Brian Kelly says Garrett Nussmeier can be 'great story' after sticking with LSU

Brian Kelly is a big fan of quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and his willingness to be patient and be developed at LSU.

In fact, it’ll be a great success story if Nussmeier plays well and leads LSU on a run as the starter. He was the backup to Jayden Daniels for the last two years and had the opportunity to transfer if he wanted to explore his options.

However, Kelly was proud his QB stuck it out in Baton Rouge.

“I hope that there’s great success for Garrett,” Kelly said on Sirius XM. “First of all, just because of his persistence and patience. He comes from a football family … and I think coming from that family, him seeing it firsthand on how it can be sometimes a problem by chasing something that you don’t know when you have something in front of you already. 

“But if his success story is what I hope it to be, I think it can be a really good story for others to follow in that is go to where you want to go. Not to where somebody wants you to go because it’s more money, or it’s a better opportunity financially. Go to where you believe you can be developed. And if that ends up being the story, it’s going to be a great story for college football.”

Great preparation and understanding of football is something Daniels and Nussmeier share according to their head coach.

“There is certainly common traits,” Kelly said Monday at SEC Media Days. “I think the first one certainly, if we’re talking outside of the skill factor, right, the ability to throw the football. If you talk about just from the neck up, the ability to certainly translate. In other words, take the offense, take the things that are taught in the classroom, and be able to translate those things to the field.”

In moderate action (18 games over three seasons), Nussmeier has 1,720 yards, 11 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 58.9% completion percentage.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Nussmeier was a four-star recruit out of Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 15 overall prospect in the state, the No. 11 quarterback in the class and the No. 88 overall prospect in the class.