Garrett Nussmeier has the familiar name and face in the LSU quarterback race, but he's not the veteran in the room.
That honor now belongs to Jayden Daniels, an Arizona State transfer, who is now the elder statesman after the surprise departure of Myles Brennan earlier this week. But Garrett says he isn't worried about the competition, just getting better.
“We’ve both been in quarterback competitions and I think we’ve both learned it doesn’t matter what the other person does," Nussmeier said this week. "I’ve said that before many times. There’s no bad blood between me and Jayden, we’re good friends who root for each other. We worry about how we can improve ourselves because it’s a long season, we know how it goes. We just want to put the offense as a whole in the best position we can so we can all win games.”
But while trailing significantly in starting time spent at the quarterback position, Nussmeier still isn't a completely unknown commodity. He saw action in four games, including one long-term appearance during the unraveling 2021 season, and looked sharp in stretches. He went 29-57 overall for 329 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
It might not have come under the most ideal of circumstances, but it was invaluable experience nonetheless.
“It was definitely an interesting season," he said. "A lot went on, especially being a true freshman, but I learned a lot from the past staff, from Max, from Myles. I learned a lot from those guys and I’ll cherish some of those moments and some of those memories for my whole career.”
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Earlier this week WWL's Kristian Garic reported that the starting job is likely headed to Daniels, but asked Tuesday, neither QB had been told one way or the other.
"Have they told you that? I haven't heard nothing about that," he said with a laugh when asked directly. "Like I said, we're focused on winning games. You probably know more than I know."
LSU kicks off its regular season on Sept. 4 against Florida State at the Caesars Superdome.
MORE FROM GARRETT NUSSMEIER
ON WANTING TO SHED 'GUNSLINGER' LABEL
“That’s something I’ve said before. I think it got lost in translation a little bit as far as, I’m still gonna take shots and any quarterback should when they’re giving it to you, though I think is the biggest thing that I’ve learned. Take them when they’re given to you. Take them when you’re supposed to take them, and just continue to lead the offense and move the chains is what I’ve been taught my whole life.”
WHAT'S YOUR BEST ATTRIBUTE AS A QB
“I think the biggest thing for both of us, and what we’ve been working on and what we’ve been learning a lot about is just leading and being one unit, being together, because at the end of the day all that matters is that LSU wins on Saturday.”
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WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WITH BRIAN KELLY
“It’s been awesome. A culture flip, I guess you could say. That’s no diss to Coach O, I love him. I love the old staff and everything they did for us and I think it was great. Coach Kelly kind of has a different way of doing things and 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 focused on one goal.”
ON MOBILITY AT THE QB POSITION IN NEW OFFENSE
“I think the style of our offense is definitely a little bit more mobile, instead of the just the base, pro-style, dropback-type offense. But we do a lot of both. It’s what I love about this offense, is there’s mobility, but there’s also sitting back there and slinging it. It’s a very complex offense and it makes you think a lot, but I love it because it challenges me each day. I never go out there in the gray area of things because you’ll get lost. It’s something I love about what they do and their scheme.”
ON ELITE TALENT AT WR
“It feels good as a quarterback going into a football game that it doesn’t matter what happens, but whoever you throw the ball to is gonna go get it. We’ve got some unbelievable receivers, tight ends are stepping up well, running backs, too, and the O-line is coming together, so I’m really excited. Talking just about the receivers, those guys are studs, they’re going to go make plays. A 50-50 ball isn’t a 50-50 ball, it’s a 100-0 ball. That’s how I feel about it with them. You get a 1-on-1 matchup with those guys you can take the shot and I feel really good about taking the shot.”