Brian Kelly needs to prove his SEC worth heading into another season at Baton Rouge. He didn’t go bad, but he is yet to achieve anything spectacular, matching the fired-up emotion and passion of the fans since his arrival at the Tigers camp. The 9-4 season didn’t give him a free pass to the longevity of his $9.5 million annual cap. He needs to pay the price sooner or later. The price? Well, a championship or a closer to the championship season, entering his fourth year.
A star-studded roster stands as the biggest offseason weapon of Kelly. He has bolstered the room with a flurry of incredible talents, including Barion Brown and Nic Anderson from Kentucky and Oklahoma, respectively. Plus, Kelly has adorned his cornerback room by bringing in Mansoor Delane, the No. 9 prospect from Virginia Tech. But nobody can match the hype of their famed quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, the Louisiana kid, ready to take the center to the storm. Now it’s high time for Kelly to reap the full fruit of his hard work in the portal.
“Brian Kelly hit the mark. He knows that this, on paper, is the best roster he’s had.” Analyst Brad Crawford agreed while having a conversation with Paul Finebaum. But he raised the biggest red flag on the LSU headspace. “But for me, LSU’s big thing this summer is, don’t buy into the hype. Don’t read the press clippings. Don’t watch the Paul Finebaum Show this time because LSU is a team that should get to the playoffs.”
“Now, should is not the ‘would’, or is it possible? Because we have seen the last five years, LSU has not won a season opener.” True, LSU carries a long-lingering curse of not starting off the season well. “And who does LSU play in the opener? They play on the road at Clemson, ACC front-runner fellow top ten team, so Brian Kelly has not won the first game at LSU to open any season yet,” Crawford stated.
But this time it looks a little different. Few home-field advantages are as effective as LSU’s. Tiger Stadium under the lights can pour the much-needed fire into the players’ bones, navigating the energies. Also, a lit-up roster containing talents like linebacker Harold Perkins Jr, running back Harlem Berry, and cornerback DJ Pickett, last but not least, Nussmeier, can be a game changer, for the good or for the bad – all depending on Kelly’s coachmanship.
Excuse us, @BCrawford247 ??? pic.twitter.com/V5qbCnfGVR
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) June 2, 2025
“With Garrett Nussmeier, a guy that I think will be the No.1 pick in next year’s draft, he’s got to get it this time around. Or Brian Kelly is going to be on the hot seat in November,” Brad cleared his stance for Nussmeier and his squad.
This is a now-or-never fight for Kelly. He never got to see a 1-0 on the scoreboard since he set foot in Baton Rouge in 2022.
Can Garrett Nussmeier be the driving force of hope amidst the long despair?
Nussmeier has all the tools that are needed to be a trailblazer quarterback. He got the talent, he got the genes. His father Doug Nussmeier’s incredible mark in the NFL is a strong testament to the familial legacy.
The next generation translation? Nussmeier threw for over a brilliant 4000 yards with 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Having him around the offense is a good boost for a team looking to bounce back to make the playoffs. Kelly said, Nussmeier is a lifelong learner. His curiosity, his IQ made him stand out among the rest.
But let’s be honest. In a team game, the QB can spearhead things for the guys but can’t spoon-feed or do things on their behalf. To chisel out the best of your signal caller, you need to build a solid lineup in the offense, a safety net that your guy can rely on. And Coach Kelly knows it better.
“It’s the maturation. I think weapons around him obviously make a big difference. And I think in this league, as you know, being a first-time starter is so difficult, so difficult. And his ability to overcome some of the setbacks that he had when our last three games, where he really played at a high level, that’s going to continue,” the head coach doubled down on the hype around his QB1 and with a reason, “We had a great spring. He got a chance to really blend with the new receivers that we have and the weapons that we’ve added. I just think he’s going to have a great year going into year two.”
Sure, he has to do a lot of clean up but with a coach having his back through everything, with a roster supporting the vision and ambition and with fans rallying behind, Nussmeier can go down to the history as Kelly’s most successful QB in the room, delivering up to the bar in 2025.
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