“If you are committed to a school, stay committed. What’s the point of committing if you aren’t ready?” Bryce Underwood’s video when he said this is now going viral. The five-star quarterback ditched LSU on November 19 and joined hands with the defending champions Michigan Wolverines. This saga around Underwood has been going for a while. We even saw Barstool founder claiming that he’ll pitch in an NIL amount to get the 5-star QB to Ann Arbor. For Brian Kelly, this means another disappointment.

One’s misfortune is another’s opportunity. Head coach Sherrone Moore and his staff worked hard to get Undewood. It wasn’t easy; they really gave everything to have him in the squad. Finally, after a disappointing 5–5 year, Wolverines fans have something to celebrate. His decision has raised many questions. One of them is: Did Garrett Nussmeier’s future decision have something to do with Underwood ditching Brian Kelly?

 

A LSU insider, Jacob Verdin, thinks so. On November 22nd, he raised a serious question and mentioned why that could be a scenario. “Is that a new wrinkle into this whole, you know, conversation that Michigan had with Bryce Underwood and which ultimately led Bryce to flip? Is Garrett Nussmeier going to forego the NFL draft, come back, get the starting job, and Bryce was going to, you know, be the second string, be the backup, and potentially compete for a backup role?” This, you know, also kind of has implications a little bit on our quarterback room.” 

Well, he has a point because, if we are serious, Nussmeier’s performance has been disappointing. Brian Kelly’s key player has thrown 11 interceptions. Yes! Is he in some competition with Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck that we don’t know of? Hold on! There is more to add. He repeatedly put the ball at risk and fumbled four times this season.

In their last game against the Florida Gators, Nussmeier started for LSU but did not finish for them again because he could not make much impact on the field, and Brian had to ask for AJ Swann’s help. Swann is their new transfer from Vanderbilt. Coming to his performance against SEC opponents, Nussmeier has thrown for 1,759 yards and scored nine touchdowns. Here comes the real problem: he recorded eight interceptions, completed only 56% of his passes and rushed for 51 yards. Moving forward, let’s see where LSU stands after Underwood’s decommitment.

How did this impact the Underwood commitment? Well, there may not any takers for Nussmeier at the 2025 NFL Draft. Naturally, he’d stick around for another year to have a better chance. In that case, why would the No. 1 prospect come to you to sit on the bench? We have already seen how Julian Lewis committed to the Buffs and talked about Coach Prime telling him that can compete for the starting QB role. At Wolverines, Bryce Underwood is guaranteed a starting role, and let’s not even mention the NIL money.

Who can be Brian Kelly’s next quarterback if Nussmeier also leaves?

Flipping commitments is not new in college football. However, quarterback Bryce Underwood is different because if he made huge commitments to LSU, often in many interviews you can see him talking about loyalty, not just that he was giving LSU fan hints by engaging on Tigers social media accounts.

Now that he has made his decision, he is getting hated, and people are questioning whether he did all that for money. Michigan presented a huge NIL deal, but we cannot ignore the fact that LSU has struggled this season. However, let’s see who Brian can rely on next. If Nussmeier leaves Tiger, AJ Swann will be Brian’s top athlete. Quarterback Rickey Collins is also on his top list. Collins will be entering his third year, and Colin Hurley is also a good player who joined LSU early this fall.

However, it is not good enough to start now and talking about Swann, he did not show a strong performance when given the opportunity and also at his former program. Meanwhile, Collins is a raw talent, and relying solely on him does not look like a promissable act. Will Brian and his staff highlight their past success, like Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels, to attract new talent?