The first month of the college football season has been tumultuous for the perceived NFL draft stock of a promising cast of quarterbacks under the spotlight and microscope.
But despite Garrett Nussmeier being among the big-name prospects to shoulder some early scrutiny, analyst Todd McShay pointed multiple times this week to the LSU star as the potential top pick at the position next April.
“Garrett Nussmeier’s still my QB1,” McShay said on the Monday episode of his “McShay Show” on The Ringer Network. “And I recognize that that offense hasn’t clicked the way you want that offense to click. I think that they’re playing complementary football.
“I am so damn impressed with the way he’s managing games, how he’s reeled it back in. I think he understands that the onus is on him to allow that defense — which is lightyears ahead of where it was a year ago — and create more balance with the run game and all those things. He has a role to play in this offense, and it will continue to increase, and he will show up in the big moments, I believe. We’ll find out. But I just trust Nuss.”
LSU (4-0) is undefeated and ranked in the top five of both the AP and Coaches polls with its resurgent defense as the early highlight.
The Tigers took four games and finally and FCS opponent to score more than 20 points in a game in this past weekend’s 56-10 roll past Southeastern Louisiana (2-2).
And top opponents Clemson (1-3) and Florida (1-3) — though both particularly talented on defense — have both plummeted from their preseason No. 4 and No. 15 rankings and left questions on how indicative those tests were for LSU in hindsight.
Nussmeier has completed 94 of his 137 passes (68.6%) for 962 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions through four games — numbers that are respectable across the board, but represent a dip from his prolific 2024 campaign particularly in yardage and yardage-per-completion.
“It has been (disappointing) so far,” McShay said on Friday’s episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on The Ringer Network. “Of all the guys that have struggled, I’m still hopeful with Nussmeier that he’s gonna kinda start to put it together. He’s got some new faces around him. He’s got four new offensive linemen. As you know, their best one was drafted by the Patriots, Will Campbell… Nussmeier plays the game neck-up than any other quarterback in the country.
“What made Nussmeier so enticing and intriguing last year was his aggressive style, but it came with some of the mistakes in some of the critical moments where he was trusting it too much or he was over-aggressive. And so I’ve now seen him kind of over-correct where it seems like it’s very clear: LSU now has a defense. They didn’t have one last year. LSU has a semblance of a run game, although not great, but they had one of the worst running games of a Power Four school in all of college football last year. So he has been trained by Brian Kelly and that staff that, ‘Hey, you don’t have carry this team like you did last year.’ And so he’s trying to play within the construct of the team, and I think it’s leading to a little bit more hesitation.”
In addition to the shifted team context, Nussmeier has also notably been working through a torso injury since preseason camp.
He declined all questions this week related to that issue, but Kelly said he thinks his quarterback is “on the other side of” the issue.
And play-calling and execution against Southeastern Louisiana appeared to demonstrate that being the case from a pair of early short-yardage quarterback keepers banging his way to conversions to more looks and completions downfield.
“I think you could see a difference in what he was doing,” Kelly said. “He was much more confident throwing the football. I think he saw opportunities to run, he took it. I thought his escape out of the pocket where he threw the touchdown pass was outstanding. Those are the things we’re looking for from him. And quite frankly giving him the opportunity to push the ball down the field. He’s highly accurate in throwing the ball down the field.”
The Tigers travel to Oxford, Miss., this weekend to face No. 13 Ole Miss (4-0) in what now looks like their biggest challenge to date.
The game is among the most intriguing on a Week 5 national slate that includes four top-25 matchups and also appears to represent a potentially pivotal early opportunity for Nussmeier as the draft discourses continues to evolve during the course of the season.
“Ole Miss is dangerous right now,” McShay told cohost Steve Muench. “But is Ole Miss really legit? Is LSU as good as we think they could be because of the defense? Can Nuss shut you up?”
