NUSS TOUGH: If That Was Garrett Nussmeier’s Last Home Game, He Sure Left His Mark

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

If likely first round NFL draft pick Garrett Nussmeier exits before his fifth-year senior season in 2025 for the NFL, he will potentially leave a Heisman Trophy and the College Football Playoff on the table.

According to LSU coach Brian Kelly’s crystal ball and re-crystallizing roster, he will also leave behind a chance to play in the national championship game next season and a bunch of receipts.

BRIAN KELLY PREDICTS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOR LSU NEXT SEASON

“We talk about it all the time,” Nussmeier said Saturday night after shaking off a right, throwing shoulder injury and throwing three touchdowns in a 37-17 win over Oklahoma at Tiger Stadium to close the regular season.

“He talks about taking receipts. It’s the truth. We’re going to take receipts and remember what people say about this team and who they thought that we were,” Nussmeier said. “And it’s just the truth of who we really are, and we know the real us.”

That’s 8-4, if you believe you are what your record is, as two-time Super Bowl champion New York Giants coach Bill Parcells liked to say.

“I’m just excited for us to continue to grow and build on the foundation,” Nussmeier said.

But when asked if that growth would extend beyond a bowl game and into next season, he did not commit to the project just yet.

“I have not decided about that,” he said when asked if he would skip the 2025 NFL Draft and play for LSU next season.

But if he does leave soon, his last Tiger Stadium game will be something to remember by him, his family, his teammates and everyone there and watching.

Nussmeier isn’t saying how his injured, possibly dislocated shoulder got better, but it sure did as he returned to throw a pair of 40- and 45-yard bullets to wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. for touchdowns and a 31-17 lead in the third quarter. Oklahoma had tied it 17-17 late in the second quarter.

“There was no option really in my head whatever we had to do to be able to get back me back out there,” Nussmeier said about Kelly giving him the choice to not return after the injury. “I’ll be good. Got a month to get right and play the bowl game. We had a talk, and I told him there was no way I was sitting out.”

Nussmeier suffered the shoulder injury on a sack with 14:02 to go in the second quarter and the score tied 7-7. He writhed in pain on the Tiger Stadium grass on his back before going to the locker room.

“Listen, that is an easy tap for most people,” Kelly said. “That is an easy one to say, ‘I’m not coming back.’ But that is the kind of player, and that is the kind of competitor he is. Grit and toughness. Look, what you want as a coach is you want them to resemble the traits that you think a championship team should have.”

Nussmeier returned to action with 2:02 to play in the half, but he would have been back with more than seven minutes to go had LSU’s Aaron Anderson not returned an Oklahoma kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and 17-14 lead. Then Oklahoma drove for a field goal and 17-17 tie.

On the sidelines, he threw some 40-yard passes hard. Upon re-entry, he completed passes of 6, 7 and 7 yards. Then he drilled a 40-yard TD to Hilton with 45 seconds left in the first half for a 24-17 lead. He completed four straight for 30 yards on LSU’s first possession of the second half, then hit Hilton for the 45-yard score. He finished 22 of 31 for 277 yards and

With backup AJ Swann struggling on his two possessions (1 of 3 for 8 yards), LSU may have lost without Nussmeier.

3 TIGERS TAKE SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

“A lot of these guys have busted their butts the last year and a lot of these seniors,” Nussmeier said. “LSU means a lot to me. It means the world to me, and I bleed these colors no matter what anybody has to say about me.”

Nussmeier did play four games as a true freshman in 2021 when the Tigers went 6-7 and 3-5 in the SEC prior to Kelly’s arrival. Then he backed up Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels in the 2022 and ’23 seasons. Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last season.

“There was no way that I was going to watch the rest of that game from the sidelines,” Nussmeier said, “and let those seniors go out without me playing.”