Doug Nussmeier hasn’t yet considered a future scenario in which he is coaching Super Bowl LIX MVP Jalen Hurts between possessions while simultaneously stealing glances at the field to make sure that Hurts’ counterpart is doing everything that he was taught.
But the need for Nussmeier — Eagles quarterbacks coach and the proud father of a potential 2026 first-round draft pick — to find a balancing act for games pitting his son against the Eagles defense is quickly approaching.
LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier stayed in school for his redshirt senior season rather than enter the 2025 NFL Draft, which makes him an option for any team that puts off finding its Quarterback of the Future for one year. The potentially Matthew Stafford-seeking Giants and Tyrod Taylor-led Jets both could fit that bill.
“He wasn’t always the biggest. He wasn’t always the fastest. He wasn’t always the best. But he always has his mindset there,” Doug Nussmeier told The Post. “I didn’t get up in the morning saying, ‘Hey, we are going to work on this, this and this today.’ He would come to me and say, ‘Dad, do you have some time today? Can we go throw?’
“The biggest thing as a dad is his love of the game and his perseverance. It hasn’t always been the easiest path. He’s put his feet in the ground and had to fight. That’s a great trait, not only in football but in life.”
Garrett spent three seasons as LSU’s backup — two after he was jumped on the depth chart by Jayden Daniels — but never looked for a shortcut in the NIL- and transfer-crazed NCAA.
While Daniels was setting the NFL ablaze as the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Nussmeier finally got his chance and, during a 9-4 season, accounted for more pᴀssing yards, completions, touchdowns and total offense than any first-year starter in LSU history.
Most NFL coaches claim to be game-planning — not watching college football — on Saturdays.
Doug Nussmeier turned on the television. It was through a fan’s (or father’s) eye, not that of a coach or scout.
“I don’t watch their tape. That’s not my place. He has good coaches to do that,” Nussmeier said, singling out LSU quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan. “Because I know the player, I might say something like, ‘Here’s a couple things you might want to talk to Joe about.’ It’s some of the obvious things like, ‘You know better than to take a sack on that play.’ Or, ‘You know you can’t throw the ball late down the middle.’ ”
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said Nussmeier would have been about the No. 4 or No. 5 quarterback as an “incomplete prospect” in the 2025 class.
The ceiling should be higher with another year of development.
“Gunslinger mentality with good touch, placement and velocity,” Miller told The Post. “Inconsistent reading the field and makes some late decisions that are backbreakers. I think his lack of size and inexperience would have really cost him when scouts dug in all the way on his tape.”
Whereas Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is openly toying with causing a stink to prevent his son Shedeur from being drafted by certain teams in 2025, Doug wants Garrett to be in control of his football journey.
After the Eagles won the Super Bowl last Sunday, Garrett called his father “the definition of a winner” and said on social media “no one deserves this more than you.”
“I wasn’t making that decision for him,” Nussmeier, the 1993 FCS Player of the Year, said of Garrett staying in school in 2025. “All I’m going to try to do is give you the information, try to point out some of the key things I think you should consider, and you should sit down in your own way and decide what you think is best for you. I’m very proud of the way he handled the process. He feels good about that decision. I’ll always be a resource for him.”
Giants receiver Malik Nabers and Garrett have a relationship dating to the youth football camp circuit, where they were on the same team against Sanders in the championship game.
The coach in Nussmeier has an idea what his peers will like about his son: The way he handles adversity.
“That’s a big part of being successful at the position,” he said. “The higher you go, the harder it is. Every day is not going to be great. You have to stay neutral. You have to realize that when you think you are on top, you are going to get brought down really quick. When you think you are on the bottom, put your nose down and fight your way and you’ll be just fine.”
