By Hunt Palmer
Losing the top quarterback in the nation from the shadows of your campus generally feels like a disaster.
So, too, would losing a top five quarterback in the country when his older brother is starting games for your program.
High level Evangel quarterbacks have spurned LSU over the years. Josh Booty opted for baseball. His brother John David went to USC. Brock Berlin played for Florida and Miami, never LSU. Those stung, too.
Two of those scenarios may well play out in the 2027 quarterback class, but as long as one of those scripts flips, LSU should be just fine.
Predictions have started to roll in for Elijah Haven, Rivals’s top ranked prep quarterback in the country for 2027, to head to Florida to play for Billy Napier.
Haven has been a priority for LSU since he burst onto the scene at The Dunham School as a freshman. That was two years ago. He’s visited LSU’s campus numerous times, and LSU has popped in on his practices and games-both football and basketball- over the years.
Haven selecting the Gators undoubtedly would be a disappointment, but there is insurance available.
Colton Nussmeier, Garrett’s younger brother, is the No. 6 ranked quarterback in the class as he embarks on his junior season at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. The younger Nussmeier is already 6-foot-4 and might be a little better athlete than big bro. He’s also left-handed.
This week Steve Wiltfong and Sam Spiegelman of Rivals have projected Nussmeier to LSU.
The days of nabbing two blue chip prep quarterbacks in a class are about over. Matt Flynn and Jamarcus Russell are the most famous example in LSU history, but as recently as 2017 LSU signed Myles Brennan and Lowell Narcisse who were both top five quarterbacks in according to ESPN.
Max Johnson and TJ Finley both signed in 2020, but calling them blue chips would be a stretch.
Guys at the top of the national class generally want the school’s signing class to themselves. LSU has had to recruit Haven and Nussmeier with that in mind, and Peyton Houston, the No. 8 signal caller in the country from Shreveport, has been right there every step of the way.
Because of the strong connections LSU has to all three, geographically and in Nussmeier’s case biologically, it stands to reason LSU would snag one of the three.
For that reason, it won’t be the potentially two misses that matter most to LSU. It will be the hit.
Commitments 16 months from Signing Day aren’t worth too much. Coaching changes happen. NIL money gets moved around. The transfer portal plugs holes.
But LSU’s staff certainly understands that securing one of these three commitments sooner rather than later would be a good start.
Considering LSU doesn’t have a true freshman quarterback on the roster or a high school senior-to-be committed.
It’s really time to set a foundation for the post-Garrett Nussmeier world.
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