Former LSU Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier turned heads at the Senior Bowl on Saturday, completing 5 of 8 throws for 57 yards and a two-point conversion, plus a touchdown run, which earned recognition as the all-star game’s MVP. And when he was awarded the Senior Bowl MVP trophy, he was wearing a black and gold New Orleans Saints beanie. Nussmeier’s final season at LSU ended with an abdominal injury that had slowed him down all year. Finally healthy, he was eager to show what he could do against other future NFL players.
“It means a lot, I hadn’t played football in three months, so being able to be out here, be with guys, it’s an awesome feeling,” Nussmeier said on the NFL Network broadcast.
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Nussmeier joked about his post-touchdown dance as “the LSU coming out of me” and emphasized how great a feeling it was to get to “It means the world to me, LSU will always be home for me, always bleed purple and gold no matter what. Always rooting for those guys and hopefully always being able to come back home.”
Could Nussmeier end up in New Orleans? Maybe, but don’t draw too many conclusions from his choice of headwear (Remember Shedeur Sanders doing the same thing last year?). His father Doug Nussmeier is the Saints’ offensive coordinator and he spent the week being coached on the Senior Bowl’s American Team by Saints assistants like Scott Tolzien (their quarterbacks coach, serving as the Senior Bowl’s offensive coordinator) and Joel Thomas (running backs coach and a head coach at the Senior Bowl), among others.
But let’s stir the pot a little. The Saints have twice drafted Senior Bowl MVP’s in recent years, and they were both quarterbacks: Jake Haener (2023) and Spencer Rattler (2024). Tyler Shough impressed coaches at last year’s all-star game, too, and now he’s being talked about like their franchise quarterback. Nussmeier wouldn’t be a target in the early rounds but if he’s available in, say, Round 4? That worked out well for other fourth-round Senior Bowl alums like Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott.
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This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2026 NFL Draft: LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is Senior Bowl MVP
