Garrett Nussmeier has not gotten off to the strong start that many expected of him. LSU may be 4–1 to begin the season, the only loss coming in a tight game to a very strong Ole Miss squad last weekend, but Nussmeier was one of the lead preseason Heisman Trophy contenders in August.
After topping 4,000 yards with 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions a year ago, Nussmeier has put up pedestrian stats through five games: 1,159 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. His 67.3% completion percentage would be a career high, but his 6.8 yards per attempt is nearly a full yard below his mark a year ago.
Health rumors about Nussmeier have swarmed since the preseason, when Kelly shut down rumors that his quarterback had a serious knee injury by sharing that he had a mild case of patellar tendinitis. Now, in a similar moment on Wednesday, Kelly dismissed new murmurs that his quarterback requires surgery on an undisclosed injury.
“Yeah, that’s just, that’s misinformation,” Kelly said of the surgery rumors, per Tiger Rag. “Those are not based on any facts. They’re quite silly, actually. People want to know, but this is misinformation.”
That doesn't mean that nothing is wrong with Nussmeier. Kelly did admit that his QB has been dealing with an ab strain, a more specific issue than the "torso injury" Kelly had hinted at after Nussmeier has a middling outing in LSU's win over Florida in Week 3.
"Yeah, early on, he had an AB strain, not a core injury, in terms of a core injury that we deal with," Kelly continued, per The Advocate. "And it's been slow to heal, but as I had mentioned, he's on the backside of that, and he's getting rest this week.
"He'll be the Garrett Nussmeier that he needs to be as we get into the very difficult part of our schedule."
Luckily for Nussmeier, LSU is on bye this weekend, returning to play on October 11 when LSU hosts South Carolina in a rematch of one of last year's most competitive SEC games. The Tigers will need a healthy Nussmeier against LaNorris Sellers and the Gamecocks—another game in which he looks uncomfortable delivering the ball, and the message boards and rumor mills will be aflame with speculation once again.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LSU's Brian Kelly Calls Out 'Misinformation' Around QB Garrett Nussmeier Injury Situation.
