By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
If you remember how LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier last played when he was healthy in the 2024 season, you might watch the Senior Bowl on Saturday (1:30 p.m., NFL Network) from Mobile, Alabama.
Because you might just catch a glimpse of what he was before the abdomen injury he suffered prior to the 2025 season and played with it in pain for much of the time during nine games before calling it a season.
Nussmeier is healthier now than he has been since before the injury, which he apparently may never have gotten the real story on from LSU’s medical staff. And that has happened previously with other players.
“I think it was pretty obvious what was going on.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 15, 2025
-LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier discusses abdomen injury for 1st time:https://t.co/FBxw3SpXmU
“I feel good. It’s been a long process, trying to get healthy,” Nussmeier told former LSU quarterback Matt Flynn and former LSU running back Jacob Hester during the “Off The Bench” radio show on ESPN 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning from Mobile.
“And we weren’t really able to get some answers until actually probably about a month ago,” he said. “That was the first time we really kind of figured out what it was.”
Nussmeier has been training at 3DQB in Huntington Beach, California, with former NFL quarterback John Beck.
“Finally got it, and we have a good plan to try and get healthy,” Nussmeier said. “It was a game time decision to see if I would be able to get out here.”
The Senior Bowl announced Nussmeier as a participant on Jan. 5, which was later than most. He will have two of his LSU receivers with him on the American team – Aaron Anderson and Barion Brown. Safety A.J. Haulcy and defensive end Jack Pyburn had accepted invitations, but have since declined.
“Once I was able to find out I can have a full go, it was great,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me. I grew up watching the Senior Bowl. My dad played in it 30 years ago or something like that, back in the Dinosaur age. To get this opportunity is really cool.”
Nussmeier’s father, Doug Nussmeier, who is the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, played in the 1994 Senior Bowl out of Idaho before being drafted in the fourth round.
Nussmeier has been listed as a top 10 quarterback for the NFL Draft on April 23-25 in Pittsburgh. With a good week of practices, which began Tuesday afternoon, he could rise dramatically in the draft. It has happened based on the week in Mobile and the game.
As Nussmeier took off in the 2024 season, he was considered a high first round pick. He finished that season No. 5 in the nation in passing yards (4,052), No. 6 in passing yards a game (311.7) and 10th in touchdown passes (29).
In nine games in 2025 as he struggled to throw accurately and with authority because of the core injury, he threw for just 214 yards a game.
“I couldn’t use my core, so I was throwing the ball without core,” Nussmeier said.
“That’s a big deal, I would say,” Flynn said with understatement meant to be funny.
“Yeah, it’s hard,” Nussmeier said laughing. “It’s tough. Yeah, I’ve been having to just go back from the ground up and re-train myself, and get back to finishing throws and rotating through the ball. I’m actually using my core now. It’s been nice. The ball’s definitely coming out a lot different.”
Flynn, who threw for 2,407 yards and 21 touchdowns in leading the Tigers to the national championship in the 2007 season before playing for eight years in the NFL, explained how a quarterback needs his core at near or full strength to put critical torque, or spin, on the football.
“Makes a difference, huh?” Flynn understated again.
“It’s been good,” Nussmeier said. “But yeah, just basically trying to fix the fundamentals.”
Looking forward to seeing @DfabeSB and a healthier Garrett Nussmeier with top offensive linemen @seniorbowl late this month in rockin’ Mobile, Alabama.https://t.co/kNpJBBpyGt
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) January 5, 2026
And now he gets to show the NFL world the 2024 Nussmeier.
“I can’t un-see what I saw in 2024,” new Senior Bowl executive director Drew Fabianich told Tiger Rag when the Senior Bowl invited Nussmeier. “So there has to be the why. There has to be an explanation That difference in the two seasons doesn’t just happen over night.”
It’s the lack of core-strong torque is what happened. And Nussmeier can’t wait to spin it.
“Man, just getting an opportunity to go out there with the best of the best and go show what I can do,” he said. “I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just trying to be myself, and hopefully that will be good enough.”
He wants to show what he can do, but try not to do too much.
“I want to let teams get to know who I am and what I’m about,” he said. “Being able to wear the No. 18 at LSU. For one, that was a huge honor for me. That kind of sets the tone. That’s what I am. I’m a team guy. I care about my teammates. That’s my M.O. I don’t want to go out there and try to prove that I can make every throw. One, they’re going to watch the tape.”
And they should make sure they see the win over Ole Miss in 2024. Nussmeier, throwing on the run and under pressure continuously, brought the Tigers back in regulation and in overtime for a 29-26 win, throwing for 337 yards and three touchdowns.
“Quarterback made a great scramble play, couple of fourth-down conversions to put it into overtime and in overtime,” then-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said at the time.
“I’m just out here to, one – enjoy the experience,” Nussmeier said. “But to also prove to teams that I am who I say I am.”
Be the first to comment