It’s that time of year again.
Soon, the transfer season will be in full-swing as the college football regular season winds down and the postseason begins.
As usual, the portal is set to be overflowing with quarterbacks. The nature of the position means you only have room to play one, making opportunities scarce for some quarterbacks.
LSU’s had success with transfer QBs in recent years. Between [autotag]Joe Burrow[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], LSU’s found two all-time great QBs through transfers.
Throw [autotag]Zach Mettenberger[/autotag] and [autotag]Danny Etling[/autotag] in there, and LSU’s four most productive QBs in the last 15 years were all transfers.
It’s been a while since LSU’s found sustained success with a QB recruited from high school, but there’s plenty of optimism surrounding [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] next year.
That begs the question: Should LSU look in the portal?
Nussmeier’s shown flashes, but a first-year starter is a first-year starter. You don’t know what you have until you see it.
LSU was set to enter 2022 with a couple of talented options at the QB spot, and that didn’t stop this staff from recruiting Daniels.
This situation is different, obviously. [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag], [autotag]Mike Denbrock[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Sloan[/autotag] have worked with Nussmeier for two years now. They know a lot more about him than they did about the available options when they first got here.
The assumption is that Nussmeier will coast to QB1 next year. He’s waited three years for this, electing not to transfer when he surely had options out there.
That could make it difficult to land a proven QB when there are schools out there that can promise a starting job. LSU would likely struggle to land a big name, such as Grayson McCall or DJ Uiagalelei.
But LSU could use another veteran signal-caller on this roster. After Nussmeier, it’s [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] with 2024 commit [autotag]Colin Hurley[/autotag] set to arrive too.
Hurley, who already reclassified a sign a year earlier, won’t be ready to play QB in the SEC next year, and LSU has no idea what it has in Collins yet.
If the Tigers can find a veteran with some experience, but with two to three years of eligibility remaining, Kelly and staff should pursue.
That allows LSU to land a guy that doesn’t need to start right away in 2024 but can push Nussmeier or be an option in 2025.
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