July 15, 2024 • 10 mins
Chris Gordy and Dan Mathews caught up with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. He talks about taking over the position at LSU and the expectations that come with the job. Plus, growing up as the son of a longtime coach and former NFL quarterback.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Run along from SEC Media Days andwe'll be catching up with LSU day here.
Catch up with a couple LSU Tigers. Catching up with LSU quarterback Garrett
Nusmeyer. Welcome in man making thetrip out here to media Days. What's
this all like? Yeah, Iappreciate y'all for having me. It's an
unbelievable experience just getting to represent LSUand what that means, you know,
to me and also to my otherteammates that are here. You know,
it's a really cool experience and we'reall very thankful. It's it's got to
(00:23):
be crazy for you. I meanyou you've sat, you waited your turn,
You've waited your opportunity. Now it'syour chance to kind of show what
you can do. What's the journeykind of been like these last couple years,
particularly watching Jayden do special things within a heisman and all this kind
of stuff. Yeah, it's beenin process, you know, and I've
had to put a lot of faithinto God and a trust in him and
his plan for me. And thenyou know, getting to watch Jayden and
(00:44):
learn different things from him. Youknow, obviously you know, if I
have you know, nearly the amountof success that he was able to have
last year. I'll be pretty happy, you know. And you know,
one of the things you know,for me, you know, obviously our
skill set is very different. Sogetting to learn, you know, how
to interact with my team's off thefield from him, or how to lead,
you know, watching him in thebuilding and the way that he interacted
day to day. You know,I got to learn a lot from Jayden,
(01:07):
and you know, I'm a bigfan of his and I'm excited for
him the next level. You guyslose a couple of big time receivers,
neighbors Brian Thomas Junior going to thefirst round picks. But it feels like
some of those guys that you weremaybe running on second team with Chris Hilton
and some other guys like you wereable to develop that chemistry. So it's
kind of like, while you moveup the depth chart, they move up
the depth chart. What's that kindof been like, because man, I
mean in the spring, ham youlooked it look like you guys have been
playing football for years together. Yeah. No, it's awesome. You know,
(01:30):
I get to experience those different situationswith all those guys, you know,
me and Chris Hilton, came intogether, and there are a couple
other guys that I'll be playing withthis year that that we came in the
same class, you know, andyou know, we got to spend a
lot of time together, like yousaid, from the bottom of the depth
chart freshman year, slowly building ourways up to you know, now starting,
and you know that there's a lotof time there, a lot of
(01:52):
time spent there. You know,a lot of relationships that have been built,
you know, between me and myteammates, just just being around each
other at all times as much aspossible. And I think that's the biggest
part. You know, everything thatthat happens on the field, it all
starts with the relationships you know thatyou guys have off the field. So
you get a lot of people whothrow out Will Campbell's name out there,
and for good reason. I mean, he's a heck of a player.
But just how about your offensive lineand I mean, what is it four
(02:15):
or five starters coming back? Yeah, yeah, I mean they're an unbelievable
group. Just what they've able toaccomplish this offseason so far as far as
just taking control and taking charge asleaders. You know, it's something special
and you know, I don't evenknow how to describe, you know,
their group. They call themselves theBomb Squad, and they're just you know,
they're nasty, that they're they're ontime to everything, they're early to
(02:36):
everything, they work harder than anybody, and they push all of us to
try and catch them. And Ithink that's been the best thing is when
you have that type of group andthat type of leadership up front in the
offensive line unit, it does youknow, wonders, you know more than
people know. And Coach Davis doesan unbelievable job with them as well,
just preparing them to play, preparingthem to be ready to lead. I
mean he touched on a little bit, but the expectations of playing quarterback now
(02:59):
at LSU, I mean there weremany years it was kind of a well
we'll see, but I mean youget Joe through there, you get Jaden
through there. I mean, nowit's there's an expectation. You got to
put up numbers, you get yougot to make things happening at that position.
Yeah. You know, well,pressure is a privilege, you know,
and obviously we've had very successful quarterbackshere lately, and you know,
I understand that there's a responsibility andan expectation, but you know, I
(03:22):
try not to think too much aboutit. I mean, there's an expectation
just being the starting quarterback at LSUin general, you know of a standard
that you have to hold yourself toand who you represent, and so,
you know, I'm very blessed.You know, I thank God every morning
when I wake up that this isthe life I get to live right now,
and you know, and I'm hopefully, you know, I am where
I'm supposed to be at, andso I'm very thankful when I'm very excited
to get to, you know,go out there and compete. Sometimes you
(03:45):
lose an offense coordinator. It's alittle tough if it's a little bit of
an adjustment, but at least youguys got the full bullprep to go through
with Joe Sloan and Cortes hanged andand again those guys have been there.
It sound like you've brought in somebodyfrom the outside. So how much does
that continuity kind of help? Whilewhile yes, the label is it's guys
who've been there. Yeah, youknow, Coach Sloan and I, you
know, we have a really reallygood relationship and you know, He's been
(04:05):
very honest and very hard on mesince the moment that you know, he
got there, and so, youknow, just getting to work with him.
You know, he set a seta plan out for me early and
what I needed to improve on,and he's done a unbelievable job of holding
me to it and helping me,you know, find ways to improve every
part of my game. And soyou know, as he's taken over,
it's only you know, just gottenbetter just being able to have those conversations
(04:26):
with him between a coordinator and aquarterback and you know, also a quarterback
coach. But you have that relationshipthere that's been there for three years now,
and so you know, he canalways be honest with me. And
you know, I feel like,you know, we're at a point where
I can be honest with him andtell him how I feel about certain situations
and he's gonna give me honest feedback. And so you know, if you've
been to an LSU practice, you'veheard Coach Sloan, you know, rip
into me a couple of times.So I really enjoy our relationship and I
(04:49):
really appreciate it, and I thinkhe's very very good at what he does
and I think he's gonna We're gonnabe very, very successful because of him.
I feel like your dad may havetold them, hey, rip ripping
him yeh yeah. Yeah, theyhave some conversations about how they're gonna discipline
me. It feels like, sothat's all my dad was on me when
I was a kid, so Ithink they bond over that almost. It's
crazy too. I mean, Ihave a dad who played the position.
(05:10):
I mean, it's gotta it's gotto help so much because he does have
that playing experience that he can takeany help you with. But also in
the same aspect, he's a littlebit harder because he knows what it takes
and he knows where you got toget right. Yeah, No, it's
been it's been unreal. You know, I really really appreciate the relationship that
I have with my dad. Youknow, he was able to accomplish everything
that I dream of accomplishing. So, you know, just just getting feedback
from him, and you know,he's kind of helped me see the path
(05:32):
and see the way at certain times. And you know, if I ever
feel lost, you know, Ijust a long conversation with him. We'll
fix it and he'll get me backin the right head space. So,
you know, I'm extremely grateful forthe relationship that I've built with my dad
over the years, and you knowhow close we are, and you know,
he's very honest with me, andhe always helps me, you know,
find the truth in every situation.So what was that like for you
(05:54):
growing up in the household you didwhere? I mean, obviously your dad
knows position he played it, butthen also too, you see the coaching
side of it as well. Thenand you know, for all the moving
around and everything you guys had todo as a kid. Yeah, you
know, I'm extremely blessed the lifethat I got to live as a young
kid. You know, I movedtwelve different times. You know. My
dad was a part of you know, extremely top programs while I was growing
(06:15):
up, you know, Alabama,Florida, Michigan and offensive coordinator at those
places. And I was a twelveyear old kid running around these campuses,
you know, and running around thesepractice fields watching players like Jake Locker and
AJ McCarron, Drew Stanton. Imean, the list goes on and on,
and so you know, idolized theseguys when I was a kid,
and you know, and idolized mydad and how he was interacting with them.
(06:35):
So, you know, it's alwaysbeen a dream of mind just to
be in the shoes that I'm innow. So I'm extremely blessed and being
able to see it as a kid, it kind of prepared me. I
guess you could say for this momentnow, So go ahead, Now,
I was gonna say, you know, I talked with Harold about this before
you joined us. Of you know, normally teams, whenever you're asked about
huge games, the response is,oh, well, you know, we
(06:57):
got to play so and so first. That hasn't been an issue for you
guys. I mean, how aboutjust being able to get that immediate strong
test right out the gate against thec Yeah, I mean, you know
it's going to be a great game. You know, obviously, you know
they got a good football team.You know, they have a very good
football coach, and they're gonna comerepaired, they're gonna come ready to play.
And so you know, for us, I think, you know,
the biggest focus this offseason has beenabout building our culture. It starts with
(07:19):
with coach Kelly's process, you know, and how we interact every single day
in the way that we do things. So I think that that process will
lead us, you know, dayby day to be ready, you know,
come September. So we're focused onour process right now. What'd you
see out of the defense? Obviously, I think everybody, you know,
it was a little bit not upto the LSU standard for a good bit
of last year, but a wholenew staff and coach Kelly sends a message
(07:41):
bringing all new guys. But Imean dudes from Blake Baker as the DC
to Bo Davis on the D line, Kevin People's, Corey Raymond. I
mean, these are all big timehires. What have you seen at least
just tangible differences so far in thatdefense? Yeah, I mean I think
it's an extremely extremely talented group.And you know, I think these coaches
that coach able to bring in orare all very very good. You know.
(08:03):
Coach Baker's system is unreal challenged meevery single day of spring ball,
you know, it tests me everysingle day even now into the summer,
and it's something that that's it tobe honest, it's hard to play against
and you have to always be awareof different things. And then when you
look at the talent that we haveoutside of that. You know, we
have guys like Perk, you know, Greg Penn and the guys that have
came in at safety and major Burnsand in the corners that that have continued
(08:24):
to develop and work. You know, we've got a great group, you
know, a great scheme, agreat system, and you know, I
think that you know, I'm veryexcited to see what they're gonna able to
accomplish and hopefully you know, hquiet a lot of haters. You like
wearing that red no contact jersey whenPerk out about that that that red It
feels nice wearing that red when Isee Perk. So talk with Garrett.
That's my LSU quarterback. So asyou prepare for the season, what are
(08:46):
some things you start to do.I mean, obviously you go only do
so much on the practice field.Is it really just kind of taking care
of your body, adding muscle whenyou need to eat and healthy all that
kind of stuff. Yeah, Imean there's a lot of things that go
into playing quarterback or play in anyposition really in the s Obviously, you
know you have to keep your bodyin top TOI your shape because you know
this is the closest thing you canget to the NFL. I mean,
you know, this is the SEC. Guys are big, guys are fast,
(09:09):
guys are physical. You know,it's very very talented players. And
so you know, when you gethit, it hurts, you know,
to be real, it hurts,you know, And when you take constant
hits, you got to make surethat you prepare yourself in the offseason and
keep your body healthy enough so thatyou can take those hits over and over
again. When Garrett Smier's not playingfootball, what are you doing? I've
been working on my golf game alittle bit. Okay, my golf game
(09:30):
this summer has been not nearly asgood as it was last summer. But
you know, I'm pretty much givingup because I can't play basically from September
to January, so it's like asa February to August type of thing.
And these past couple of months havenot been great for me. Short game,
long game, what's the strength?So last year I couldn't. I
mean, my long game in myirons were amazing and I could not put
(09:50):
or could not chip. And thissummer, all of a sudden, I
can ship from anywhere and I canputt from anywhere, but I can't hit
a fair way to save my life. So I don't know what happened,
but hopefully we put it together nextsummer. Hopefully it all comes together.
So you gotta figure that part out. Yeah, yeah, I gotta put
two and two. He will seehe is Garrett. That's my LSU quarterback.
Thanks so much for taking the game, Manal appreciate it for having me.
(10:11):
More from sec med days after this
Run along from SEC Media Days andwe'll be catching up with LSU day here.
Catch up with a couple LSU Tigers. Catching up with LSU quarterback Garrett
Nusmeyer. Welcome in man making thetrip out here to media Days. What's
this all like? Yeah, Iappreciate y'all for having me. It's an
unbelievable experience just getting to represent LSUand what that means, you know,
to me and also to my otherteammates that are here. You know,
it's a really cool experience and we'reall very thankful. It's it's got to
(00:23):
be crazy for you. I meanyou you've sat, you waited your turn,
You've waited your opportunity. Now it'syour chance to kind of show what
you can do. What's the journeykind of been like these last couple years,
particularly watching Jayden do special things within a heisman and all this kind
of stuff. Yeah, it's beenin process, you know, and I've
had to put a lot of faithinto God and a trust in him and
his plan for me. And thenyou know, getting to watch Jayden and
(00:44):
learn different things from him. Youknow, obviously you know, if I
have you know, nearly the amountof success that he was able to have
last year. I'll be pretty happy, you know. And you know,
one of the things you know,for me, you know, obviously our
skill set is very different. Sogetting to learn, you know, how
to interact with my team's off thefield from him, or how to lead,
you know, watching him in thebuilding and the way that he interacted
day to day. You know,I got to learn a lot from Jayden,
(01:07):
and you know, I'm a bigfan of his and I'm excited for
him the next level. You guyslose a couple of big time receivers,
neighbors Brian Thomas Junior going to thefirst round picks. But it feels like
some of those guys that you weremaybe running on second team with Chris Hilton
and some other guys like you wereable to develop that chemistry. So it's
kind of like, while you moveup the depth chart, they move up
the depth chart. What's that kindof been like, because man, I
mean in the spring, ham youlooked it look like you guys have been
playing football for years together. Yeah. No, it's awesome. You know,
(01:30):
I get to experience those different situationswith all those guys, you know,
me and Chris Hilton, came intogether, and there are a couple
other guys that I'll be playing withthis year that that we came in the
same class, you know, andyou know, we got to spend a
lot of time together, like yousaid, from the bottom of the depth
chart freshman year, slowly building ourways up to you know, now starting,
and you know that there's a lotof time there, a lot of
(01:52):
time spent there. You know,a lot of relationships that have been built,
you know, between me and myteammates, just just being around each
other at all times as much aspossible. And I think that's the biggest
part. You know, everything thatthat happens on the field, it all
starts with the relationships you know thatyou guys have off the field. So
you get a lot of people whothrow out Will Campbell's name out there,
and for good reason. I mean, he's a heck of a player.
But just how about your offensive lineand I mean, what is it four
(02:15):
or five starters coming back? Yeah, yeah, I mean they're an unbelievable
group. Just what they've able toaccomplish this offseason so far as far as
just taking control and taking charge asleaders. You know, it's something special
and you know, I don't evenknow how to describe, you know,
their group. They call themselves theBomb Squad, and they're just you know,
they're nasty, that they're they're ontime to everything, they're early to
(02:36):
everything, they work harder than anybody, and they push all of us to
try and catch them. And Ithink that's been the best thing is when
you have that type of group andthat type of leadership up front in the
offensive line unit, it does youknow, wonders, you know more than
people know. And Coach Davis doesan unbelievable job with them as well,
just preparing them to play, preparingthem to be ready to lead. I
mean he touched on a little bit, but the expectations of playing quarterback now
(02:59):
at LSU, I mean there weremany years it was kind of a well
we'll see, but I mean youget Joe through there, you get Jaden
through there. I mean, nowit's there's an expectation. You got to
put up numbers, you get yougot to make things happening at that position.
Yeah. You know, well,pressure is a privilege, you know,
and obviously we've had very successful quarterbackshere lately, and you know,
I understand that there's a responsibility andan expectation, but you know, I
(03:22):
try not to think too much aboutit. I mean, there's an expectation
just being the starting quarterback at LSUin general, you know of a standard
that you have to hold yourself toand who you represent, and so,
you know, I'm very blessed.You know, I thank God every morning
when I wake up that this isthe life I get to live right now,
and you know, and I'm hopefully, you know, I am where
I'm supposed to be at, andso I'm very thankful when I'm very excited
to get to, you know,go out there and compete. Sometimes you
(03:45):
lose an offense coordinator. It's alittle tough if it's a little bit of
an adjustment, but at least youguys got the full bullprep to go through
with Joe Sloan and Cortes hanged andand again those guys have been there.
It sound like you've brought in somebodyfrom the outside. So how much does
that continuity kind of help? Whilewhile yes, the label is it's guys
who've been there. Yeah, youknow, Coach Sloan and I, you
know, we have a really reallygood relationship and you know, He's been
(04:05):
very honest and very hard on mesince the moment that you know, he
got there, and so, youknow, just getting to work with him.
You know, he set a seta plan out for me early and
what I needed to improve on,and he's done a unbelievable job of holding
me to it and helping me,you know, find ways to improve every
part of my game. And soyou know, as he's taken over,
it's only you know, just gottenbetter just being able to have those conversations
(04:26):
with him between a coordinator and aquarterback and you know, also a quarterback
coach. But you have that relationshipthere that's been there for three years now,
and so you know, he canalways be honest with me. And
you know, I feel like,you know, we're at a point where
I can be honest with him andtell him how I feel about certain situations
and he's gonna give me honest feedback. And so you know, if you've
been to an LSU practice, you'veheard Coach Sloan, you know, rip
into me a couple of times.So I really enjoy our relationship and I
(04:49):
really appreciate it, and I thinkhe's very very good at what he does
and I think he's gonna We're gonnabe very, very successful because of him.
I feel like your dad may havetold them, hey, rip ripping
him yeh yeah. Yeah, theyhave some conversations about how they're gonna discipline
me. It feels like, sothat's all my dad was on me when
I was a kid, so Ithink they bond over that almost. It's
crazy too. I mean, Ihave a dad who played the position.
(05:10):
I mean, it's gotta it's gotto help so much because he does have
that playing experience that he can takeany help you with. But also in
the same aspect, he's a littlebit harder because he knows what it takes
and he knows where you got toget right. Yeah, No, it's
been it's been unreal. You know, I really really appreciate the relationship that
I have with my dad. Youknow, he was able to accomplish everything
that I dream of accomplishing. So, you know, just just getting feedback
from him, and you know,he's kind of helped me see the path
(05:32):
and see the way at certain times. And you know, if I ever
feel lost, you know, Ijust a long conversation with him. We'll
fix it and he'll get me backin the right head space. So,
you know, I'm extremely grateful forthe relationship that I've built with my dad
over the years, and you knowhow close we are, and you know,
he's very honest with me, andhe always helps me, you know,
find the truth in every situation.So what was that like for you
(05:54):
growing up in the household you didwhere? I mean, obviously your dad
knows position he played it, butthen also too, you see the coaching
side of it as well. Thenand you know, for all the moving
around and everything you guys had todo as a kid. Yeah, you
know, I'm extremely blessed the lifethat I got to live as a young
kid. You know, I movedtwelve different times. You know. My
dad was a part of you know, extremely top programs while I was growing
(06:15):
up, you know, Alabama,Florida, Michigan and offensive coordinator at those
places. And I was a twelveyear old kid running around these campuses,
you know, and running around thesepractice fields watching players like Jake Locker and
AJ McCarron, Drew Stanton. Imean, the list goes on and on,
and so you know, idolized theseguys when I was a kid,
and you know, and idolized mydad and how he was interacting with them.
(06:35):
So, you know, it's alwaysbeen a dream of mind just to
be in the shoes that I'm innow. So I'm extremely blessed and being
able to see it as a kid, it kind of prepared me. I
guess you could say for this momentnow, So go ahead, Now,
I was gonna say, you know, I talked with Harold about this before
you joined us. Of you know, normally teams, whenever you're asked about
huge games, the response is,oh, well, you know, we
(06:57):
got to play so and so first. That hasn't been an issue for you
guys. I mean, how aboutjust being able to get that immediate strong
test right out the gate against thec Yeah, I mean, you know
it's going to be a great game. You know, obviously, you know
they got a good football team.You know, they have a very good
football coach, and they're gonna comerepaired, they're gonna come ready to play.
And so you know, for us, I think, you know,
the biggest focus this offseason has beenabout building our culture. It starts with
(07:19):
with coach Kelly's process, you know, and how we interact every single day
in the way that we do things. So I think that that process will
lead us, you know, dayby day to be ready, you know,
come September. So we're focused onour process right now. What'd you
see out of the defense? Obviously, I think everybody, you know,
it was a little bit not upto the LSU standard for a good bit
of last year, but a wholenew staff and coach Kelly sends a message
(07:41):
bringing all new guys. But Imean dudes from Blake Baker as the DC
to Bo Davis on the D line, Kevin People's, Corey Raymond. I
mean, these are all big timehires. What have you seen at least
just tangible differences so far in thatdefense? Yeah, I mean I think
it's an extremely extremely talented group.And you know, I think these coaches
that coach able to bring in orare all very very good. You know.
(08:03):
Coach Baker's system is unreal challenged meevery single day of spring ball,
you know, it tests me everysingle day even now into the summer,
and it's something that that's it tobe honest, it's hard to play against
and you have to always be awareof different things. And then when you
look at the talent that we haveoutside of that. You know, we
have guys like Perk, you know, Greg Penn and the guys that have
came in at safety and major Burnsand in the corners that that have continued
(08:24):
to develop and work. You know, we've got a great group, you
know, a great scheme, agreat system, and you know, I
think that you know, I'm veryexcited to see what they're gonna able to
accomplish and hopefully you know, hquiet a lot of haters. You like
wearing that red no contact jersey whenPerk out about that that that red It
feels nice wearing that red when Isee Perk. So talk with Garrett.
That's my LSU quarterback. So asyou prepare for the season, what are
(08:46):
some things you start to do.I mean, obviously you go only do
so much on the practice field.Is it really just kind of taking care
of your body, adding muscle whenyou need to eat and healthy all that
kind of stuff. Yeah, Imean there's a lot of things that go
into playing quarterback or play in anyposition really in the s Obviously, you
know you have to keep your bodyin top TOI your shape because you know
this is the closest thing you canget to the NFL. I mean,
you know, this is the SEC. Guys are big, guys are fast,
(09:09):
guys are physical. You know,it's very very talented players. And
so you know, when you gethit, it hurts, you know,
to be real, it hurts,you know, And when you take constant
hits, you got to make surethat you prepare yourself in the offseason and
keep your body healthy enough so thatyou can take those hits over and over
again. When Garrett Smier's not playingfootball, what are you doing? I've
been working on my golf game alittle bit. Okay, my golf game
(09:30):
this summer has been not nearly asgood as it was last summer. But
you know, I'm pretty much givingup because I can't play basically from September
to January, so it's like asa February to August type of thing.
And these past couple of months havenot been great for me. Short game,
long game, what's the strength?So last year I couldn't. I
mean, my long game in myirons were amazing and I could not put
(09:50):
or could not chip. And thissummer, all of a sudden, I
can ship from anywhere and I canputt from anywhere, but I can't hit
a fair way to save my life. So I don't know what happened,
but hopefully we put it together nextsummer. Hopefully it all comes together.
So you gotta figure that part out. Yeah, yeah, I gotta put
two and two. He will seehe is Garrett. That's my LSU quarterback.
Thanks so much for taking the game, Manal appreciate it for having me.
(10:11):
More from sec med days after this
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