JOURNAL STAFF
BATON ROUGE — With everyone eagerly anticipating the news emanating from the first game-week presser of the 2022 season, LSU first-year football coach Brian Kelly instead punted on naming his starting quarterback.
At least, publicly anyway.
“We’ve made a decision but I’m not going to announce it publicly,” Kelly said Monday. “Certainly, everyone here wants to know who the quarterback is. I get that. But I think it’s a tactical advantage for us not to announce it, so I’m going to hold that announcement. I think it gives us a tactical advantage for not playing.”
LSU opens its season Sunday evening against Florida State at 6:30 p.m. in the Superdome with either junior transfer Jayden Daniels or redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier running the team’s first offensive series.
“Florida State (has) played a game,” Kelly said of the Seminoles’ 47-7 blowout Saturday of lower-end FCS Duquesne. “That’s an advantage for them, having the opportunity to play. The advantage for us is we haven’t played. It doesn’t help us to give up any of our cards in that sense. We’re going to hold on to that card until game day.”
True freshman Walker Howard of Lafayette’s St. Thomas More will be the team’s No. 3 quarterback and is expected to redshirt, Kelly said this summer.
LSU’s practices for the regular season are closed to the media after unprecedented access during spring practice and preseason camp.
Kelly doesn’t want to relinquish what he believes is an advantage for his Tigers, playing their first game with a new head coach in Kelly and new offensive coordinator in Mike Denbrock. He wants to keep the Seminoles guessing all the way to LSU’s first offensive play of Sunday’s game.
Kelly said he hadn’t had long to digest the development of deciding on a starting quarterback.
“How long have I known? Probably 48 hours,” Kelly said. “It’s been that close.”
LSU went through spring practice with four quarterbacks, a battle that continued into the summer and preseason practice.
This winter, Kelly was able to convince sixth-year senior Myles Brennan to remove his name from the NCAA transfer portal and return to LSU, where he missed the entire 2021 season following a broken arm to his non-throwing (left) side just before the start of preseason practice.
Brennan competed during the spring, let the May 1 transfer portal deadline expire, remained through the summer and into the start of preseason practice before leaving the team Aug. 15, as he “retired” from football, reducing the scope of LSU’s quarterback race to Nussmeier and Daniels.
LSU also returned Nussmeier, who played in the NCAA allowable four games last season to retain his redshirt. The Lake Charles native, who went on to star at Marcus High in Flower Mound, Texas, completed 29 of 57 passes for 329 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, getting extensive action against Arkansas with 179 yards with a TD and interception.
Daniels transferred to LSU in the spring after starting in 29 games at Arizona State, where he compiled an 18-11 record that included an MVP award in a win over, ironically, Florida State in the 2019 Sun Bowl.
The native of San Bernadino, Calif., combined for 7,303 total yards and 45 touchdowns in three seasons. He completed 64 percent (197 of 301) of his passes in 2021, throwing for 2,381 yards with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed 138 times for 710 yards and six touchdowns.
During preseason practice opportunities open to the media, Daniels and Nussmeier were clearly locked in a close battle and alternated repetitions with the first-team offense.
“There are similarities between the two of them in terms of what they’re able to do,” Kelly said. “They run extremely well, they both can make plays outside the pocket, and we certainly don’t have to change the play calling. There’s not a dramatic difference between the two when it comes to play calling.
“When we’re talking about both quarterbacks, this is a 1A and 1B. Not a 1 and a 2. Both of them are obviously going to contribute this year.”