{"id":211073,"date":"2025-07-16T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/211073\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T08:00:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:00:16","slug":"lsus-garrett-nussmeier-draws-more-national-praise-he-is-the-best-quarterback-in-the-entire-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/211073\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier draws more national praise | He is the “best quarterback in the entire country”"},"content":{"rendered":"

As LSU<\/a> prepares to open the 2025 season in late August, all eyes will be on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who\u2019s set to lead the Tigers in his final year of eligibility. After a breakout 2024 campaign, expectations are sky-high \u2014 and at least one national analyst believes the hype is well deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Garrett Nussmeier<\/a> is the best quarterback in the entire country,\u201d SEC Network\u2019s Jordan Rodgers said Monday on The Paul Finebaum Show. \u201cHe\u2019s ready for a monster year, partly because of who he is and what we saw from him last year. He\u2019s one of the best quarterbacks under pressure \u2014 able to create, navigate the pocket, throw off-platform and be accurate in tight windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nussmeier, a native of Lake Charles, posted 4,052 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his first season as LSU\u2019s starting quarterback in 2024. While the Tigers finished 9-4 and fell short of the College Football Playoff, Nussmeier\u2019s individual performance ranked among the best in the SEC.<\/p>\n

LSU\u2019s offseason additions should play key factors in what could be an elevated season for Nussmeier and the Tiger offense as a whole this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the pieces they went out and got to put around him,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cNic Anderson<\/a> from Oklahoma is a big 6-foot-5 target. Then they added Barion Brown<\/a>, a guy who was underutilized at Kentucky but brings elite speed. And of course, Aaron Anderson<\/a> and Chris Hilton<\/a> \u2014 the speed they have on the perimeter is insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Nussmeier at the helm and a deep receiving corps around him, LSU\u2019s offense looks poised to be one of the most explosive units in the country. <\/p>\n

After ranking 14th in the SEC in total defense last season, the Tigers also addressed many defensive concerns through the transfer portal and must show significant improvements in 2025 to make a serious run at the CFP.<\/p>\n

LSU will face a major test right out of the gate. The Tigers open the season on the road against Clemson in a primetime showdown on Aug. 30. The game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, will feature one of the top quarterback duels of Week 1 as Nussmeier squares off with Clemson\u2019s Cade Klubnik<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tigers have had the Week 1 game circled for a while now and are laser-focused on something that has eluded them since 2019: winning the season opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made it a specific goal,\u201d LSU head coach Brian Kelly said at SEC Media Days<\/a>. \u201cGoal setting is something that we\u2019re all very familiar with in college football. Everybody talks about goals. We\u2019ve made this a specific goal and a specific goal, meaning it\u2019s tangible for our guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly said reminders of the task ahead are everywhere, quite literally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go through our weight room, we\u2019ve got a Clemson paw print on the bags that we hit every day. It\u2019s on every monitor in the building to go 1-0,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think it was important to have a tangible, specific goal for us to start the season. And I think it\u2019s important\u2014our kids want that. They can taste it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As LSU prepares to open the 2025 season in late August, all eyes will be on quarterback Garrett…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,5796,7211,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-211073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-garrett-nussmeier-21-marcus","10":"tag-lsu-tigers","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114861862034246778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}