By Hunt Palmer
There will be no rest for Garrett Nussmeier this weekend. At least not until scoreboard dictates that possibility.
Brian Kelly said Monday that the senior quarterback was nursing a torso injury that had cost him practice time and reps in late August and early September.
Asked on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference if Nussmeier might sit out the Southeastern game, Kelly said no.
“I think he needs to play,” Kelly said. “Garrett wants to play. He’s capable of playing. As I said, the torso injury slowed him up, and it slowed up in some instances the development of the offense, too, because we needed to be very careful with him.”
LSU’s offense is still very much ironing out some early season kinks. No team in the SEC has scored fewer points through three weeks.
“We knew we had two, in particular, two very difficult games with Clemson on the road and a charged-up Florida team,” Kelly said. “So, we dialed back practice. We dialed back what we were doing to make sure we protected him.”
Entering the Southeastern game, Kelly is encouraged by what he’s seen from his quarterback and his offense early in the week. Three practices remain before the Tigers take the field, but things are trending in the right direction.
“He’s now on the other side of it because we were able to (protect him),” Kelly said. “So, this week is an opportunity for him. He’s doing some things at practice that he hasn’t been able to do in the last month. We’re pretty excited about what he can do this weekend.”
LSU hosts the Lions on Saturday night at 6:45.
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