LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier Has Tendinitis In His Knee, Coach Brian Kelly Says – “Not Serious”

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU football coach Brian Kelly performed a brilliant and refreshing move of clarity on Friday morning.

Kelly made a surprise visit to a press conference to discuss the knee injury to star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier before offensive coordinator Joe Sloan was scheduled to speak on the offense in general.

Brian Kelly addressed the Garrett Nussmeier rumors after practice.

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“Just for the record, he has tendinitis – patellar tendinitis,” Kelly said of Nussmeier, who left practice Wednesday with a knee injury and set off rumors that he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

“He does not have a torn ACL,” Kelly said of what would be a season-ending injury. “We have not amputated his leg. He has a PO’d (pissed off) patellar tendon. He aggravated it. It’s tendinitis. I think he just planted the wrong way.”

GARRETT NUSSMEIER INJURY MYSTERY

Nussmeier did not practice fully on Friday morning, but may play in a scrimmage scheduled for Saturday.

“He was out there today throwing,” Kelly said. “Tomorrow (Saturday), he’ll be back out, most likely in a practice situation. So, I thought we’d calm everybody down.”

Had LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey taken a similar approach toward the suspension of her star player, Angel Reese, early in the 2023-24 season, that story would have likely gone away quickly and not gotten as controversial as it did. Instead, it festered for weeks throughout the season as Mulkey refused to discuss it in any detail and criticized those who asked about it.

“That’s how you diffuse a situation,” ESPN Radio 104.5 FM/Baton Rouge talk show host Charles Hanagriff said later Friday of Kelly’s impromptu press conference.

“And that’s just being honest with you, so we could get the right information out there,” Kelly said.

Former Saints coach Sean Payton, who diametrically opposed discussing injuries in most cases, changed his strategy in 2019 when the injury was to star quarterback Drew Brees’ thumb and did what Kelly did – came clean.

And it was Kelly’s idea alone as he did not want Sloan to be asked questions about Nussmeier’s status instead of the head coach.

“I didn’t even know he was going to do that,” LSU football sports information director Michael Bonnette said after Kelly spoke.

The tendinitis is in the patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap (the patella) to the shin bone. Kelly could not remember if the injury is in Nussmeier’s left or right knee. Another LSU sports information department person was asked which knee it was and said he did not know either.

“I’m not even sure. That’s how big it (the injury) is,” Kelly said laughing. “It’s not a serious injury. It’s like guys dealing with tendinitis every day in life – take two aspirin, and I’ll call you in the morning. This is more precautionary.”

Asked if the injury was long term, Kelly said, “No. I mean, it’s tendinitis. On a scale of one to 10, this is like a 1.5.”

Kelly said the tendinitis stems from a surgery on the same knee Nussmeier had in 2023 for Osgood-Schlatter disease – a condition that causes knee pain often in young athletes that involves inflammation of the patellar tendon.

“The tendon was irritated back then,” Kelly said. “So, this is just chronic. And we’ll calm it down. And the world is still round.”

Nussmeier’s health went viral on Wednesday when mostly non-media rumors spread of a more serious knee injury when he tweaked the knee in practice and had to leave the workout. But those rumors quickly ended when various real media sources denied Nussmeier had been hurt significantly.

“It’s not torn,” Kelly said. “There’s no fraying. There’s none of that.”

A fifth-year senior from Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, Nussmeier is one of the top returning quarterbacks in the nation and is a Heisman Trophy candidate and a projected early first round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. He finished fifth in the nation last year as a junior in passing yards with 4,052 on 337 completions in 525 attempts with 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions through 13 starts.

“This is pre-existing, and he probably just planted the wrong way,” Kelly said. “There’s nothing to really see on film with it.”