Will the real Garrett Nussmeier please stand up and throw long and accurately for an entire game?
So far, this season, that has not happened for the fifth-year senior LSU quarterback.
Last year at this time, Nussmeier was a projected top five or 10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and finished No. 5 in the nation in passing yards with 4,052, No. 6 in passing yards a game at 311.7 and 10th in touchdown passes with 29.
Through five games in 2025 after suffering an abdominal strain in August that has lingered, Nussmeier is No. 59 in passing yards with 1,159, No. 53 in passing yards a game with 231.8 and 64th in touchdown passes with seven. He entered the season as a Heisman Trophy favorite. As of Monday, he was No. 21.
“I didn’t like our plan.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 6, 2025
– Brian Kelly last week after LSU rarely tried to run in Ole Miss loss. If that happens again, he should change the plan. He’s the Head Coach. COLUMNhttps://t.co/KBojYLmc9I
Nussmeier and the No. 11 Tigers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) host South Carolina (4-1, 1-2 SEC0 on Saturday (6:45 p.m., SEC Network) after an open date in what amounts to a medical check-up for Nussmeier, who threw very little last week to rest the abdomen.
Will Nussmeier be closer to 100 percent, or will he continue to throw with little zip or accuracy frequently? Sometimes, though, he throws as well as ever. So, will the mystery continue?
BRIAN KELLY DISCUSSES KYREN LACY DEVELOPMENTS
“Let’s be a little bit more patient,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said at his weekly press conference Monday when asked about pre-season projections about quarterbacks in general. “Let’s see how this thing plays out. We’ve got a big stretch of games in front of us.”
Then he interjected Nussmeier.
“Whatever your narrative is on our quarterback, so be it,” he said. “You earn what you get in everything you do in life. But there’s so much in front of us. Let’s wait until all the facts get out. Let’s be a little bit more interested in what this process looks like than trying to get out with some kind of announcement right out of the gates. That’s just my opinion.”
The narrative of Michael Scarborough from Tigerbait.com is this: “I can tell you right now. He is not hurt. He hasn’t been hurt for weeks.”
Scarborough says Nussmeier’s issue is he doesn’t like contact and is soft and did not work hard over the summer.
Nussmeier is expected to throw this week at practice.
“He’s feeling better and better,” Kelly said. “We didn’t do a lot with him last week. We wanted to use that as a recovery week for him. Obviously, he did a lot with video, stayed involved with everything that we’re doing – run game checks, blitz checks, things of that nature. But we just cut him down from the throwing. Our expectations after talking to him is he feels good. He’s ready to go. Nuss was involved in the entire practices. We just didn’t have him throw. He was just getting the motions, keeping the arm ready. But he did essentially all of the mental work for what we had for the days on the field.”
Interestingly, though, but maybe not significantly, Kelly did include Nussmeier on his injury report to reporters Monday for the first time this season.
“Nuss is a go,” he said. Kelly said last week that Nussmeier did not aggravate his abdomen injury in the Ole Miss game.
After the Ole Miss game, in which Nussmeier struggled at times, Kelly said, ““All I can tell you is he’s healthy.”
INJURY REPORT
Kelly also said starting running back Caden Durham (ankle) “is a go” for the South Carolina game Saturday after missing the Ole Miss game on Sept. 27. Starting right tackle Weston Davis (concussion, fractured nose) is also expected to play Saturday, but he may not start as Carius Curne filled in for him well when Davis missed the Ole Miss game.
Starting wide receiver Aaron Anderson (elbow, hip, toe, knee ) is probable, and starting left guard Paul Mubenga (high ankle sprain) is questionable.
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