The 2026 NFL Draft is far away, but Louisiana State University quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is one player who teams in need of a signal-caller should have on their radars already. He is heading into his fifth and final campaign at LSU, and last season, he threw for more than 4,000 yards and led the SEC in completed passes across 13 games played.
Per ESPN’s Jordan Reid, scouts have indicated that Nussmeier could be a Day 1 or Day 2 pick in next year’s draft, and one AFC scout compared him to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
“The Tigers are led by Nussmeier, who returns for a highly anticipated senior season,” wrote Reid. “He finished with 4,052 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his first year as a starter; he’s my No. 3 QB for next year’s draft. Nussmeier plays with fearless anticipation and steady confidence despite his below-average size (6-foot-1, 205 pounds). He has gotten a mixture of late Round 1 and early Day 2 grades from scouts to whom I’ve talked.”
Purdy, a seventh-round pick back in the 2022 NFL Draft, finished fourth in NFL MVP voting not long ago in the 2023 campaign.
“He reminds me a little of [Brock] Purdy, but with even more confidence,” the aforementioned AFC scout said of Nussmeier. “I think [the Tigers] just weren’t as good as they have been at receiver, and he pressed into some bad decisions way too much last year.”
Purdy has certainly exceeded expectations since being drafted to the NFL. He was the final player selected in his draft class yet has already established himself as a quality starting quarterback. Nussmeier will look to do the same in the NFL, but he’ll hope to be drafted far earlier.
The unnamed scout makes a valid point when noting that Nussmeier made some questionable decisions for the Tigers a season ago. For as much as he put up gaudy numbers, he also led his conference with a whopping 12 interceptions, and thus he averaged nearly one interception per contest.
But he did also lead the SEC in passing attempts, so a handful of interceptions had to be expected, and to his credit, he used the high-volume passing role to throw for 29 scores. With the experience at the collegiate level that Nussmeier has under his belt, he may be able to reduce the giveaways this coming season.
If turnovers do persist for him into his 2025 campaign, it’s possible that Nussmeier will end up being a Day 2 selection, but it certainly seems like he has a chance to go on Day 1. The play of Nussmeier as a fifth-year player will be an exciting storyline to follow once the coming college football season starts up, and with any luck, he will finish off his career at LSU with a bang.