GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Whew! An LSU Nation was getting worried. And so was the football coaching staff.
With the Texas Bowl coming up on New Year’s Eve, would LSU have to go with a no-name quarterback as it did in the 2021 season with wide receiver/emergency QB Jontre Kirklin?
LSU has only one other quarterback on campus with significant playing experience – junior Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann – other than junior starter Garrett Nussmeier.
Nussmeier has been considered a first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft in his first season in 2024 as a starter, and he thought about it for a few days after the regular season ended on Nov. 30. But on Wednesday, he said he will remain a Tiger for his senior season.
That sigh of relief you just heard was from coach Brian Kelly, who suffered a commitment flip from LSU to Michigan last month by the nation’s No. 1 prep quarterback – Byrce Underwood of Detroit.
Kelly has also seen no less than 15 members of his 2024 team enter the NCAA Transfer Portal since the once No. 8-ranked Tigers finished the season at 8-4 on Nov. 30. The loss of Nussmeier would have been devastating.
“God brought me to LSU for a reason,” Nussmeier said in a video posted on social media. “I had to observe and trust in his timing and his plan for me time and time again. I stayed at LSU because of that reason, and again, I feel like my time at LSU is not over.”
Jeremiah 29:11 ☧ pic.twitter.com/rS9WwfUyl5
— Garrett Nussmeier (@Garrettnuss13) December 11, 2024
Nussmeier signed with LSU and then-coach Ed Orgeron in 2021 out of Marcus High in Flower Mound, Texas, as the No. 19 quarterback in the nation, No. 27 prospect in Texas and 152nd player overall. As a freshman, he backed up sophomore starter Max Johnson. After Johnson transferred to Texas A&M after that regular season, Nussmeier could’ve started the Texas Bowl. But that would have been his fifth game that season, and he would have lost his redshirt status.
LSU interim coach Brad Davis, who had replaced Orgeron, had no other option but to convert the senior Kirklin from wide receiver to quarterback for the Texas Bowl. Kirklin, a quarterback at Lutcher High, completed 7-of-11 passes for 138 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions while rushing 11 times for 61 yards in a 42-20 loss to Kansas State with newly hired LSU coach Brian Kelly watching from the press box.
Nussmeier backed up quarterback Jayden Daniels in 2022 and ’23. And now will get to start a Texas Bowl after all. LSU (8-4) and Baylor (8-4) kickoff at 2:30 p.m. in Houston in the Texas Bowl on ESPN.
In 2024, Nussmeier finished No. 6 in the nation in passing yards a game with 311.6 on 313-of-491 passing for 3,739 yards and 26 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.
“I am fully committed to bring this university a championship,” Nussmeier said. “My teammates, coaches and the fans will get the absolute best out of me every single day until we complete that goal.”
The previous two LSU quarterbacks who played their entire junior season and stayed for their senior year were Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy and national championship in the 2019 season, and Daniels, who won the Heisman last season. Burrow was the first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, and Daniels was the second pick last year.
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