Florida State football coach Mike Norvell playing coy about LSU's quarterback situation

If LSU head coach Brian Kelly wants to refuse to publicly name a starting quarterback, two can play that game.

Mike Norvell fielded three questions about how he is preparing for Tiger quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier during his post-practice availability Tuesday. The Florida State head coach played coy in each of his responses.

Does not knowing the starter change your preparation?

“No sir.”

Would your preparation be different if they had already named a starter?

“I mean, we’ve prepared for all – no.”

How different are both quarterbacks?

“Everybody has their own unique skill set of what they can have. Both are capable of doing all of what they have shown to run in the past.”

More FSU football: Jordan Travis, wide receivers continue to build confidence ahead of LSU

Column on FSU's win over Duquesne: Duquesne game not a mirage for these Seminole running backs | Karels

More FSU vs. LSU: Florida State football preparing for anything before upcoming matchup vs. enigmatic LSU

Norvell went on to say that LSU’s offense could conceivably incorporate a new scheme or concept that hasn’t previously shown up. And that he expects the Tigers to play to the strengths of their starting quarterback. And that the Seminole coaching staff has extensively studied the film on Daniels and Nussmeier.

But aren’t those observations fairly obvious?

It’s clear that Norvell is not looking to reveal much before FSU (1-0) faces LSU (0-0), which will be a neutral site matchup at the Superdome in New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

And understandably so. If Norvell didn’t think the Tigers gained at least somewhat of a competitive advantage from this approach, he would not have used the same tactic the last time he coached against Kelly.

That game came in the Seminoles’ season opener against Notre Dame last season. Norvell declined to publicly announce a starting quarterback until the day of the game. He chose Jordan Travis over McKenzie Milton, but both quarterbacks ended up playing in the 41-38 overtime loss.

FSU similarly may not know LSU’s starter until Sunday. The Seminoles also will have to prepare for a team that has a first-year head coach, 16 new transfers and an unfamiliar defensive coordinator in Matt House.

The one substantive sentiment Norvell gave about the Tigers, though, is that his team does not need to overcomplicate how it approaches all of that uncertainty.

“It’s still about us,” Norvell said. “I said it last week. I will say it this week. And I will say it the next 10 weeks. If you want to be able to prepare your guys to the best of your ability on what they could expect to see – but sometimes the unexpected shows up.

“But it still goes back to the rules. It still goes back to the concepts, the overall understanding and the adjustments that happen within.

“There will be some plays called that probably won’t be the best play called, but there can still be the best option within that play. It’s offense, defense, special teams.

“As long as our guys are tuned into the adjustments of what they might see, then they will be able to perform at a high level.

“But I like looking at everything. If I see it, and I think it could give us an issue, then I’m going to try to work it. We try to invest that time.”

FSU depth chart vs. LSU: Florida State football releases depth chart for Sunday's game against LSU in New Orleans

Assessing Jayden Daniels vs. Garrett Nussmeier

In his press conference Monday, Kelly suggested that LSU’s offense would not look much different with either quarterback as the starter.

“There are some great similarities between the two of them in terms of what they are able to do,” Kelly said. “They both run extremely well. They both can make plays outside the pocket.

“And certainly, we don’t have to change the play-calling. There is not a dramatic difference between the two when it comes to play-calling.”

Are we sure about that?

Whether Kelly leaned into another gamesmanship ploy is unclear. It’s fair to wonder, though, if the Tiger offense would have a different feel to it under Daniels vs. Nussmeier. Especially with how effective Daniels can be as a runner.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Daniels uses his legs quite a bit. The Arizona State transfer recorded 710 rushing yards in his last season with the Sun Devils, which ranked sixth nationally among quarterbacks.

At 6-2, 194 pounds, Nussmeier hardly looks like a statue in the pocket. The redshirt freshman can scramble and throw on the run. But he’s still considered a pro-style quarterback who rarely takes off to run.

As a high school senior at Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus in 2020, Nussmeier only tallied 128 rushing yards and a touchdown on 33 carries (per the Dallas Morning News). For comparison, Daniels turned 361 carries into 2,828 yards and 31 touchdowns across his last two seasons at San Bernardino (Calif.) Cajon (per MaxPreps).

So if Daniels starts over Nussmeier, LSU lik have more designed and improvised runs from its quarterback.

Adam Fuller, FSU’s defensive coordinator, deemed both quarterbacks worthy of needing to be scouted even without Kelly's tactics.

"You get ready for both quarterbacks. That's pretty much how you have to do it,” Fuller said. “Quarterbacks are quarterbacks. You're always studying the backups, you're studying the starters.

“There's a chance there could be a starter that hasn't played in an LSU uniform, but there's enough film out there you can get a good sense of who people are and try to put that person to another quarterback in the system before and you try to piece that together."

More FSU vs. LSU: Dillan Gibbons talks about versatility, playing against his old coach Brian Kelly

Amari Gainer ‘probably’ out vs. LSU

FSU linebacker Amari Gainer “probably” won’t play against LSU, Norvell said.

Gainer, the Seminoles’ leader in career tackles, left the second half of the Duquesne game with a lower leg injury. He likely would have continued to be a significant part of FSU’s linebacker rotation – behind starters Tatum Bethune and Kalen DeLoach – against the Tigers.

“We got a little bit more information. He will probably be unavailable for this week,” Norvell said. “But we will see how it all progresses. That was one where we wanted to see how it all came through yesterday. But probably going to be unavailable.”

Q&A with FSU AD Michael Alford: Florida State AD Michael Alford talks new senior administrators, 3-5-5 format and more | Q&A Part II

GAME INFORMATION

Who: FSU vs. LSU

When/where: Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET, Superdome in New Orleans

TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @CarterKarels on Twitter; @Ehsan_Kassim on Twitter; @JimHenryTALLY on Twitter

Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

No one covers the ‘Noles like the Tallahassee Democrat. Subscribe using the link at the top of the page and never miss a moment.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football: Seminoles' Mike Norvell playing coy about LSU QB situation