Freshman quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has decided to take a redshirt year with two games left in LSU’s season. Matt O’Dowd has been named the backup quarterback, Head Coach Ed Orgeron said.
After a string of sub-par performances from quarterback Max Johnson, LSU decided to make the change and allow freshman backup quarterback Nussmeier to take the majority of the snaps against Arkansas. Nussmeier’s performance was nothing special.
Nussmeier finished the game connecting on 18 of his 31 attempts for 179 yards, one TD and two interceptions en route to an overtime loss. He did show flashes of potential, however, most notably on a 29-yard TD pass to Jack Bech. Despite the flashes shown, Head Coach Ed Orgeron didn’t think Nussmeier did enough to win the job from Johnson.
“I don’t feel like Garrett beat Max out,” Orgeron said. “I don’t think Max deserves to be benched, I gave him a chance to beat him out, and although I think he’s a very good player we were minus-three in the turnover ratio and only scored seven points.”
This was a big decision to make at this point in the season, because if Nussmeier were to play again this season he would lose his redshirt. Redshirting seemed like the logical decision for Nussmeier, a point that Orgeron echoed, but also added that it’s a decision for Nussmeier and his family to make.
“It’s going to be up to Garrett and his father to decide if they want to redshirt,” Orgeron said. “If I were him I would redshirt, there are only two games left but that’s not my decision.”
The freshman Matt O’Dowd is a 6-foot, 2-inch native of Plantation, Florida who had one other collegiate offer to play at Davidson.
Redshirting gives Nussmeier an extra year of eligibility, which in this situation means a lot for his own career. This allows Nussmeier to go into next season as a freshman still and either prepare to play out a full career at LSU, or get a fresh start at a new school.
However Nussmeier and his family came to this decision is unknown, but what is known is that there will be quarterback competition before going into next season. Whoever the new coach is will play a big part in this. LSU will have at least two talented quarterbacks competing with Johnson dueling it out with five-star recruit Walker Howard, who has yet to make his commitment with LSU official.
The addition of Howard into the mix makes the competition even more intriguing due to the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Howard is currently the No. 4 quarterback prospect in the country according to 247sports and was a high school teammate with emerging star receiver Bech.
Another variable in this competition is whether or not the new coach brings in a quarterback with him. There are plenty of quarterbacks in the transfer portal every season, and there’s always the possibility of a coach taking his quarterback from his former school. Depending on who that could be, that could result in a potentially elite-level quarterback joining the rotation who slides right into the starting spot.
