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Portal Profile: Michael Van Buren

Jan 14, 2025 | 7:22 AM

By Hunt Palmer

LSU blitzed the transfer portal in December and totally reshaped the 2025 roster. It’s all part of a program shift toward NIL and portal additions.

In this series, we’re going to look at all of the transfers Brian Kelly and his staff brought in to assess where they fit and what our projections are for them in 2025 and beyond.

Next up is Michael Van Buren, the quarterback transfer from Mississippi State.

WHAT WE KNOW: Van Buren initially committed to Oregon as a prep standout from St. Frances in Baltimore. He led that offense for three seasons against a national schedule and guided St. Frances to the national title game against IMG Academy in 2022.

Van Buren was a four-star prospect according to Rivals and ESPN, and he was selected to play in the Under Armour All-American Game.

Jeff Lebby was hired by Mississippi State at the end of November of 2023, and Van Buren flipped from Oregon to the Bulldogs two weeks later.

Blake Shapen, the Baylor transfer, was the starter for State the first month of the season, but he went down with a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4, so Van Buren got the keys to the offense.

His first two starts came at Texas and at Georgia, the two SEC Championship Game participants and eventual playoff teams.

He struggled at Texas, but at Georgia he threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns with an interception. He threw three more touchdowns the following week against Texas A&M and threw for 309 yards and two scores versus Arkansas a week later.

For the season, Van Buren totaled 1,886 passing yards and 11 passing touchdowns with a 55 percent completion rate and seven interceptions.

He’s got average size at just 6-foot-1 and 200 lbs. He’s a good athlete as he showed with his five rushing touchdowns. He can extend plays and even churn up some yards on the ground. The arm talent is plenty good enough, but it’s not elite.

 

THE FIT: I’m not sure LSU could have landed a more appropriate quarterback in the portal class. In this era, quarterbacks transfer to play. Van Buren is transferring to sit behind Garrett Nussmeier. In all likelihood, Van Buren would have been sitting in Starkville behind Shapen in 2025, so it’s not exactly like his transferring from a starting spot, but his experience makes him a former starter.

Plus, he’s got four years left to play three.

With Bryce Underwood bailing for Michigan, LSU’s quarterback future beyond Nussmeier is very murky. Collin Hurley remains, but AJ Swann and Rickie Collins have moved on.

For LSU to essentially land an SEC starter with three years of football left was an incredible fit.

If Nussmeier were to miss some time in 2025, Van Buren has proven he can step in and be productive in the SEC. Plus the ceiling for the future is high.

HUNT’S PROJECTION: Right now, I think Van Buren is the most likely successor to Nussmeier. That’s not to say that he won’t be playing somewhere else in 2026. That’s always a possibility with the transfer portal. But if we’re putting odds on it, Van Buren is the guy. Hurley hasn’t played yet, and LSU doesn’t have a high school quarterback in this current class.

Joe Sloan has created a nice reputation in the LSU quarterback room. Jayden Daniels, who possesses a lot of the same skills are Van Buren, is lighting it up in the NFL playoffs. Don’t twist these words too severely. Daniels is a Top 10 quarterback in the NFL right now, and Van Buren is a semester into college. But their arm strength is similar, good not elite. They’re both very athletic, though I’d give Daniels an edge. And both were thrust into duty as a freshman and had some success.

Nussmeier followed Daniels with a 4,000 season and could become a first round pick next year.

Van Buren wants to be next. He’ll take a year observing from that ecosystem, and I think it’s very possible he takes the first snap when Clemson visits Tiger Stadium in 2026.