The LSU Tigers 2024 season officially came to a close on New Years Eve when the defeated Baylor in the Texas Bowl. Early National Signing day and the transfer portal open period came and went, and although they could still make a few more additions, the roster is starting to take shape.

There has been a lot of movement in LSU's quarterback room this offseason, so today we're going to take a look at who stayed, who left and who's coming in.

After the Tigers win over Oklahoma in the season finale, Garrett Nussmeier had a big decision to make: go to the NFL or return for one more year at LSU. He went with the latter.

The decisions was possibly the biggest of the entire offseason for the Tigers. They get their QB1 back, and he has a real shot at being the best QB in the SEC next season. He had some ups and downs in his first year as a starter, but he's grown a ton and, as we all saw in the last three games of the season, is ready to take the next step in his development.

We've seen Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels have decent first years at LSU before returning and developing into a Heisman Trophy winner. It's a lot to ask for Nussmeier to go out and win the Heisman in 2025, but I think it's fair to believe that he can at least be in the conversation by the end of next season.

Brian Kelly has brought in a ton of talent at wide receiver, tight end and offensive line in the transfer portal to try to maximize Nussmeier's final season. He put all his eggs in his basket and is really hoping it will pay off.

True freshman Colin Hurley didn't see the field in 2024, but is someone who the Tigers really believe in. He was a class of 2025 recruit before reclassifying to 2024. Before reclassifying, he was one of the top players in the entire class.

We got a sneak peek at Hurley in the spring game where he played really well and had a beautiful deep ball to Khai Prean for a touchdown, but he had Nussmeier, Rickie Collins and AJ Swann ahead of him on the depth chart. With two of those guys gone, he will compete with the Tigers newest quarterback (who we'll get to in a second) for the QB2 role.

The lone newcomer at QB is Michael Van Buren, a transfer from Mississippi State. The former four-star appeared nine games this season and threw for 1,886 yards and 11 touchdowns while rushing for five scores.

This move came as a bit of a shock. There wasn't a whole lot of noise around him and LSU and many thought he'd look for a place where he could start again, but instead, he chose LSU and will battle it out with Colin Hurley.

Van Buren is a very talented QB who went through some growing pains in 2024, but ultimately put out more good tape than bad. Just watch the highlights from the Mississippi State/Georgia game. He made some great plays against a very good defense.

When Nussmeier leaves after this season, the expectation is that Van Buren and Hurley will battle it out for the starting spot, which should be a wildly entertaining battle.

The first portal departure of the cycle for LSU was former four-star QB, Rickie Collins. The Tigers QB2 for most of the season saw the writing on the wall and decided he wanted to find somewhere he could compete for a starting gig this season and entered the portal.

In his limited time on the field, Collins completed all seven of his pass attempts for 38 yards in his first two seasons. He has a lot of talent, but with Nussmeier returning, he'd be in his fourth year of college before he had a chance to start at LSU.

Collins has since committed to Syracuse, who will lose their starting quarterback Kyle McCord this year.

After two seasons at Vanderbilt where he saw a decent amount of playing time, AJ Swann decided to hit the portal and committed to LSU. It was a bit of a head scratching decision because he was going from starting to being a backup, but he thought he'd have a shot at starting in 2025. However, when Nussmeier announced he was coming back, it pushed Swann out the door.

Swann lost the QB2 battle to Rickie Collins, but in the season finale versus Oklahoma, he was the guy who relieved Nussmeier when he got hurt (presumably because they knew Collins was leaving). He came in and didn't play well at all, completing one of his three attempts for eight yards before Nussmeier came back.

Now he's back in the portal looking for somewhere he can play in 2025.

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