Recap: Nussmeier Tosses 2 TD Passes In LSU Spring Game

BATON ROUGE – Junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed all seven of his passes, two going for touchdowns, to highlight LSU’s performance here at the National L Club Spring Game in Tiger Stadium.

The scrimmage featured a unique scoring format for the defense as points were awarded for forcing a turnover, fourth-down stops, sacks, tackles for loss and pass breakups. The game ended in a 34-34 tie with the offense scoring four touchdowns and a pair of field goals.

The defense scored points with two fourth-down stops, seven sacks, 13 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. There were no turnovers in the contest that featured 68 offensive snaps.

“For me these are opportunities to flip from 14 preparations and practices to one performance and I wanted to see how guys handled that,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “There’s a big difference between a practice player and a guy that comes out and performs. It’s Tiger Stadium, there’s a history and tradition here so I want to see guys that can flip that switch and get in the right zone and play this game at a high level.

“I want to see guys handle this as ‘I’m locked in and focused, I’m treating this like a real game opportunity’. I think some guys did that. Harold Perkins did a really nice job of working in the box. We were purposeful in running the ball at him and making him defend and get over the top of a veer block of a tackle. That was really good to see.”

Perkins had three tackles and a sack for a 2-yard loss during the contest.

“The other thing we highlighted was the running game and how important that is with our offensive line to exert our will and I thought I saw that,” Kelly said. “The tenets that we talked about leading up to this game, I saw a lot of them.”

Sophomore Kaleb Jackson led all running backs with 59 yards on 14 carries. He scored on a 32-yard run in the first quarter.

“You also saw the things that we have to get better at,” Kelly said. “We can’t let the ball over our head. We had some coverage mistakes. Those can’t continue to happen. We have to continue to evaluate and recruit at the defensive tackle position. That’s a must.

“I like what our edges are doing. We are getting good pressure from the edge, but we have to be really stout inside.”

LSU quarterbacks combined to complete 21-of-34 passes for 371 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Nussmeier led all quarterbacks with 187 passing yards. Rickie Collins completed 6-of-12 passes for 52 yards, AJ Swann was 4-of-9 for 55 yards and Colin Hurley was 4-of-6 for 77 yards and a TD.

Nussmeier connected with transfer Zavion Thomas on a 45-yard touchdown pass on the first possession of the game and then found Kyren Lacy with a 59-yard TD later in the first quarter.

Other scoring for the offense came on a 64-yard TD pass from Hurley to Khai Prean. Damian Ramos kicked a 23-yard field goal, while Aidan Corbello converted on a 37-yard attempt.

Austin Ausberry paced the defense with seven tackles, while Gabriel Reliford had 3.5 tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks.

(Release via LSU Athletics)