Who is the man who transformed the Florida Gators into a national powerhouse? It has to be Steve Spurrier. He  revolutionized SEC offenses with his “Fun ‘n’ Gun” pass-heavy attack. Spurrier has been part of the Florida family since the 1960s and became the first-ever Heisman Trophy winner of the program. So, his path paved from being a player himself to holding the head coaching reins. 

Now you know why it feels to be an honor to have passed Spurrier’s quality check. Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers have taken the legend into confidence. Thanks to their quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, Spurrier can’t think of anybody else who deserves the limelight walking into the 2025 season. 

At a time when the college football world has been buzzing with only one name, Arch Manning, the ex-Gators head coach marked himself safe from all the hype. “People picking Texas to win the SEC in football. They’ve got Arch Manning already winning the Heisman, too. And my question is, if he was this good, how come that they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year? And he was a seventh-round pick.” But when it comes to Nussmeier, Spurrier is rooting strongly for Kelly’s quarterback with zero doubts.

In the July 14th episode of the Another Dooley Noted Podcast, Spurrier shared his take on the Tigers’ quarterback. “They’re interviewing the players that come and so forth. In fact, on the way over here, I was listening to Nussmeier, the quarterback from LSU,” he said. “Yeah. And I’m telling you what, the way he talked, nobody’s going to beat LSU this year. They all love each other. They got great players. They love coach… The atmosphere at LSU, nobody’s going to beat them. So, we’ll just have to wait and see. But most of the players will probably talk a lot like that, about how good everything is. And that’s why we call it talking season.” On July 8th, On3 came up with the ‘Ranking All 16 SEC Starting Quarterbacks’ list.

No brownie points for guessing, Nussmeier held the No.1 spot. Kelly’s quarterback has shown flashes of brilliance past season, including multiple passing efforts of 400-plus yards. Do you remember the compliment an NFL scout came up with for Nussmeier? “If I had to take one [of the 2025 quarterbacks], I’d probably take Nuss.” That’s how strong an impression the quarterback had left, racking up 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns. However, Nussmeier did not place his feet in the NFL hype trap.

Rather, the quarterback decided that he still needs to sharpen his skills. For instance, he posted an 84.3 PFF passing grade when throwing it 10-19 air yards in the middle of the field. Now, this is something that needs to be improved.  But what did Nussmeier say at the Big 12 Media Days that won Spurrier’s heart?

Garrett Nussmeier joins elite LSU company at SEC Media Days

Nussmeier accompanied Kelly, Chris Hilton, and Whit Weeks and flew off to Atlanta for the special event. He becomes only the third quarterback in LSU history, after Jordan Jefferson and Zach Mettenberger, to make two appearances at SEC Media Days. As he walks into the 2025 season, the hype is real. Being in his second season as the starter, Nussmeier was asked about his personal development and goals. And the young chap sounded all confident.

“For one, just having last year to be able to go back on now and watch, study. This entire offseason has been about that for me, just watching all parts of the game, seeing the areas where I need to be critical on myself and improve at, whether it’s taking care of the football or using my legs more in situations that I need to,” Nussmeier said. And talking about the goals? Nussmeier shared, “And I think that obviously my goals are team goals. I think me being the best version of myself will hopefully lead us into the team goals.”

Turns out that Garrett Nussmeier will give his level best to erase the ugly memories of the 2024 season. The quarterback ran the pigskin 35 times, but what about the result? He ended up with -38 rushing yards. Thanks to the ugly sacks. Yes, the young chap has still some unfinished business in Baton Rouge. While facing off against Texas A&M, he came up with three picks but could only complete 50% of his passes. His struggling feat was repeated against Alabama as well. 27 of 42 passes for 239 yards; not that great either. With Spurrier’s stamp of approval and confidence fueling his stride, can Nussmeier script the college finale of his dreams?