Garrett Nussmeier discusses ‘culture flip’ under Brian Kelly

A lot was made of the stark differences between outgoing LSU head coach Ed Orgeron and his replacement, Brian Kelly. But redshirt freshman quarterback Garrett Nussmeier thinks the that having a new staff and way of doing things is invigorating for a Tigers program that had lost the way a bit in recent years.

Kelly hails from a north Boston suburb and hadn’t coached anywhere further south than Cincinnati, but there’s one thing he’s has done consistently everywhere he’s been as a coach: Win. He won at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. Nussmeier does not doubt that will be ultimately outcome for LSU.

“It’s been awesome. A culture flip, I guess you could say,” Nussmeier said. “That’s no diss to Coach O, I love him. I love the old staff and everything that they did for us. And I think it’s great that Coach Kelly kind of has a different way of doing things. It was new for us, and I think once we kind of bought in and started to understand it, it really helped us out a lot. I think it made people from the top of the roster to the bottom of the roster, altogether buy in more and all be focused on one goal.” 

LSU might not be a playoff contender in 2022, in no small part because of the Tigers’ schedule, which features road games against Texas A&M, Auburn, Florida and Arkansas. Tennessee coming to the Bayou will be no joke, either. But if Kelly coming in gets LSU back to a respectable baseline, the “culture flip” Nussmeier mentioned will be well worth it.

Nussmeier is locked in a battle with transfer Jayden Daniels to lead the Tigers

While Jayden Daniels, the the transfer from Arizona State, brings more experience and dynamic running ability to the quarterback position, Nussmeier has shown he would be a viable option as the LSU signal caller. He did, however, suffer a minor setback when he injured his ankle, something Kelly addressed.

“He just had a grade one ankle [sprain] so just limited today but he’ll be back probably taking seven on seven reps either tomorrow or Saturday, so very very little, he’s done a really nice job. He just came down, very similar to when a basketball player comes down on somebody else’s foot, very similar situation and he’s recovered quite nicely, so just a minor ankle situation for him,” Kelly said.

Nussmeier saw action in four games last season and threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns in his limited snaps. It sounds like he’ll be fully practicing with the team sooner than later, and will continue to split first team reps with the group of various Tiger quarterbacks — that now no longer includes Myles Brennan.