Garrett Nussmeier chose to remain with LSU for his redshirt senior season, despite entering the 2025 NFL Draft. His return gave hope for the national championship run, but it’s turning out to be the worst decision of his career. LSU’s playoff hopes vanished after they lost three of their last four games. Nussmeier hasn’t looked like himself all season, and it doesn’t have a lot to do with him as a QB. The entire offense has struggled. The holes became so big that the program decided to part ways with Brian Kelly. While the head coach will get a buyout, the decision has affected the QB’s pocket. 

After Week 9 of college football, On3 updated the NIL values of the athletes, where LSU’s QB Garrett Nussmeier’s NIL value dropped from $3.9M to $3.2M in a week. With this, the 4-star QB suffers a $658K loss, which is a 15% cut compared to last week.

The massive blow brought the 6-foot-2 QB from the 5th position to the 7th position in the National NIL 100 athletes list. With this, he trails behind Arch Manning ($4.7M), Carson Beck ($4.3M), Jeremiah Smith ($4.2M), AJ Dybanta ($4.1M), LaNorris Sellers ($3.5M), and Darian Mensah ($3.4M).

This is the second consecutive week Garrett Nussmeier has had a decline in his NIL value. Last week, his NIL dropped from $4M to $3.8M, losing $197K, which is 5% of his stock. However, this week’s decline is seemingly his lowest in recent times. This massive drop came after his recent struggle against Texas A&M, where he was pulled off in the final six minutes of the game, resulting in LSU suffering a 25-49 loss. 

Brian Kelly gave his clarification, stating Garrett Nussmeier’s injuries as a reason. Kelly said, “I thought it would have been unfair to have him in the game, under those circumstances, with where the game was clearly out of reach.” He also made it clear that Nussmeier won’t be coming out unless necessary. With Kelly gone, Nussmeier is set to continue his QB1 role. Although LSU has little to play for except bowl qualification, it can play spoiler for other SEC teams. 

LSU Tigers Firing Brian Kelly for a $53M Buyout

After a 5-3 start to the season, LSU AD Scott Woodward announced the firing of Brian Kelly “We had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge.” Scott Woodward said on Sunday, “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.” He pointed out that the decision was made after LSU’s 49-25 loss to Texas A&M the previous night.

Kelly’s tenure concludes with a 34-14 record. Although he is no longer with the program, he is still owed $53 million by LSU as part of his contract. Kelly signed a 10-year contract with LSU in 2021 for a whopping $95 million. With his tenure cut short within 4 years, he’ll still receive the due amount for the next 6 years. With that being said, he will be paid 90% of his salary, that is $740,185, every month until December 31, 2031.

Although that’s a really massive amount of money, it is reported that an unknown private donor has stepped in to cover the lion’s share of Brian Kelly’s buyout, to keep the public money aside for education, salaries, or scholarships. Frank Wilson is now appointed as the interim coach, and the program is now searching for Kelly’s replacement in the coming cycle.