LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier will be sidelined with an abdominal injury for Saturday’s matchup with Arkansas.
Backup quarterback Michael Van Buren will start in his place.
Nussmeier was initially downgraded to “questionable” for Saturday on the SEC’s Friday night availability report.
LSU will have to make a final decision as to which quarterback will be playing ahead of Saturday’s 12:45 p.m. ET kickoff at Tiger Stadium.
Interim coach Frank Wilson initially told reporters Thursday that Nussmeier had tweaked a “nagging” abdominal injury.
“A little nagging injury reoccured itself today with Garrett Nussmeier and I think he’s probable,” Wilson said Thursday, per Cory Diaz of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. “But a little bit concerning. It’s something that we need to monitor and continue to watch with him as we head into the game.”
Wilson said LSU had been heading into the weekend with the expectation Nussmeier would start, but that the team believes Van Buren will be “fully capable” of starting in his place.
Former LSU head coach Brian Kelly initially told reporters in the middle of September that Nussmeier had developed a torso injury from overthrowing during preseason camp.
Kelly then identified Nussmeier’s injury as an abdominal strain, which he said at the beginning of October the quarterback was on the “back end” of dealing with.
Nussmeier and the Tigers’ offense have struggled during the program’s 5-4 start to the season.
While the defense has ranked top-20 in the nation by holding opponents to just 20.1 points per game, the offense has ranked 110th with an average of 19.6 points per game.
Those struggles led to Nussmeier being benched in favor of Van Buren during last Saturday’s 20-9 loss at Alabama.
Wilson said earlier this week the Tigers planned to burn Van Buren’s redshirt by using both him and Nussmeier going forward.
That decision may have been made in the hope Van Buren could operate as a dual threat going forward. Center Braelin Moore said after last Saturday’s loss to Alabama that Van Buren’s mobility gave the offense “some more things you could do.”
LSU will hope Van Buren can provide the Tigers with more options both on the ground and through the air Saturday against the Razorbacks.