Garrett Nussmeier Has Arrived As Legit NFL Prospect

Garrett Nussmeier is one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

Yes, that’s a loaded and perhaps bold statement, but time and time again, when he’s asked to make a play for LSU, he comes through. They’ve reeled off five straight wins since they lost the season opener to USC, a game where Nussmeier played very well and gave them a chance to win. The defense at LSU continues to disappoint, and much falls on the shoulders of the first-year starter, but he’s learned a thing or two about how to carry an offense. 

Sitting behind Jayden Daniels for two seasons, there were many questions surrounding Nussmeier and what he could do with this LSU team. He played a quarter here, a half there, and then started his first collegiate game against Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl last season. LSU fell behind early, and Nussmeier brought them back from two touchdowns down to win that football game.

The talent was overwhelmingly evident when I finished writing his scouting report over the summer. The only true question that kept coming back was the experience factor. It was hard to know how he’d take to being the full-time starter after Daniels, but the early returns are more than promising. He operates as a field general, knowing when to check in and out of certain plays, gets through his progressions, and checks the ball down if need be. His arm talent is jaw-dropping, and he’s an underrated athlete with natural pocket instincts to avoid sacks while keeping his eyes downfield.

This brings us to his comeback performance against Ole Miss, the ninth-ranked team in the country at the time. Nussmeier threw the football 55 times, completing 22 for 337 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. While the completion percentage is awful, this is how Nussmeier plays the game. He’s arrogant. That can and has bitten him a few times this season. He loves taking the big-boy throws down the field and taking on tight windows. He knows he can make any throw. Learning to make the ‘right’ throw will come with time.

The arrogance works in his favor, too. He makes “NFL” throws weekly with the confidence to test windows and keep airing it out even after he makes a mistake. Having a short memory in those situations is critical to learning and taking advantage of when you make a mistake by allowing it to work for you and not against you. Against Ole Miss, he showed every side of the player that he is, even scrambling for a key first down in the fourth quarter (we’ll come back to that). When it was time to put up or shut up, this is what Nussmeier did.

On 4th-and-5, Nussmeier calmly went through his reads and threw his receiver open with perfect ball placement to the endzone. His next pass won the game in overtime with a 25-yard touchdown to Kyren Lacy. He doesn’t get rattled. He lives for the big moment and has thrived when asked to put his team on his shoulders. 

The concerns I wrote about in his scouting report are still prevalent, and a concerted effort to correct them will iron out questions about his draft stock, but he needs to start taking advantage of scrambles. He’s a better athlete than he’s given credit for—he does a great job of buying time and keeping his eyes downfield to make the defense pay. While we love that, start gashing them with some scrambles, and the downfield plays will continue. When CJ Stroud came to the NFL, he wasn’t known for using his legs, but he showed what he could do against Georgia in the National Semifinal game, which has translated to the league. It's time for Nussmeier to take a page from Stroud and Daniels’ playbook.

His pocket management/feel is next-level; not just stepping up and around pressure but micro-movements to create time and space within the pocket allow him to make throws like this routinely. Ole Miss created 21 pressures against Nussmeier, he didn’t take a sack, and he’s only been sacked once this season on 57 pressures. 

This was Nussmeier's biggest test to date, and while there were some shaky moments, he passed and did so with the clutch gene. The road doesn’t get easier for him as they have Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Alabama over the next three games, but this was an excellent opportunity for him to learn from a game in which he didn’t play his best throughout but did when it mattered. 

As LSU continues to win, more eyes will pay attention to Nussmeier, and I feel that’s exactly what he wants. With their eyes settling on a potential SEC Championship and College Football Playoff appearance, the Tigers will go as far as the Nuss Buss takes them. Reserve your seat now; it’s about to speed up.