Texas Football: Can Horns get 4-Star QB Garrett Nussmeier over LSU?

A big get for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class in the next couple months could be 4-Star Marcus QB Garrett Nussmeier.

With the recent change in offensive coordinators on the Forty Acres, the 2021 Texas football recruiting class was sure to be impacted in the following months. Texas saw former offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Beck out the door, and he was replaced by former Ohio State Buckeyes passing game coordinator and Oklahoma State Cowboys offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.

After the Texas Longhorns football program changed its offensive coordinators, it was able to hold onto the commitment of highly touted four-star Katy Tompkins dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe. Hanging onto the commitment of Milroe was a big win on the recruiting trail after the Longhorns demoted the coach that pursued him throughout his recruitment.

But with the Longhorns bringing Yurcich aboard as their next offensive coordinator, along with a likely scheme change on that side of the ball, they could be looking to add a second quarterback to the 2021 recruiting class.

Texas did land two quarterbacks in their 2020 signing class, but neither came as a result of Yurcich’s recruiting efforts. Four-star Lake Travis dual-threat quarterback Hudson Card and four-star Duncanville dual-threat quarterback/athlete Ja’Quinden Jackson do stray a bit from the prototypical quarterback that Yurcich thrived with in the past.

During his time at Oklahoma State, Yurcich worked mainly with pro-style quarterbacks that have a big arm and can run through their reads in the blink of an eye. Each of his three most productive quarterbacks in Stillwater were pretty tall and were able to throw a good deep ball too. The Pittsburgh Steelers former third round NFL Draft pick Mason Rudolph was a good example of that.

With that in mind, a big-time emerging target for the Longhorns 2021 recruiting class is four-star Marcus pro-style quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. Texas sent their scholarship offer to Nussmeier less than one month ago, on Jan. 24. A handful of programs offered him since then, including head coach Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State and head coach Seth Littrell and the North Texas Mean Green.

However, Texas is the most recent offer that Nussmeier received over the course of the last 30 days. And that seemed to make an immediate impact on where Nussmeier intended to commit to. Nussmeier has a scheduled commitment coming up for April 18. He will be one of the earlier big-time quarterback prospects for this cycle announcing during the 2020 offseason.

The three programs that his 247Sports recruiting profile list as “warm” for are the Longhorns, North Carolina Tar Heels, and LSU Tigers. And the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions have four experts all going with LSU over Texas and North Carolina. The Rivals FutureCast also predicts Nussmeier to land with LSU over the more than two dozen other programs that offered him so far.

Other significant programs that already sent Nussmeier a scholarship offer includes the Georgia Bulldogs, Miami Hurricanes, Penn State Nittany Lions, South Carolina Gamecocks, and TCU Horned Frogs. The only other Big 12 programs that aren’t the Longhorns to send an offer to Nussmeier are the Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State, and TCU.

When Nussmeier talked with Mike Roach of Horns247 about his upcoming commitment decision, here’s what he had to say about his relations with the Texas coaching staff.

"“I visited there last year, nothing really happened. Coach Yurich, who I’ve had a relationship for a long time, got the job and you know, I kind of figured once it happened, something was going to happen. I’m going to get back up there soon and see it one more time,” he said. With Milroe already in the class, the Longhorns are interested in taking two quarterbacks. Nussmeier said that Milroe’s presence doesn’t change his interest in Texas, and he was complimentary of Milroe when asked. 8COMMENTS”It doesn’t (impact me),” Nussmeier said. “Jalen is a great football player and I have a lot of respect for him. I won’t really get in too much with other players, but I’m just going to worry about finding the place that feels home and feels right for me. Whether they have two or not, I just want to find the right situation and the right place.”"

Texas and North Carolina do still look to have a relatively realistic chance to steal some of the interest to land the talents of Nussmeier over head coach Ed Orgeron and LSU. There was a lot of turnover within LSU’s coaching staff too. They lost the 2019 Broyles Award winner and genius offensive mind, passing game coordinator Joe Brady, to the Carolina Panthers.

If Texas could win over the commitment of Nussmeier, they would be landing the nation’s No. 133 2021 high school prospect and the No. 7 pro-style quarterback. Nussmeier hails from Flower Mound, TX, so this would be the first big quarterback get of the 2021 recruiting cycle out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

This 6-foot-1.5 and 182 pound quarterback has about as good of an arm as you will find in this recruiting cycle among the four-star pro-style prospects. He’s an excellent fit with the high-powered, but balanced, offense that Yurcich likes to run. If the Longhorns decide to try for a second quarterback in their 2021 recruiting class, Nussmeier would be a fantastic option.