Imagine entering the season with Heisman and early first-round pick buzz and ending up short at both. Big blow, right? Well, no one knows it better than Garrett Nussmeier, whose performance took a massive hit because of an inconsistent offense and battling through injuries before the season. Things started getting worse when an abdominal injury that began in the preseason started limiting his reps leading into the season. But now, before the Arkansas game, another injury concern hit him hard.

After getting benched for Michael Van Buren in Alabama’s game, going 18 of 21 for 121 yards, and getting sacked by Yhonzae Pierre after making a wrong run call, Arkansas was Garrett Nussmeier’s only chance to show his dominance. But it looks like that’s not the case anymore, as he suffered an injury in practice on Thursday, as per interim head coach Frank Wilson. After that, his status is listed as “probable” heading into Week 12. “It’s a little bit concerning. It’s something we need to watch with him heading into the game,” Wilson said.

Even though Nussmeier’s torso injury didn’t affect his time on the field, mobility took a massive hit. That was pretty evident in the games he played against Florida and Ole Miss. Well, things had already started getting ugly on the performance front for Nussmeier. After the Alabama game, Wilson might not have named Buren QB1 but made it clear that they will play both the QBs. “I thought both of those guys did some good things,” Wilson said. “I thought both did some things that need to be improved upon.”  Now that Nussmeier might not be taking up the reins against the Razorbacks, it will be interesting to see how Buren goes in with an inconsistent OL.

Garrett Nussmeier ranks last in the SEC in average depth of target with 2.9 yards and second to last in yards per attempt among QBs with at least 250 dropbacks. Not just that, before his Alabama game, he threw only one pass over 20 yards. Now, blaming him entirely doesn’t make sense, as his OL often allowed heavy pressure and sacks after losing 4 starters to the NFL, because of which they couldn’t produce a single 300-yard passing game this year. On top of that, a weak running game pushed him to avoid turnovers and move fast so that he wouldn’t take hits.

This was the same guy who made a record last year, ranking second in LSU history for single-season passing yards. Now through 9 games, he has just thrown for 1,927 yards with 12 TDs and 5 interceptions, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. This has also pushed his draft stock to the middle rounds, though analysts believe that a strong NFL Combine and Senior Bowl might save his fate, but injuries and OL can very well end things for him.

But with his on-field performance, even off-field success took a massive hit.

Garrett Nussmeier massive $150k setback

Well, Garrett Nussmeier’s inconsistent run is not just showing in his draft buzz but also in his NIL valuation. Last month, he lost about $197,000 in NIL value. His on-field struggles hurt him commercially, dropping his valuation from $4 million to $3.8 million.

But after Alabama’s game, Nussmeier saw a similar drop again of roughly $150k. As his NIL valuation now sits squarely at $2 million, ranking no. 22 behind Alabama’s Ryan Williams, who’s at $2.1 million. For a five-year QB who threw more than 4000 yards last year, this is another level of low.