BATON ROUGE — LSU football starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier announced his decision that he would be returning for his final year of eligibility earlier this week, much to the delight of coach Brian Kelly, his staff, players and fans.
In his first year starting, Nussmeier pieced together a solid junior season, leading the Tigers to an 8-4 record and the Texas Bowl. He threw for 3,739 yards in 2024, the sixth most of any quarterback in college football, along with 26 touchdowns.
NFL scouts took notice and some mock drafts were listing Nussmeier in the top couple of rounds.
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While there could’ve been some outside push for Nussmeier to move on from LSU after this season, Kelly told reporters Friday that there was always a sense that the signal caller would be back for his senior campaign.
“I think that knowing Garrett, it was always a sense of he had waited for his opportunity and he had been such a proponent of LSU and wanting to be here,” Kelly said. “There was always this sense of he was going to come back but we never took it for granted.
“We did our due diligence, we made our case as to why it was in everybody’s best interest that he come back for another year. We re-recruited him from that standpoint.”
How did Kelly and LSU convince Nussmeier that returning for another year of development and playing college football would be best for him? What went into the “re-recruitment” process of LSU’s quarterback?
“When we were able to present him with what we felt was a great opportunity from a NIL to revenue sharing and all the things that go along with that, him arguably being the best quarterback in the SEC, maybe in the country then we were able to close this and get him to say he was coming back,” the coach said.
Getting Nussmeier returning is a huge lift for the Tigers, who will have a ton of overhaul on offense with four offensive linemen graduating, one of its top running backs along with its two top pass catchers as as well.
Stability at quarterback, Kelly and LSU hope, will smooth out some of the growing pains the offense will navigate early next season.
“A lot of confidence but you never take for granted, you have to re-recruit,” Kelly said of recruiting Nussmeier to return and the process, “and we’re excited that he’s back.”
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Brian Kelly on LSU football QB Garrett Nussmeier coming back for 2025
