Garrett Nussmeier Blog: Top QB Not Committed Just Yet
Garrett Nussmeier is one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2021 class with scholarship offers from elite programs coast to coast. He has agreed to give Sports Illustrated exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from his experiences leading up to a college commitment as a high profile recruit to his home life and preparation for his senior season.
What's up y'all?
It's Garrett here for the latest update. It's kind of the first week where we can go over things since last week was our first blog. It was an eventful week.
I know things are getting hard for everybody, especially being quarantined and all the other stuff going on. People are getting annoyed with this quarantine stuff but the more we stay home, the quicker this thing will be over with.
Monday through Thursday were typical days, I got my lifts in, got my throwing in. Stayed on our schedule and had really good throwing days. Throughout the week, my main training goal was to work on my footwork and finishing my throw and holding a pose. That's been kind of important for me, especially with it being hard to get deeper throws in over the past few weeks.
I've been working on extending and finishing my throws for more velocity. That's really important for my QB development considering the places that I'm strongly considering are high profile places where I'm going to have to make big-time throws in big-time situations. I'm making sure my arm talent is continuing to grow and continuing to develop, along with my IQ.
On Friday we got on the boat for my mom's birthday and got to eat boiled crawfish, which is actually my favorite food considering I'm from Louisiana.
I've moved so many times it's hard to say where my home is I guess. But Lake Charles, Louisiana is where we go for every Easter, every Christmas. So if anybody asks where I'm from, it's Lake Charles. Right now we're in Orange Beach, Alabama, and it's only about a three-and-a-half hour drive to Louisiana so we got the crawfish for Good Friday and my mom's birthday. For Easter, we kind of have a tradition of picking up eggs after going into the living room so that was fun.
I wanted to get into more how I was raised this week. I've lived in nine different places, being a coach's kid. I was born in Lake Charles and we're still back there as much as possible with family. I do a lot of hunting and fishing there. It's a lot of fun. Then we moved to Ottawa, Canada, because my dad was with the Ottawa Renegades. I was a little young to get to experience that, but I still remember a few things from it.
A Young Garrett Nussmeier at Michigan State (Courtesy of Garrett Nussmeier)
Then we moved to Lansing, Michigan. We were with the Michigan State Spartans and that's where my love grew for the game. Getting to watch my dad's player's, Drew Stanton was his quarterback at the time, there's a picture of me holding my helmet on the sideline there and that's when my parents said they knew this was gonna be my thing. It was cool getting an offer from Michigan State later on, too.
From there we moved to St. Louis, Missouri. My dad was with the St. Louis Rams. Then to Fresno, California, at Fresno State. Then to Seattle, Washington, with the Washington Huskies. I got to watch Jake Locker there. He went on to be a first round draft pick, I believe number eight overall, so learning from him was cool.
Then to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at the University of Alabama. That was a really cool experience, getting to watch A.J. McCarron, who was my dad's quarterback at the time and they won a national championship. Being around that atmosphere, Coach (Nick) Saban, it helped me learn a lot of what a successful team is supposed to look like.
After Alabama's 2012 National Championship (Courtesy of Garrett Nussmeier)
From Alabama we moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the University of Michigan. From there it was to Gainesville, Florida with the University of Florida and then my freshman year we moved to Dallas, Texas. My dad is now with the Cowboys.
With all of these moves it's been interesting, definitely some hard times and good times. But being a coach's kid, the highs definitely out-weigh the lows. You don't get to see your dad as much but you also get to hold the crystal ball in your hands and experience things you'll remember your entire life.
Being a quarterback, watching practice, watching film with him ever since I was a little kid -- it's truly built me into the quarterback I am today. There's many different things with how I grew up, I've had to deal with adversity and adapt to different things. I was always the new kid, having to make friends. It's helped me fit in and become a better person.
Recruiting-wise, last week was really busy. I got on FaceTime a lot and I actually got to spend a lot of time on Zoom with Coach (Rhett) Lashlee, the OC over at the University of Miami. Kind of just going over stuff, how he does things and how he did them at SMU. That was really cool.
Me and Coach Lashlee have had a relationship for a long time, going back to his time at SMU. With him going to Miami, it increased my interest in Miami. So we just kind of went over what he wants to do at Miami. Getting to watch that was pretty cool. Learning more about the U, that's one of several schools that I'm strongly considering.
My plan was to originally commit on Easter in front of my entire family but because of the circumstances, not only was I not ready to commit because I couldn't finish my visits but also I wasn't around my whole family. So it wasn't what I wanted it to be.
So I did not commit.
My original plan was to commit and then release it on April 18 (Saturday), so I'm going to use this week to keep thinking. There could be a chance I commit on the 18th but there's also a chance that I'll announce that I won't be committing that day and I'll be taking my time.
I really appreciate y'all tuning in this week to see what I have to say. There's a chance by this time next week I could be committed, so it's an interesting time and I hope you log back on to read again.
It could be an interesting weekend so y'all follow me on social media for updates.
Thanks! See y'all next week.
Twitter: @GarrettNuss13
Instagram: @garrettnussmeier