As the Texas Bowl approaches for the LSU Tigers, they find themselves in a precarious position. Taking the field against the Big 12’s Kansas State Wildcats without a scholarship quarterback. But how did we get here?
This began back in the spring when four scholarship quarterbacks battled it out to become the starting quarterback.
- Myles Brennan, Senior
- Max Johnson, Sophomore
- TJ Finley, Sophomore
- Garrett Nussmeier, Freshman
Following spring football Finley decided it was time to move on to another situation. He likely wasn’t going to see the field with both Brennan and Johnson likely ahead of him so he entered the transfer portal. Finley landed at Auburn where he led them to a victory over Georgia State. He would eventually become the starter for their bowl game with an injury to Bo Nix and his subsequent transfer to Oregon.
With Finley gone, it left Brennan and Johnson to battle it out for the starting role and newcomer Nussmeier as the eventual QB3 on the roster. Prior to the start of fall camp, Brennan suffered an injury to his nonthrowing arm that would require surgery and put him out of action for an indefinite amount of time. It turned out to be a season-ender for the senior quarterback.
Towards the end of the year, Brennan put his name in the transfer portal before opting to return to LSU after a discussion with new head coach Brian Kelly. His injury and the transfer of Finley left the Tigers with just two scholarship quarterbacks to go along with the two walk-ons, Matt O’Dowd and Tavion Faulk. Neither of which was likely to ever see the field.
Johnson would resume duties as the starting quarterback as he did in the final two games of the 2020 regular season. While he started all 12 games for the Tigers, Nussmeier saw action in three games prior to the showdown with Arkansas in the ‘Battle for the Golden Boot’.
After a discussion with Doug Nussmeier, they discussed having Garrett play for an extended amount of time. He took over in the second series and finished out the game. Following that game, it was announced that he would shut it down for the rest of the year leaving LSU with just one scholarship quarterback, Max Johnson.
After leading LSU to a victory over Texas A&M and making the team bowl eligible, Johnson announced he would enter the transfer portal. That left the Tigers and interim head coach Brad Davis without a quarterback. The team requested a waiver from the NCAA to allow Nuss to play and keep his redshirt status.
Under NCAA eligibility rules a player can appear in no more than four games to keep the season from counting towards their eligibility. According to Brody Miller of The Athletic (subscription required), the waiver wasn’t granted and it appears Nussmeier won’t burn that redshirt.
Nussmeier did not receive that waiver, and it was, in turn, up to him if he wanted to play a fifth game and burn a year of eligibility to play in this bowl. Sources say he is not playing Tuesday.
With that being said, I believe it is time to re-evaluate the eligibility rules when it comes to the postseason. The game of college football is changing dramatically from season to season. With players opting out of bowl games such as Damone Clark, Neil Farrell Jr, and Ty Davis-Price among others, younger players have to step up in their place. That is nothing new but what it does is put teams at a competitive disadvantage.
Such as the Nussmeier situation, LSU has zero scholarship quarterbacks for this game. Players can opt-out of games and others can enter the transfer portal. How can we counteract that for teams? They can’t go out and replace these players.
Perhaps the solution is removing the eligibility rules when it comes to bowl games. Not counting them towards the four-game rule might be the best option, and not just because LSU is in dire straights when it comes to their situation.
This is a college football problem, not just an LSU problem.