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Entering the 2025 college football season, LSU‘s Garrett Nussmeier was considered one of the top quarterbacks in the country and one of the top QB prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft.
But Nussmeier, for a combination of several reasons, failed to live up to the billing.
One of those reasons was injury. Nussmeier played in just nine games for the Tigers while dealing with oblique pain, despite former head coach Brian Kelly claiming that he was okay to play.
“… the bottom line is [Nussmeier] was healthy,” Kelly said after a win over South Carolina in October. “His ab injury is on the right side of it where he feels good, and he didn’t feel any pain on Sunday coming in. So, that’s a really, really good sign for us moving forward.”
However, Nussmeier told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine that he never felt like he was healthy, and that the injury clearly affected his confidence and ability to play.
Now, we’ve learned that while Kelly was incorrect about his quarterback’s health status, he may well have had a valid reason.
Ex-LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier Had A Cyst On His Spine That Caused Obligue Pain
As it turns out, Nussmeier didn’t have any actual structural damage to his abdominal area. Instead, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero revealed that the former Tigers’ signal caller had a far more unique injury.
Former LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier underwent tests at the NFL combine that revealed a cyst on his spine — the root cause of the persistent oblique pain that derailed his 2025 season, sources say.
The cyst was pressing on a nerve, causing discomfort in Nussmeier’s oblique. He has… pic.twitter.com/vG7iXFsleE
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 20, 2026
Pelissero reports that a medical assessment at the combined showed that Nussmeier had a cyst growing on his spine, which caused referred pain in his oblique area.
“The cyst was pressing on a nerve, causing discomfort in Nussmeier’s oblique,” Pelissero posted on X. “He has been asymptomatic since just prior to the Senior Bowl and all throughout the draft process; if that changes down the road, Nussmeier could undergo a minimally invasive procedure and miss just 2-3 weeks while stitches heal.”
Because Nussmeier never reported any back pain, it makes sense that LSU never considered spinal imaging, especially since the pain levels seemed to reduce with time off.
Unfortunately for Nussmeier, the injury kept him from playing his best in 2025 and may well have tanked his draft stock.
The 6-foot-2, 203-pound quarterback is considered a day-three selection in the upcoming draft. Prior to the college season, some mock drafts had him going in the first round, if not the top 10.
Here’s hoping he gets an opportunity to show what he can really do when he reaches the NFL.