Garrett Nussmeier opens up on his personal growth as a player

Garrett Nussmeier will likely be Jayden Daniels‘ successor following his Heisman Trophy-winning season. He has since moved on to the NFL, leaving the reigns to the veteran Nussmeier entering year three in Brian Kelly’s offense.

2024 will be Nussmeier’s fourth overall season in Baton Rouge. Serving mostly as a backup, many quarterbacks in the same position would have opted to explore their options in the transfer portal. Instead, Nussmeier stayed patient, improved his game and is being rewarded for it.

“It never changes,” Nussmeier said of the expectations he sets for himself. “You always want to get better each and every day, you know, and I hope hope that if you interview me in 10 years and I’m in my eighth year in the league, I would say that I’m working on the exact same things. Just continuing to get better and just focusing on whether it’s, ‘What am I watching today?’ Alright, notice something. Alright, how can I improve in that area? It’s just continuing to get better, like I said, every single day, just keeping my head down and going to work.”

Nussmeier heads into the 2024 season coming off one of the best games of his career. Able to start in the Tigers’ bowl game due to Daniels’ choice to opt out of the ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Wisconsin.

In the end, Nussmeier completed 31 of his 45 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns while only throwing one interception. The Tigers trailed Wisconsin by two scores early in the matchup, but behind Nussmeier’s lead, LSU overcame the deficit and outscored the Badgers 35-17 — which was capped by a 98-yard game-winning drive. It was LSU’s 10th win of the season, who ended its season with a 35-31 victory.

Overall, Nussmeier has spent three seasons with the Tigers. During that time, he has thrown for 1,790 yards, 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. In 2023 as Daniels’ backup, Nussmeier threw for four touchdowns on 591 passing yards and one pick. Most impressively, Nussemeier was not sacked in 78 passing attempts last season, which of course includes his 45 passes in the bowl game.

Nussmeier will look to carry his strong bowl performance into the new year when LSU kicks off its 2024 college football season against USC in the Vegas Kickoff Classic on Sept. 1. The Tigers will begin SEC play during Week 3 against South Carolina on the road.