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- [00:00]
Charles Schwab
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- [00:30]
Amazon Prime Ad
This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever finish a movie and the next thing you know you're totally obsessed. Like I'm talking about ordering a book about 70s film lighting or buying the soundtrack on vinyl. Kind of obsessed. Whatever it is, prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into or getting into. Head to Amazon.com prime and follow your obsession wherever it goes foreign.
- [00:57]
Todd McShay
You know this man. Sometimes the tape just speaks to you. That was the case for me with Garrett Nussmeier, the LSU quarterback. It should be a fun one today. Our summer scouting series continues next and we're going to sort out this QB1 situation heading into the 2025 college football season. You know, there's just 336 days until the NFL draft. There he is. Mench, you good? I'm good, man. All right, seduce me a little bit. Tucker was quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the year and I love that big smile on your face. Mench summer scouting series we've drilled in like this is where we belong this time of year because it's where the process is. It's what NFL scouts are doing. So we've got to share that with our audience. And speaking of our audience, like, appreciate the support. The fact that this number of people are still watching us at this point in the in the year in the NFL and college football schedule just shows what we're building here and we want, we just want to say thank you. I can speak for Steve here. We are truly appreciative. And Mitch, tell the folks how they can speak, continue to support us the way they have.
- [02:21]
Mitch
Hit the Follow button on Spotify, go to the YouTube channel the McShay show and hit the subscribe button. Leave a comment we're reading the comments. We appreciate all the comments. We really hope you guys are are feeling like you're a part of this thing because we're trying to make you a part of it. He's at McShay13 on his socials Instagram and X I'm at you good men. That's M U E N C H and consider subscribing to the McShay report. I mean I, I said it on the last show. I thought the last one we talked about, Arch Manning I thought was one of my favorite ones so far.
- [02:53]
Todd McShay
And, and Garrett N the the breakdown is going to be on the McShay report as well. So Google that subscribe and, and, and yeah, let's just all encompassing. Let's, let's get you kind of hook, line and sinker. Let's bring you in and let's, let's continue to build this thing. You mentioned the comments Mitch. I had a great opportunity Yesterday up at 4:30 in the morning, get up to Logan Airport, fly to DTW Detroit and was invited to this. It's called Spotify Sessions. For people who don't know, we teamed up with Bill Simmons and obviously his company, the ringer, our good friend Ryan Rosillo. We've kind of helped with his career, he helped with my career. It's kind of, it's kind of come full circle and we're all working together. But the parent company for the ringer is Spotify and we all know Spotify. Like who doesn't right? Spotify is part of their life. Right. And so it's really cool to like take a day away from all this. By the way, is there any better place in the world to watch tape than on an airplane?
- [03:56]
Mitch
You love watching tape on an airplane.
- [03:58]
Todd McShay
Oh my gosh. Because you know I'm not, I'm wrong. Hey, you raw dog it. You are a raw dogger. But so yeah, I took a day away from, from like being here in the typical grind. But I did watch nuss Meyer on the way out and on the way back and finished up about one in the morning and sent send Connor and Dan all of our, all the stuff to get the newsletter going and preparing for the show. But in Detroit it was fun man. Like normally that's kind of stuff I'm like that's cringy. You know, going, talking in front of a hundred advertisers. It was really cool because you know why? Because and this obviously in Detroit with the automobile. Automobo. Automobile. Automotive I can speak. It's a helpful trait to have in this industry but in their industry it's all about automotives. And so a lot of advertisers from all, all different corporations and like they're excited and the people at Spotify are excited about what we're Doing and to hear, you know, because we're so. It's just like we're talking to Dan, we're talking to Connor. We got Mark in the background. We got Tucker setting this, all this up. And. And I think what's lost is like, there's this whole thing going on and there's excitement about what we're doing and to share kind of our passion. And one of the things I was. I was explaining, I'm like, for like 17 years, I, like, I was obsessed early on in my career about the comments and all, but it was such a negative environment. And I got here and I was so nervous after the first couple of shows to go back into the comments section, that's like poison. It's like Saban says, rat poison. And I'm like. And so I, like, winced as I went and started looking through. And I'm like, o. People are kind of enjoying getting to know us, knowing our process and kind of scrolling up. And I'm like, okay. Constructive criticism. Yeah. Yeah, he's right. I need. I do need to. I do need to let men talk. He agrees with my daughter. A lair. So it's just. It was really cool to share all that. And the best part of it, I'm going to be honest, we've been very fortunate in this industry to meet a lot of amazing, highly successful, driven, motivating type of people. So, like, a lot of times I'll be. Yeah, that's cool. I'm excited. I'm excited to meet him and get to know him a little bit. But then I found out that I'm co hosting this thing with a couple executives, but also DJ X.
- [06:21]
Mitch
That had to be cool.
- [06:22]
Todd McShay
Spotify, like, I told him, I got up on the stage, I'm like, yo, X, I've already got a. You don't know about it, but I got a relationship with you already. Like, you. You start a good playlist for me on my Spotify. When I'm driving in the car, I'm like, patting you on the head and you don't even know. And then I get pissed at you sometimes, too. So it was really cool. It was cool to see that there's support in this. In this company and. And people are noticing what we're doing and kind of on the forefront with some of the video stuff and they were sharing all. All the things from our show. So excited to continue to grow. All right, let's get into it.
- [06:53]
Mitch
Let's go.
- [06:54]
Todd McShay
Garrett Nussmire, LSU quarterback. I'm going to start with this Before I get into his profile and bio and background. What a thrill ride, man. What a thrill ride. Like, when I. When I opened this up and said, like, certain prospects speak to you. Like, the tape speaks to you. Some guys like you, you're. You're watching it, and you're kind of grinding through it, and you're looking at like, all right, what's he going to do next? And you're hoping it. This was like, I can't wait. All right, this game's over. Every game was telling a story to me, and I'm like, what's next? How's he going to respond next week? And it was. It was so much. Baker Mayfield, like, the. The. The thrill ride, the. Like, the ups, the downs.
- [07:42]
Mitch
But it's the best comp you've had, I think, maybe ever. I mean, because I didn't. I. I saw that. I wish I had seen it after, to be honest with you. I saw that comment on X before I really started to dig in, and then I could. It was. It was. I wonder if it would have been the same way if I hadn't seen it until after. But it was in my mind the entire time. I'm like, God, he looks like Baker. He plays like Baker. He's. Some of the. It's very, very familiar. If you watch Baker's tape, it's like.
- [08:09]
Todd McShay
You have to take. You have to take a deep breath after every game. It's like, all right, I'm gonna need a minute before I. Like that old miss game. All right, I'm gonna need a minute before I dive into Arkansas. Like, I gotta kind of. Yeah, we'll get into all of it. Let's just give it. Sorry for everyone who's watching and listening, and we appreciate it. Again, let's just give a little background on Garrett. He's listed at 6 to £200. We'll see what the officials are next spring, right? He little light. Not small, but light. Same. Same kind of deal with Baker. Baker was a little. A little bit thicker in the lower, but he's not lean. I wouldn't say I wasn't watching and looking. He's lean, but Baker's just got a real thick trunk. Garrett is entering his fifth year. Okay. But his second year as a starter, he's played in 31 games, but just 14 starts. So. Remember all that talk last year? Like, I got him all the. I call them pundits, whatever you want to call them. Everyone was racing to X and racing to Instagram and racing to Threads and. And it was Like, I've had him QB1 since August. No, I had him at QB1 since July. And we kept on saying like, love a lot of the stuff he's putting out there, but like he's not ready yet, you know, and really we were like encouraging him ourselves as we were talking through it. Really want to see him come back to school. So that here he is, he's 10 and four as a starter. Engineered three fourth quarter wins as a starter. One of them was actually, that was the, the bowl game the year before. Wisconsin in the, in the Reliaquest bowl at the end of the 2023 season. Okay.
- [09:52]
Mitch
He started two bowls. He was MVP of both of those Bulls.
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Todd McShay
Yeah, great nugget. Yep.
- [09:57]
Mitch
Yeah.
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Todd McShay
Last year as a starter completed 64 to 64.2% of his throws, over 4,000 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, but 12 interceptions. Okay. Gritty competitor, vocal leader in charge. Tough as nails. Missed six plays, shoulder injury against Oklahoma.
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Mitch
Done. I mean maybe, maybe not for the game either. I thought he was, I mean that it, it did not look good.
- [10:28]
Todd McShay
Oh, he missed six plays, comes back in and they wind up winning that game 37:17. His father, Doug Nussman.
- [10:36]
Mitch
Hold up really quick, did you. I got this nugget off the, off his profile.
- [10:40]
Todd McShay
Okay.
- [10:40]
Mitch
He had statistically the most prolific first year starting quarterback season for lsu. More. More passing yards, completions, attempts, touchdowns and total offense than any other first year starter in program history. Think about it. I mean, think about the guys. I mean. Yeah, that's impressive.
- [10:58]
Todd McShay
Very. His dad, Doug is a quarterback in the NFL. Also NFL quarterback coach. So like growing up around the game, you know, Texas Kid, Big Time, Six6A or whatever, you know, the highest level is. He also graduated in May inter interdisciplinary studies. So he's got his degree already. So going back for graduate school in his last, this last year, that's kind of the backdrop. Okay. When we evaluate quarterbacks, every single position has what we call universal traits where it's, it's production and we give a grade to it. You know, one being elite, two being good. Three being average. Four being below average, five being marginal. Okay. And so with, with every, every player at every position. That's why we call it universal traits. You've got production, you've got durability, you've got intangibles and medical. Right. And so like we can get, let's get a more complete picture next, next spring when we're going into the NFL draft. I would say his production's A1 coming into the seat off of one year as a starter. But there's, it's an incomplete picture, right. For quarterback specifically. And every position has its own specific traits, right. For quarterbacks. And there's a lot of sub traits for each of them. Okay. But we try to break it and this is how we've done it for over 20 years. We got four quarterback specific traits. Mental makeup being one. Okay. Accuracy being two. Load to arrival was a term. I think Trent Dilfer kind of created that and it actually speaks to me. There's a lot of different terms and buzzwords and all this like arm talent. But like essentially we, we've always done release, release quickness combined with, you know, arm, arm strength, velocity of the ball, energy, whatever, however you want to phrase it. But that's the third one.
- [12:59]
Mitch
How quick can you get it from A to B?
- [13:01]
Todd McShay
Right. That's why I do like the phrase load, like lta load to arrival essentially from, from when you've made that decision that you're going to separate your two hands to when the ball arrives. How fast is that process? Because some guys have really strong arms, but it's a windmill, you know, back that down. The back shoot takes a little too long, so it slows down the whole process. And then the fourth one is mobility, but with an emphasis on pocket mobility too obviously. Running then is the second component of it. So that's how we look at it. And since that's how we evaluate, I kind of wanted to go through that process with you and kind of get your feedback on all of it. And let's start with, with the mental makeup.
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Mitch
Okay.
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Todd McShay
Man, I, I freaking love his confidence. And it's, it, and it started like the Baker stuff. Obviously you can do the size and the suddenness in the pocket and all those different things. This guy is absolutely relentless. He's aggressive, he has no fear. Okay. And I do think there are elements of, of, of trusting his, his abilities and trusting his eyes and trusting those things appropriately. And I'll get to the negative part in a second. But you, you always a coach's son, you know, he's a three time captain, coach's son. He's been around ball, all that stuff. Show me, show me. And he shows me, he shows me with his, with his command pre snap. He shows me the way he gets to the line of scrimmage. He's, he, like it has been drilled into him at a very young age and all throughout his development, like your number one job as a quarterback, I was always taught this, like nothing happens unless you got everyone lined up and everyone's where they need to be. And with that comes communication. Okay. And he's awesome pre snap. Like he's in complete control, the captain of the ship. And you see it on tape. Fast eyes, decisive, gets through reads quickly like the. The trigger from when he goes. That's what it is. Like progression one to two to three, whatever that is. Or if it's just one to two, when he decides it's balls out post snap, trust his reads off of that.
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Mitch
He.
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Todd McShay
Here's where it's. It gets wild. All right. He's got to learn when to not cross the line. And. And it's. We said the same about Baker.
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Mitch
Right. And when you say all those good things, I think it's important to note that it doesn't mean. Well, people. Because people will look at that and be like, well, what about the interception he threw against Alabama? Against Alabama, and he didn't see Deontay Lawson in the red zone and. Or the interception threw against South Carolina where he didn't see the. I think it was a linebacker. Maybe it was a safety dropping. Quarterbacks get fooled all the time, man. We're talking about the body of work. This isn't Arch Manning. This guy is a full time starter for a year. We have a lot more tape on him. More often than not, consistently. He can get through his reads. He makes. He makes sound decisions. He has control of the offense. Everyone gets fooled sometimes. And I think this is what you're kind of getting to. He has that with that. The plus side of the aggressiveness and the confidence, there's the downside of it too. Right. And you pre. Any presses sometimes.
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Todd McShay
I say it all the time because I truly believe it's like one of life's great lessons. What makes people great is also potentially their fatal flaw.
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Mitch
Yep.
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Todd McShay
What makes Nussmeier great and why it's such a thrill ride is that he believes. He knows he is. He has lived. And like, it is baked into his DNA of trusting my eyes, trusting my abilities. If this is right and I see it, it is.
- [17:08]
Mitch
Yeah.
- [17:10]
Todd McShay
And if he can bottle that up. Right. And then learn. And it only comes from game reps. Right. It only comes from game reps that you learn. Oh, I made that mistake last time. I can't, you know, I. I touch my hand on the stove. I can't do it again. Hurts when I do that. Painful, you know?
- [17:30]
Mitch
Yeah.
- [17:31]
Todd McShay
That's how you learn. And so. And I see it a lot. Late in games, trailing games, tight. He's a freaking renegade, man. In the, in the positive. Positive aspects of that word. And also like he can be a traitor to his own team.
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Mitch
Right.
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Todd McShay
Look up renegade.
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Mitch
What it means.
- [17:53]
Todd McShay
Yeah, that's.
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Mitch
That's harsh, but I get. I know what you're saying, but I know you're saying you.
- [17:56]
Todd McShay
Are you hurt?
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Mitch
He hurts his team sometimes with it. Yes.
- [17:59]
Todd McShay
Right. And you're like that. That's how it's drilled into your mind as a quarterback. Are you. Are you so good that you're bet that you're better and above the team? This isn't a Nussmeier. This is more of a big. A bigger picture, general discussion. Yeah, but that's the mentality. We're going to trust you to lead. It's like. It's like the. The perfect storm. We're trusting you, Cap. Where are you taking us? Well, my life's miserable and I'm dying to prove everyone that I'm a great captain. I can bring in the greatest hall ever to come back into Gloucester, Massachusetts, ashore into the harbor. Mensch married a Gloucester girl. He knows exactly what that life's about. Wonderful Iris. Absolutely love her. Anyone who can put up with you is saint.
- [18:45]
Mitch
That's so true.
- [18:47]
Todd McShay
But my point is that you've got to learn when you know what. That storm's too big. The radar's telling me we got to get out.
- [18:53]
Mitch
Yeah, man, that's.
- [18:54]
Todd McShay
That's what it is. And that's okay. 14 starts, man, he's got a chance to play another 14, 16, 17 this year. And I want to see that development.
- [19:04]
Mitch
Listen, it starts and ends with the Ole Miss game for me. I mean, you look at that, and he'd be like, oh, he had 337 yards.
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Todd McShay
He.
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Mitch
He completed 43.1% of his passes in that game. But what happens at the end when it matters the most? They need to score, and they need a score to send it to overtime. He completes a. On the last drive, he has a third and 10. He converts a fourth and sixth and a fourth and fifth that he throws the game tying touchdown on. And then the first chance he gets in, in the very first throw he makes in overtime, he calls game. See you later. We're out 43% of his passes, man. It was a horrible night. And they somehow walk out of there with a win.
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Todd McShay
I clip reeled like two, it was like 200. And something plays, right? And so this is just. We can get time stamps later and all that, but like play 81 of my. Of my clip reel was the. It was fourth quarter Pressing down four. Okay. No, down six. Eleven minutes remaining. Ole Miss. Okay. Terrible decision, that interception. Double coverage. Terrible decision. Forcing it. Just. This is the remedy.
- [20:11]
Mitch
Make something happen. Yeah.
- [20:13]
Todd McShay
Yep. Okay. Then. Then three plays later, hangs on the ball too long. Strip, sack.
- [20:18]
Mitch
Yeah, we can get into that. We'll get into that, by the way.
- [20:21]
Todd McShay
Okay. But gives old miss. The ball deep in. In. In LSU territory. Led to a field goal. Now it's 23 to 6 and was down 4. I wrote 6 or down 3 or whatever it was. Okay, down 4. So now. Now it's 7. Now they're down 7. Okay, but then. And I got in, you know, asterisks everywhere. But, like, just absolute. Put it behind you. Next play. Just unconscious. And like, everything that you want, everything that you're. You're taught as a quarterback. Get. Get it out of your. It didn't happen. I believe in you and those 10 guys in that huddle. Believe in you. Go. And that's what he does. Yeah. But the third and ten scramble. The third and ten scramble, which was. Clip. Which was play 89 on my list. The third and ten scramble to. To MT. To Mason Taylor. Absolute magic. I love it.
- [21:23]
Mitch
Yes. There was.
- [21:24]
Todd McShay
That was. That was like the Baker stuff. Scrambling around. She comes back. She's a receiver. Gets it there, gets it there. Mason Taylor was down, but he didn't think he was down. Tried to run it in, but they brought it back. Three plays later. Drills, a strike. Skinny post. Touchdown. I wrote in my notes that throw like that. Right. You know what I mean?
- [21:47]
Mitch
Right.
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Todd McShay
The onions, the moment. And. And wasn't a thought. It wasn't like, oh, no, I've already thrown the interception. I had a strip Sack. I'm completing 43% of my throws. It was. That's open. That's what I believe.
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Mitch
I'm taking.
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Todd McShay
Put it on him.
- [22:05]
Mitch
Yep. Don't give me that, because I'll take it.
- [22:07]
Todd McShay
And like you said, the overtime, then they go down and they get the win. So I'm exhausted talking about it. I was exhausted on the planes yesterday, you know. Yeah. And a m. We talk like, the infamous play. Feeling himself. Oh. It's just. Yeah. It's a wild ride. But we can get to Morgan, so finish up on mental makeup if you want. If not, I want to know what your grade is.
- [22:33]
Mitch
That's what I want to know. Where you're going.
- [22:34]
Todd McShay
I gave him a two because I absolutely.
- [22:36]
Mitch
I'm right with you.
- [22:37]
Todd McShay
Absolutely adore his aggressiveness, his confidence.
- [22:42]
Mitch
You gotta ding him, though. You gotta ding him.
- [22:45]
Todd McShay
He is an like in 80% of what you look for in mental makeup, he is an, he is the, the definition of a 1. From the control to the pre snap, to the post snap, to the reads to the fast eyes, to the marrying his feet, to the aggressiveness to all of it.
- [23:02]
Mitch
Yeah. But in order to get pulse when it's matters the most is not caring.
- [23:06]
Todd McShay
Yeah, all of it. But if he wants to get that grained out grade down to like a 1.1.5, we gotta, we gotta reel it back in in those moments. We gotta understand the circumstances, understand the moment. I did that, I did that last year as a first year starter. I'm not doing it again this year. I'm so excited for a lot of reasons. I'm so excited to see Garrett Nussmeyer next year.
- [23:30]
Mitch
Yes.
- [23:31]
Todd McShay
The 2.0 version.
- [23:34]
Mitch
Yeah.
- [23:36]
Todd McShay
Because think about what Brian Kelly did. And I'm not saying it's all Brian. You know, I have a great deal of respect for Brian with quarterbacks. But, but think about the improvement we saw from Jaden. And Jaden had different tools and traits. He's not Jaden as a runner where he can get the mobility in a little bit. He doesn't have quite the arm. We'll get to the all that in a little bit. But the improvement we saw from Jaden in year one at LSU after transferring from ASU to year two was like third, fourth, fifth round grades to number two overall pick. I'm really excited to see this development.
- [24:12]
Mitch
One other thing I'll add here is I think people need to realize how much he had to shoulder in terms of that offense. I, I think people would be stunned. You, maybe your average college football fan would be stunned to realize that LSU ran the ball the fewest times they were in the sec. They had the fewest carries, fewest rushes in the SEC last year and they averaged fewer rushing yards per game than any other team in the sec. I mean that I, I looked it up and I was stunned that that was the case. But we talked about it last year during the season. A lot of they got to run the ball and help him out a little bit. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. And they never really got their running game going and it was a lot of we know what we're getting here. We know we're getting nuss drop, dropping back and trying to make plays and that's what it ended up being. So if they can bring a little more balance for him too and maybe start creating some windows on play action that I think that he is. We'll get into this in a second. He is built to exploit. It'll be interesting to see if they can. The offense takes a step in that right direction there and it helps out his overall game.
- [25:16]
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- [26:33]
Todd McShay
From the producers of Long Legs comes Dangerous Animals. A shark obsessed boat captain abducts young tourists to feed the ocean predators below. But when one defiant surfer fights back, he may have bitten off more than he can swallow. Harrison, Josh Houston and Jai Courtney star in Dangerous Animals. Only at theaters June 6th. Get tickets now at Dangerous Animals Movie Agreed. Accuracy. Where. Where were you?
- [27:06]
Mitch
I'm a. I'm geeking out about layered throws and he makes some layered throws, man. And what I mean by that is your ability to drop it over linebackers in front of cities, over the middle, throwing in the windows, on the outside, throwing, you know, his ability to put touch on the ball and put it where it needs to be and throw to spots I think is impressive. He misses some throws, but not. I shouldn't say he misses some throws. He misses within the strike zone occasionally, especially when he doesn't set his feet. And I think there's times where he throws really well on the move, but there are times where you just wish he has time and space to reset and make a little bit more of an accurate throw. And I wish he would Take advantage of that at times. But overall, I mean, I think he's an accurate passer with great touch. And again, that, that ability to drop the ball into spots, I think that's the difference between good and great quarterbacks. And he's got it.
- [27:57]
Todd McShay
I totally agree and I totally. Let's start with the negative. I think, I think he can complete 5 to 7% more of his throws by doing exactly what you're talking about. He's so damn good at the off balance, off platform, leaning away, fading back because he has to in those moments. He's so good at that that sometimes he gets lazy or complacent. He gets complacent where it's like, yeah, I can, I'll flick that. And it's like, you don't, you don't need to. It's great. It's a great tool to have in your bag. But it, but if you don't need to use that tool, it's like, you know, it's like the, if you can unscrew the screwdriver, the screw from the wall with your fingers, like it's going to be faster, more just like, get it done. You don't have to go into your bag to get out your big screwdriver every time. You know, know that it's there if it's, if you can't get it out. But I. Ability to, yeah, I wrote Bill, ability to throw off platform, off balance on the move is brilliant. Really, really, really cool stuff here. And I wrote an all cap Baker. It's the same feeling I get when I watch Baker. Everything is urgent. You know what I mean? It's, it's. I see it and I'm gonna rip it, you know, and it's urgent and it's, it's decisive. It's urgent. It's, it's like there's no question in my mind.
- [29:31]
Mitch
He, it's, he has what. And Baker had a lot of these, I call them body language throws. Because if you're a coach, you're on the sideline like, you're, you're bracing, right? You're, you're gritting your teeth, you're, you're kind of hiding your, you don't look through, you're looking through.
- [29:46]
Todd McShay
You're leaning.
- [29:47]
Mitch
Oh, that's. Don't do that. Don't do that. But he's so decisive, like we talked about with his, with the, the decision making. And he's timing and then his, yeah, his timing and then his accuracy. He completes those throws. So it's one of those things, you're like, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. All right, we're good. Let's go. Keep going. Like, keep the drive going. He has a lot of body language. Throws where you're. You're like, man, I would not have made that play. But he will rip it in there because he's accurate and decisive enough and aggressive enough to do it.
- [30:18]
Todd McShay
Let me share a couple things with you. One is there's some. Some quarterbacks, you can just tell after. After enough tape, just have like. Like, God bless them with, like, this natural touch and feel, right? And some quarterbacks don't have that now. They can improve and they get better over time, and they're. It becomes acceptable and they're so mobile. They're all these things that it. Like, it works. But some guys just have it. Like, I bet you if he goes and plays darts, if he like, anything that has to do with act, he just has a feel. And. And with that feel is trajectory. Like, I can remember even playing in college, like, I was. I was terrible, like, compared to something like, Jimmy Miles would come in and. And he would just drill these throws. And I could never. I could never, ever, ever make a throw look like. Like 10 throws in a practice. I'm like. I'm like, God did not give me that ability. But then I would watch two or three throws where I'm like, that's so, like, what's wrong? Like, why can't you just take a little bit off? Understand if you just. And they're the easy ones now, obviously it's more important to have all that ability. But my point is he has that. That. That knack and feeling, and I see it on certain things. You talked about the over the linebacker and the leading the receiver. You can't. You just can't coach it. You either like it. You just. You develop it, but it's inside. It's in you. And he. Like, there's so many times where receivers here and the ball's here, and it's like, it's the perfect connection, right? The other thing that I always look at, and I've learned this over time, this came with experience in scouting. Quarterbacks give me a confined area. And I think it's why a lot of coaches, and I mean, I know a lot of coaches work in that drill. You'll see put a. Put a trash barrel in the back corner of the end zone, throw it from the five right. Can you get it up? Over and drop it in. In. And everyone's to drop it in the Bucket. And it's become this thing. Oh, you dropped it. Great job dropping it in the bucket. The. Where that, where that stemmed from is. It's a drill that quarterbacks work on where there literally is a trash can in the back corner of the end zone. And it's a hard throw to make.
- [32:32]
Mitch
It is, man.
- [32:34]
Todd McShay
Because a lot of guys just want to drill it in because you see it. And some guys, you. Most guys, when they try to get the trajectory to drop it in, you overthrow it. Right. Because it's hard to get it up and then land that plane so fast and smooth. He has so many throws in that short, confined area. He had one. One. I want to find it here. Oh, here it is. It was probably 121 on my clip reel. Okay. But it was a touch. It was the touch fading. He was fading away. It was the left, left end zone. I forget. I didn't even write it down. But to. To MT again, Mason Taylor back at the end when the ball goes up, Mason's on like the two yard line. Now I want you to picture in your mind he's dropped back like a quick three step. It was like a shotgun one step back and pressure starting to come. And so he's got to kind of fade back to his right, but backwards. And most quarterbacks in that instant would have tried to put it on him or would have gotten it in a line because not only are you now trying to throw it from like the five yard line and get in the back corner of the end zone, you're like. And from a normal base, you're doing it leaning back with a rush coming on because you're trying to get more like that split second by that time to get the ball out. Most quarterbacks I study, that ball is not. It's thrown more of an align. Maybe they try to back, shoulder, fade it. They do anything but what he did. I watched it. I watched it at first and I'm like, oh, he over. He overshot that before. The ball's coming about. Oh, he overshot that. And then the ball goes up and come and leads. When the ball and I went back and I rewound it and slow motioned it and paused it when the ball came out of his hand. Mason Taylor's on the 2. Mason Taylor caught it in the back end zone with no room. So it was 12 yards. He led him to leaning backwards and dropped it in. And the reason you put that trajectory on is because that DB's chasing down a taller, bigger tight end. And he had in that Split moment, sees him there, doesn't try to just throw it on a line high point it something like that. He knew if I get it high enough and drop it into that spot, he's got 12 yards to run under it like of all. And I've got like 12 of them here. I've got like over the linebacker, soft spot, his own sliding left tack sliding to his left fast eyes going through reeds, layers it back shoulder fade, legs chopped out, still smoothly put the play. This is a bang 8. Exceptional anticipation on deep balling. I've got all these things. The one I wrote in all caps was that because that tells me he has a different level of understanding and, and just natural ability with trajectory, touch and placement of the football. And that is absolutely going to translate to a lot of success in the NFL.
- [35:31]
Mitch
Yeah, anticipation and touch under duress in the red area is, I mean that's, that's impressive.
- [35:38]
Todd McShay
I gave him a one for accuracy and I see the flaws, but I think it's correctable.
- [35:42]
Mitch
I gave him 2, so.
- [35:43]
Todd McShay
Yeah, but I could have like. Yeah, 1.5 was probably the appropriate grade based off of the stuff we talked about. Oh, and then he's weirdly inaccurate on a handful. Not a ton when he's moving and like he's down to like his third or fourth, you know, checking down to like a running back in the flat or someone. He, he's, he has some really bad or just like dump offs where he'll throw it and the ball comes out. We're like, that's something. Just, it's a little thing he can work on. But yeah, so maybe 1.5 to 2 was probably better, but I, I just think he has an ability to throw the ball with accuracy, touch and the lead receivers and anticipation that very few guys that we study coming out of college have.
- [36:29]
Mitch
Yeah, it's the anticipation that keeps standing out, man. It's that, that word and how difficult it is that I underrated a trait that is for quarterback, but we keep saying it. Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation. He knows where to throw the ball to. Like he, he throws it to spots where guys are going to be. He throws guys open. And I think he, when he looks at he. I think he does a really good job of identifying favorable matchups and understanding man to man and the defender's body position. If a defender's got his back to you, then you, you're, you know, give your, give your guy a shot. I think he's really good at anticipating in those situations and you know, just putting the ball where his receivers can go get it.
- [37:07]
Todd McShay
Release arm strength or LTA load to arrival, however you want to define it. We talked about it earlier. Where, where are you on that?
- [37:14]
Mitch
I think he's got a good stroke. I think he gets out the ball. He gets the ball out really well. And I think his arm strength, if he's throwing with a good base, there's no throw he can't make. I think he can make put, you know, good zip on. On off platform throws, but doesn't have that elite arm strength to, you know, when he. There's some off platform throws where I think are the ball loses a little bit of the energy that you could see with guys who have an elite arm.
- [37:39]
Todd McShay
Totally agree. I gave him a 2. It could have been a 2. 5, 2.5. I'm not going to give him a 3. The ball. And part of the reason I gave him a two.
- [37:47]
Mitch
Two, I thought he was a two.
- [37:48]
Todd McShay
Okay, meaning. Meaning good but not elite. Right?
- [37:52]
Mitch
Right.
- [37:52]
Todd McShay
Super quick release. And part of it is just like how fast his eyes work and then the decisiveness from it changes. Arm angles. Effectively bald. The ball jumps out of his hand short or you know, like intermediate though the intermediate throws, it jumps out of his hand. Good energy at the end, like in the deep, out, outside the numbers type, type things. When, when bait, when with base and driving the ball deep ball. I never saw him truly like having to just grind to get out a deep ball. I saw throws that were 45 to 55 that were like. He didn't, he didn't strain. Okay. He didn't strain for those. Gets the ball out. The thing with him is, and it's similar with Baker, we don't need to throw the ball 70 yards down the field in the air because the ball comes out with anticipation. That is in like the 1%. It's the 1 percentile.
- [38:55]
Mitch
I agree.
- [38:55]
Todd McShay
You know what I mean?
- [38:57]
Mitch
Great. I mean, we talk about this before often. I think the best downfield passers aren't the guys with the strongest arms. I mean, we saw this with Nico at Tennessee. That kid's got a cannon. But he just couldn't. The touch and the anticipation weren't there. I mean, he was just overthrowing guys. When you watch these guys who have the touch and the timing, those are the great ones because they put the ball right where the receiver can run under it to give their guys, I think, you know, they know when to throw the back shoulder, when to lead the guys. And I think, I think Nuss Meyer's got all of that he's, he's one of those guys. He might be. Give him a two arm strength, but say he's a one downfield passer. If you wanted to break it down into that kind of a category.
- [39:34]
Todd McShay
Yeah. All right. Last thing. This was a fun one to me. Pocket mobility.
- [39:39]
Mitch
Interesting. Yep.
- [39:40]
Todd McShay
I gave him a two. And let me explain, and I'm interested to hear your take.
- [39:45]
Mitch
You're already defensive about it.
- [39:46]
Todd McShay
I, like, I'm actually not. I'm, I'm not. And then the beauty.
- [39:49]
Mitch
You should be.
- [39:50]
Todd McShay
I, I, I actually feel really good about it because I had a three in the beginning, and I remember watching him thinking he may be closer, like a 3.54 because he never takes off and runs. He's not. You know, like, he's a. But, but the more I watch him, I'm like, this dude is sudden. It's the same stuff with Baker, right? Like, sudden. Everything's quick, everything's urgent. Really. Like, I really like his movement skills in the pocket. He's not, he's never a sitting duck. He's, he's a moving target. It makes it really hard to sack him. He is a moving target, and he does so with a good base underneath him for the most part. He does so with his eyes down the field. He's, he's at a pro level in terms of movement while maintaining, like, the, the appropriate balance and, and, and watching down the field. I think he's agile enough to elude rushers. Absolutely fearless. Okay. No flinch in this dude.
- [40:50]
Mitch
The Florida, the Florida touchdown pass in the middle, I think, of the second quarter was late in the first half. He took seven sacks in that game. Yeah, seven sacks in that game. And I know it's still kind of early. It's the middle of the second quarter, but he gets popped and he throws an absolute dime to the slot receiver down the seam for a touchdown. That was one of the more impressive throws I thought he had all year.
- [41:15]
Todd McShay
Here's the part that's interesting. He can run.
- [41:20]
Mitch
Absolutely.
- [41:21]
Todd McShay
This is not.
- [41:22]
Mitch
I expected a guy who's going to be more of a stiff.
- [41:25]
Todd McShay
He's not. He doesn't unless it's necessary, but he can more. I actually want to see Nuss Meyer come back and run more. Here's the fascinating part, and I'm, I'm going to reach out to, to bk, to Brian Kelly, and I want to know. My guess is that an emphasis this off season is you're not. We're not, we're not designing runs. We're not RPOing and all that.
- [41:50]
Mitch
He's not that guy. No, Right.
- [41:51]
Todd McShay
He's not that guy. But we're going to need you to run more. And here's the other thing. And I'm interested to see, like, I looked. I didn't. I couldn't find anywhere in his bio. I. If I had to guess and I and audience find this out for us, I'll. I'll reach out and we'll find out. And I didn't do a deep dive in it. I'm on planes. I'm more worried about the tape. My guess is he doesn't have a baseball background.
- [42:14]
Mitch
Okay. I didn't see if he did.
- [42:16]
Todd McShay
Maybe. But may. I looked for it. I couldn't find. I even typed it like Nussmeier High School baseball. I didn't find anything. And that. And it came to mind because I'm like, you know what? Part of the thing is I don't know that this dude knows how to slide effectively.
- [42:30]
Mitch
Ah, you watch him. Yeah, gotcha.
- [42:33]
Todd McShay
You watch him at the end of runs. And there's. There was a handful of times where I put it just a note down. He kind of gets to that point where a guy Baker's great at that. Takes on Mahomes great at that.
- [42:46]
Mitch
Yes.
- [42:46]
Todd McShay
Right.
- [42:47]
Mitch
And they both have how good they are.
- [42:48]
Todd McShay
Kyler Murray, great at that. They all have big baseball backgrounds. Those three jump to mind when I think of guys who take off, they run, they get what's there. But like, I'm not. I'm not pedaling in that nonsense of like taking on guys or trying to juke at the end. Like, we got seven. I don't need nine. Let's. We got seven. Let's get a second and three. I'm more valuable back there on second and three than I am trying to grind out two or three more. I'm not Josh Allen. Okay. LSU's got a pretty good baseball program. It wouldn't shock me. This is where my mind goes. It wouldn't show maybe if he spent spend a little time in the off season. But it's just a little nugget. I think part of the hesitation at times is he gets to that last point. Go back and watch a little bit of some of his run. You can go break it down on the pff. Ultimate just to watch his runs towards the end. There's a lot where he's like. And just like leans his shoulder in and kind of goes down. So I don't know. I thought that was interesting. But yeah, I gave him. I Gave him a two, as I said. Would you go higher?
- [43:50]
Mitch
I think he's a solid three. I agree with a lot of what you're saying. The one, I'll go, I'll go with the negatives because I agree with a lot of the positives. He has a really good feel for it. He knows how to create windows. He moves around really well in terms of creating windows and getting into space where he can make throws. I love that stuff. I think he has a tendency for some reason to kind of to spin out to his left at times. I feel like he does it a little more than he needs to. And more than anything else, the fumbles are killing me, man. You. He's got to do a better job of taking care of the ball. Five fumbles puts the ball on the ground too much the ball security's got to be there. He's got to have a better feel of when that's closing in on him and take better care of the, of the football. So easily could be a 2. If he cleans that up, he cleans it up. I'm fine with the two. And again, I'm not going to lie, I really did expect a stiff. I thought he was going to be more like, this guy's just a pocket passer. And that's not the case. I, I remember I was just watching him, I was like, this guy is never going to be, you know, he's never going to be a threat as a runner. But if you, if, if you line up and you have, you play man against him and he gets a lane on third and six, third and seven, he'll burn you. He'll pick that, he'll, he'll run for that first down. You got to be careful about that stuff with him. But yeah, not, not a stiff.
- [45:09]
Todd McShay
Watch, someone from our, our comments we were talking about earlier is gonna come back like, yeah, he was drafted. He's like a second round draft pick in MLB. You know, center fielder. He stole 90 bases, right? High school hell you talking about? All right, let's wrap it up. I'm just really excited about this year with Garrett Nussmeier.
- [45:31]
Mitch
Me too.
- [45:32]
Todd McShay
He's not, he's not, he's not Lamar, he's not Josh Allen, he's not Patty Mahomes. He's. But, but he's Baker Mayfield. And looking back on it, in the right system with the right people, with the right support, Baker Mayfield was one of the, I mean, he's, I don't know, seven, eight best quarterbacks in the league.
- [45:54]
Mitch
Yeah, probably, yes. I mean, he's not in that elite tier, but he's not that far.
- [46:00]
Todd McShay
Top 10. Top 10. He's in the top 10. I believe watching him the last couple years, he's in the.
- [46:06]
Mitch
He's.
- [46:07]
Todd McShay
He has emerged as one of the top 10 best quarterbacks in the league, in my opinion. And you look at all the busts and all the mistakes that the quarterback drafted, number one overall, look at all the issues that have come. Trevor Lawrence was supposed to be like the safest thing since Andrew Luck. There's no such thing as safe. I just. I believe in what this guy has to offer in the NFL. And so I look at it. I'm. My mind is it somewhere and like. And I'm not giving him a grade right now. Let's go through all the other quarterbacks and kind of rank them and stack them. I want to wrap up with this. For me, unless I see something on earthly that I didn't expect to see, like, that is beyond that what I. Beyond my expectation with Lenore Sellers or Cade Clubnik or Drew Aller. And I've watched a ton of their balls so far, more so Aller and Klubnick just based off of the amount of experience they have. But I. I am ready right this moment on May 21, 2025, to say he is. Garrett Nussmeier is absolutely in the conversation for QB1 in 2026. He is absolutely in the conversation to be the first quarterback off the board in the 2026 NFL Draft. I believe in Garrett Nussmeier's game. I believe that he's going to be. I believe that if he can make. Make improvements in the areas that we've talked about, if he learns how to slide and becomes a little bit more aggressive as a runner, I think running can also take away from some of those moments where he's deciding to hang in the pocket a little too long or. Or trying to force the ball into situations. That could be his secret sauce. Running the football just a little bit more could be the secret sauce for Garrett Nussmire to take his game from a really high level to like, yeah, he's the first quarterback off the board in 2026. Okay. I'm fired up to see that because I believe that Brian Kelly does develop quarterbacks well. I now know that they have an offseason. I saw it with Jaden Daniels. Right. And now I want to see it with Garrett Nussmeier.
- [48:17]
Mitch
Yeah, I was wondering if you're gonna go that far, but because it was in my mind, and I was like, are we. How, how far we're gonna go with this conversation? Because I know it kills you where everyone wants to set the board in May, but I will say that he absolutely has to be in the mix. I. I think he's got to be in the mix to be the first quarterback off the board. I saw the same things you did.
- [48:36]
Todd McShay
This is awesome, man. I love this.
- [48:38]
Mitch
It's fun. This is a good one.
- [48:39]
Todd McShay
This is the time of year to do what we're doing, to actually break. Like, sit down, focus on one. And, you know, coming up, this is a Thursday show, Monday, Lenora Sellers, right?
- [48:49]
Mitch
I think we have one. We have one week off, right, because of Memorial Day. And then we got back. Oh, yeah, you're off your game with your scheduling, man.
- [48:59]
Todd McShay
I'm not. Marissa's not here. Connor's not here to, to protect me from myself. The next time we have a show for you and everyone, happy Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy yourselves. Be safe. Enjoy family. Like, get on the. Get on the barbecue, man. Like, get creative. Don't just throw a couple hot dogs on there. Like, get creative. Okay, we're back June 2nd. I want to hear. I want some reports. Like, what'd you grill? What'd you do? Weather looks terrible here in the northeast. I don't care. My ass is going to be out there on the grill. Fires everywhere, smoke everywhere. I know. Mentioned you're a better chef than I am. But we appreciate your support. Appreciate you being here. When we're back on June 2nd, it's gonna be Lenora Sellers, South Carolina. Kate Clubnik, Clemson. Okay. Drew Aller, Penn State. It's shaping up to be a pretty good quarterback class. We know there's. There's one of. There's a quarterback out there that we're not even talking about now. That's probably gonna be a first rounder. Maybe one of these guys won't. Like, maybe this is the. The best time of the year to get this foundation. And we appreciate you guys being a part of this with us. Enjoy your Memorial Day from Mench and I take care. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rg d help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gambling Helpline ma.org or call 1-800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-87-7-8, Hope NY or text hopeny in New York, Sam.