Brian Kelly Praises LSU QB's Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier
Brian Kelly brought in Jayden Daniels last spring to spice up a quarterback room that needed more competition. Fast forward to the season opener and Daniels was LSU’s QB1 against Florida State.
It was a debut that left Tiger fans questioning whether Daniels was ready to be the starting quarterback in Baton Rouge, but after leading LSU to the SEC Championship Game, he showcased his improvement on a weekly basis.
There’s still work to be done but Daniels continues to grow as a signal-caller heading into his second season for the Tigers.
LSU also has redshirt sophomore Garrett Nussmeier in their back pocket. The third-year Tiger is set to carry the torch after Daniels’ final season in Death Valley and Coach Kelly has been impressed with his growth this offseason.
A few takeaways from what Kelly said of his quarterbacks on Thursday:
Daniels’ Veteran Presence
Daniels enters his second season with the Tigers extremely familiar with the playcalling of offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. After a year in the same system, the two have been working side-by-side through camp in order to get things perfected for year two.
But aside from the playcalls and performance, Kelly detailed how Daniels has improved as a leader and person off the field.
“This is much more about veteran presence than acclimating to a new program. I think that’s really the difference here,” Kelly said. “You’ve got a guy that’s helping the freshmen tight ends, ‘sit down on this route, I’ll get you the football.’ You can sense it based off his interactions with Malik in terms of where he wants the football, how he’s addressing the offensive line. There’s a different presence to him.”
Nussmeier Growing
Many expected Daniels to be a one-year rental before heading off to the 2023 NFL Draft, but after a few inconsistencies last season, he returned to LSU for another season to improve his game.
The decision results in Nussmeier backing up Daniels once again, but it hasn’t stopped him from growing day-by-day. We’ve seen Nussmeier improve on his decision making while getting reps with the first-team.
It’s clear Daniels is the starter, but for Nussmeier to also get some first-team reps under his belt puts this team in great position moving forward.
“He’s really good, he’s had a great spring. He’s gotten a lot of work with the first team and when he’s been with that first group, he’s excelled,” Kelly said of Nussmeier. “I think all you can do is when they’re given the opportunity, it’s fair. We couldn’t give him a fair chance if he was running with an offensive line that has three guys that we moved over. He had to get a lot of that work with the first team and he excelled. All we’ve done is built the quarterback position up to where we have two really good quarterbacks.”
Spring Game Outlook
Both signal-callers will get their fair share of reps during Saturday’s spring game as the Tigers lace up their cleats in Death Valley.
For Daniels, it’s all about his deep-ball consistency. A piece of his game that was a work in progress last season, it’s imperative he utilizes his vertical threats this fall, and the spring game will be a position to see how he’s improved this offseason.
For Nussmeier, it’s his decision making that has needed improvement over the last two seasons. The talent is there for the dynamic quarterback, but staying poised and making the proper read moving forward will be where Nussmeier continues to grow as a player.
