At what point quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is able to sit and rest will be one of LSU’s notable storylines to watch Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana.
But coach Brian Kelly emphasized Wednesday that the Tigers do not plan to hold the veteran passer from the game entirely as he continues battling his way through a torso injury.
“I think he needs to play,” Kelly told reporters during the weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference. “Garrett wants to play. He’s capable of playing. As I said, the torso injury slowed him up and it slowed up, in some instances, the development of the offense because we needed to be very careful with him… We dialed back practice. We dialed back what we were doing to make sure that we protected him. He’s now on the other side of it because we were able to do that.
“This week is an opportunity for him. He’s doing some things in practice he hasn’t been able to do in the last month. We’re pretty excited about what he could do this weekend.”
Nussmeier has completed 69 of 106 passes (65.1%) thus far this evening for 689 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The number of attempts and completion percentage are largely in line with his overall performance from last season, but his yardage and touchdown-to-interception ratio have come down with his shorter average depth of target and fewer deep shots and the Tigers’ hit-or-miss red zone efficiency.
A matchup against FCS opponent Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) would seem to present an opportunity for LSU to rest the fifth-year senior from Lake Charles entirely ahead of next week’s trip to No. 13 Ole Miss (3-0).
But Kelly explained that the staff thinks Nussmeier is “on the other side” of the torso issue — seemingly nearing full health — and that the date with the Lions can also offer an opportunity for the Tigers’ offense to get more in sync ahead of the full SEC gauntlet.
“You’re not working on it as much in practice,” Kelly said during his weekly Monday press conference about one of the offense’s kinks thus far still needing to be ironed. “So, you know, when you get your shots, you want to be able to take ’em, but we’re not doing it a lot in practice. We’re starting to pick up that pace. We started a little bit last week. We’ll continue to pick it up a little bit more this week.”