It’s the basics. In everything in life, we go back to the fundamentals. Can we make things easier from a coaching standpoint that allows us to be consciously competent to the level of an unconscious competent, where ‘I don’t even need to think about it, I know it so well?’ That’s where want to get to. Getting back to the fundamentals will help us and Garrett immensely to get to where we want to go.”
Some of those basics with Nussmeier include keeping his footwork good.
“The mechanics are certainly part of it,” Kelly said. “We had a similar situation with Jayden (Daniels) earlier in the season last year, where the foot work needed to be better to allow the ball to get out on time. Your foot work sometimes forces you in the right decisions. It forces you to be where you need to be at the right time. Garrett would probably tell you that that’s the No. 1 thing he hears from me. We continue to work on those little things mechanically and getting through his progressions. He’s heard a lot of it. He’s been great to work with. He’s been diligent.”
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