Brian Kelly explains heated sideline moment with Garrett Nussmeier after INT vs. South Alabama
Brian Kelly spoke about his relationship with quarterback Garrett Nussmeier on his appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday.
More specifically, Kelly was asked about a moment he had with Nussmeier during the South Alabama game. After Nussmeier threw an interception with a 25-point lead, cameras showed Kelly having a rather intense conversation with his young quarterback.
“We’ve got a great relationship,” Kelly said. “I’m reminding him of the things we talk about every single day. I come across on a blip of 4 or 5 seconds of hollering at somebody, but you don’t see the hours and hours and hours where I’ve got my arm around him.
“He’s being reminded there of things that he should do and how he should do it. And he recognizes that. And he still had an incredible game … a brief 3 or 4 second clip there doesn’t give you the story of the kind of play that Garrett’s had here this season.
Kelly said that his close relationship with Nussmeier is what allows him to be able to coach him in that manner during a game.
“You’ve got to have a really good relationship with those guys or you can’t make the point that way,” Kelly said. “Because they’ll take it the wrong way. They’ll collapse in those kinds of situations. There’s some guys that I can’t talk to that way, I can’t get at them. And with Garrett, you can really get after him because that’s the way that he’ll remember it.”
Here’s video of Kelly’s comments as well as a clip of the play in question:
“The important thing is you have to have a great relationship with the player, otherwise you can’t make the point that way”
Brian Kelly breaks down a heated moment on the sideline from Saturday with Garrett Nussmeier: pic.twitter.com/YFLKs1BOFr
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 30, 2024
As Kelly acknowledged, Nussmeier is having an outstanding season as LSU’s starter. He’s thrown for 1,652 yards, 15 touchdowns an 4 interceptions so far in 2024. He’s also averaging 8.3 yards per attempt.
LSU is idle in Week 6 but will face Ole Miss on Oct. 12.
Nussmeier deserved it. He can’t throw picks when it hurts the team. In this case, it didn’t hurt the team. But the games are about to get real.
Nussmeier needs to keep his head. Quit forcing things. Be the gunslinger when you know you have the play. But don’t hurt the team thinking you can fit every pass into the smallest crack.
Chris Hilton is his best option for hitting the deep balls, and he has a great connection with him. He just hasn’t been able to do it with anyone else outside of that beautiful dime to Parker against UCLA.
Here’s hoping we see plenty of Nuss-to-Hilton chunk plays against Ole Miss, as well as keeping Lacy involved heavily. He had an off game against South Alabama.
I don’t think Ole Miss knows what’s about to hit their defense with Caden Durham, Hilton, Lacy. No Harold Perkins, no problem as long as Weeks and Penn play like they have been, and Swinson and Jones dominate off the edge like they have been.
Our OL need to keep Nuss upright against that good DL of Ole Miss.
I’ve got zero issues with a coach who gets heated on the sideline after a bad play, Nuss screwed up and got called out. He’s a high character player who doesn’t mind taking his lumps, make it a teachable moment and move on.
Exactly! If Kelly didn’t care, he wouldn’t get on him like that.
Nuss deserved it. One pick was reckless where he threw into Triple coverage in the red-zone. The other one was a career throw on the sideline when the team was moving the ball…as soon as he released it the announcer said “that should be picked off, and it was “! A score on those 2 drives means the subs can come in during the 3rd quarter to get valuable experience.
Careless throw…