GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier shared a football field with his coach Brian Kelly long before Kelly came to LSU after the 2021 season.
Nussmeier, whose dad Doug Nussmeier was Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2012 and ’13, was on the Crimson Tide sideline at age 10 after Alabama played Kelly’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the BCS national championship game in Miami on Jan. 7, 2013.
GARRETT NUSSMEIER HELD TROPHY BRIAN KELLY LOST
Final Score: Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14. And little Nuss got to hold up the trophy with his dad.
“Yeah, he’s brought it up,” Kelly said on the Southeastern Conference teleconference on Wednesday. “And I told him to shut up, and not to bring it up again. Because the next time, we’re going to be on the field together, we’re going to be holding it together.”
Wow! Kelly just predicted College Football Playoff national championship for he and Nussmeier, either this season or next if Nussmeier stays for his senior season and puts off the NFL Draft.
The Tigers (6-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) were ranked No. 15 in the first CFP rankings and out of the playoffs at the moment for the 12-team tournament released Tuesday night.
LSU plays No. 11 Alabama (7-2, 3-2 SEC) on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC) in a must-win situation for both teams, regarding the playoffs.
“We had a little bit of a laugh about it, and he was good natured about it,” Kelly said. “He wants the same thing. He’s looking forward to doing that here at LSU.”
Doug Nussmeier went on to be offensive coordinator at Michigan and Florida before working as an assistant coach with Dallas and the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL and is now the quarterbacks coach with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kelly finished the 2012-13 season at 12-1 after leading the Fighting Irish to their first national championship game since winning it all in 1988. He won double-digit games in six more seasons at Notre Dame and took the Irish to the College Football Playoff in the 2018 and ’20 seasons, losing in the semifinal each time to eventual national champion Clemson and Alabama, respectively. He took the LSU job after the 2021 season.
NICK SABAN STILL AT ALABAMA IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
Alabama’s national championship in the 2012 season over Notre Dame was Tide coach Nick Saban’s third at Alabama and fourth overall as he won one at LSU in the 2003-04 season. He won three more at Alabama before retiring after last season. He now is an analyst for ESPN and keeps an office at Alabama.
“He still has an office there,” Kelly said. “There’s a man behind the curtain, if you will. You still do sense a little bit of Nick there. A lot of the underpinnings are still there.”
Be the first to comment