LSU football's future at QB bright after Garrett Nussmeier's ReliaQuest Bowl performance

TAMPA — There are plenty of questions concerning LSU quarterbacks. For instance, what former LSU quarterback who played in the NFL will Jayden Daniels be like? Will he be a Bert Jones, an above-average quarterback who had some Pro Bowl seasons, or maybe even a Y.A. Tittle, an all-time great who made the Hall of Fame? Or will he linger on the other end like infamous bust JaMarcus Russell? Or perhaps somewhere in the middle, like Matt Flynn, a journeyman backup?

That question will begin to be answered after Daniels get drafted later this year and will play out in the ensuing years. Of more of a concern to LSU fans, however, is what kind of quarterback will Daniels' replacement be next season. That question began to get answered with Garrett Nussmeier's performance in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Monday, and one thing is very clear: Nussmeier is closer to being a Kyler Murray, who followed Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma to give the Sooners back-to-back Heisman winners, than Barrett Trotter or Clint Mosley.

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Barrett who? Clint who? Surely you remember Auburn's starting quarterbacks the year after Cam Newton won the Heisman. Well, maybe not.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves in declaring Nussmeier a Heisman Trophy candidate, but could a player do any better than Nussmeier in such an atmosphere? After getting his first college start in place of Daniels, the Heisman winner, he came away with the MVP trophy after leading a fourth-quarter, 98-yard, game-winning drive in No. 13 LSU's 35-31 victory over Wisconsin.

If LSU fans had any angst about the future of the position in the post-Daniels era, they can relax a bit — or maybe relax a lot.

It was a slow start for Nussmeier and the LSU offense as the Tigers were shut out in the first quarter for just second time all season, although Nussmeier's first-quarter stats were respectable. He was 10 of 14 for 82 yards.

Nussmeier kept his poise even though the Tigers trailed by 14 points.

"It's just sticking to the process, sticking to what works all the time in practice, going through the reps, going through my reads the right way," he said. "Like I said earlier, the amount of athletes we have in the offense line today makes my job easy. All the credit goes to them and the coaches for putting us in the right play and allowing us to make plays."

Then the tide turn as Nussmeier began leading touchdown drives. What was the key?

"I think when he felt much more comfortable," LSU coach Brian Kelly said. "I thought Wisconsin did a great job changing up coverages. I think when he started identifying some of their trap-two and three, the mixtures, and did a really good job of protections. I think once he got a good sense of what was going on out there, the speed of the game, you saw him later in the game make some really good checks. He changed protections. It just took some time for him to get there. I knew eventually he would. It was just a matter of eventually we needed to slow them down on defense, and we did. He was able to get our offense going."

Get LSU's offense going. Well, that's a big of an understatement. Nussmeier led the Tigers to 35 points over the final three quarters, and his numbers were impressive. He completed 31 of 45 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once; but despite not being as mobile as Daniels, he avoided being sacked.

Kelly, however, was more impressed with Nussmeier's mental makeup than what he did physically.

"I don't think you win a game on athleticism," Kelly said. "You have to have the things necessary to overcome a deficit, overcome being a first-time starter. You can't just get by on arm talent. You've got to be a guy that is confident in your ability, has a great process that you trust."

That makeup is similar to Daniels.

"He has a lot of the same traits that Jayden does," Kelly said. "Obviously, he doesn't run, have the escape-ability. You didn't see much of that today, where Jayden created a lot of yards for us there. Nuss can do it other ways. I think he's going to continue to do that for us."

In his first college start, Nussmeier not only was able to put up big numbers in leading his team to the victory, he was able to have a signature drive.

Trailing by three points with 6:10 to play in the fourth quarter, LSU took over at its own 2-yard line. Nussmeier completed 3 of 5 passes for 84 yards, including a 37-yard completion to Kyren Lacey and a 43-yarder to Chris Hilton Jr.

"Look, he has had many of those rehearsed situations," Kelly said. "I think our two-minute drill puts him on the 35-yard line with less than two minutes to go in the game, and he's going against his own teammates. This is a little bit different. His ability to manage the moment, his ability to be calm in those situations, speaks of a guy that is going to only excel and get better has he plays more football."

Nussmeier's mental makeup allowed him to excel in that moment. He wasn't going to get rattled.

"It is what it is," he said. "You got to do what you got to do in a football game. It doesn't matter if you have to start from the 1, get the ball at the 30. You just stick to the process. You go play by play, do the right things, move the chains, move the chains, put the ball in the end zone."

Sounds simple, and maybe for Nussmeier it really is that simple.

There are many questions about current and soon-to-be former LSU quarterbacks, but LSU fans can relax. Time will tell what sort of NFL quarterback Daniels becomes and what sort of quarterback his successor at LSU becomes. But at least with Nussmeier's performance in Tampa, he took great strides in providing a positive answer.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Garrett Nussmeier seizes opportunity to become next LSU football QB star