Former Gators offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, left, and quarterback Kyle Trask. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Nussmeier: 'It's Just Fun To Watch From A Distance'
Thursday, December 10, 2020 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Doug Nussmeier lived firsthand through the turns of fortune that often define the Florida-LSU rivalry. In his three seasons as Florida's offensive coordinator from 2015-17, the annual LSU game in some ways reflected Nussmeier's time with the Gators.
In 2015, Florida lost a shootout at LSU in its first game without suspended quarterback Will Grier. The next year, playing again in Baton Rouge due to reshuffling caused by Hurricane Matthew, Florida used a goal-line stand to clinch the SEC East title. And in 2017 at The Swamp, a one-point loss to LSU ignited a five-game losing streak that led to an eventual coaching change and Dan Mullen hiring.
Next season, Nussmeier's interest in one of the Southeastern Conference's premier rivalries will take on new meaning. Garrett Nussmeier, Doug's son and one of the country's top pro-style prep quarterbacks at Marcus High in Flower Mound, Texas – the same Garrett Nussmeier who used to toss around a football with his dad on Florida Field – will play at LSU.
That doesn't mean Nussmeier, in his first season as quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys and third as a Dallas assistant, won't try and catch a glimpse of Saturday's game between the sixth-ranked Gators (8-1) and unranked Tigers (3-5). After all, he has a personal connection to the Heisman Trophy candidate playing in the game.
"It's just fun to watch from a distance,'' Nussmeier said this week from Baltimore, where the Cowboys lost to the Ravens on Tuesday night. "We're talking about what a great player he is – he's even a better kid."
Former Gators offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and quarterback Kyle Trask early in Trask's career with the Gators. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
On Gators quarterback Kyle Trask's unlikely path to Florida and emergence as a frontrunner to win the Heisman, Nussmeier is the one most responsible for opening an Orange & Blue door. You have to go back to the spring of 2015 as Trask prepared for his final season at Manvel (Texas) High, a hotbed of talent under former coach Kirk Martin, to trace the genesis of Trask's Florida journey.
Former Gators assistant Randy Shannon stopped by Manvel that spring to look at a linebacker on Florida's radar. When Shannon returned to the office, he told Nussmeier that Martin wanted to talk to him about a quarterback. Nussmeier and Martin knew each other because Nussmeier, as an Alabama assistant, had recruited Martin's son, Manvel offensive lineman Koda Martin. Koda Martin eventually signed with Texas A&M and is now in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.
Nussmeier checked in with Martin, uncertain of what to expect.
"We had a high level of trust in our relationship from me recruiting his son,'' Nussmeier said. "He said, 'just really take a look at this guy.' He gave me the background of the story."
Those who know anything about the Gators and college football know the story Nussmeier is referring to. Trask never started in high school, serving as the backup to Manvel starter D'Eriq King, who is currently starring for the University of Miami. His only offer at the time the Gators came along was from Houston Baptist University.
Still, Martin made sure to give Trask snaps each game to have a highlight tape to show college recruiters. When he played, Trask made plays, but backup quarterbacks in high school don't garner much attention from Power 5 schools.
That concerned Nussmeier, who decided to make a trip to Manvel to see Trask in person at Martin's request.
"I turned on the tape before we went and looked at this guy, and I'm saying, 'what am I missing here?' Because when you just watch the tape, his numbers were phenomenal,'' Nussmeier said. "He'd come into the game in the second quarter, and you watch a guy who sees the field, throws with anticipation, throws with timing and makes all the throws. Those are trademarks for most guys who are really good at that position like he is. And you're like, 'OK, what am I missing?' "
When Nussmeier arrived on the appointed day to watch Trask practice, he did so with a plan to be incognito. If Trask was the real deal like Martin told him, Nussmeier didn't want to broadcast it to the rest of the world.
"If you've ever been to a practice at Manvel when you go there, there's going to be 10 to 15 coaches at every practice,'' Nussmeier said. "I went down there and watched a practice and tried to kind of blend in as if I was there watching everybody. Nobody was recruiting him at the time."
Trask did his part, impressing Nussmeier enough to garner interest. However, Nussmeier knew he would have to sell Trask more to then-head coach Jim McElwain and others on staff. He told Trask the Gators wanted him to come to Gainesville to compete in their summer recruiting camp, Friday Night Lights.
Trask, former Gators signee Jake Allen and others went through drills on a muggy July night in front of the Florida coaching staff at The Swamp.
"He did extremely well,'' Nussmeier said. "If he wasn't the best, he was at the top of the list. I think that sold us on him. In today's society, a kid with his kind of ability could have transferred at the drop of a hat and gone anywhere else in that area and been a starter and been a star right away. He didn't."
And as they say, the rest is history. In a replay of what happened at Manvel, Trask waited his turn at Florida and when he finally got a chance to play, he showed everyone what Martin saw first.
Nussmeier can appreciate playing a role in Trask's story, but there is only one star in his mind.
"What gets lost in the equation is that Kyle's the reason Kyle's there," Nussmeier said. "Obviously, the story is the story, but when you evaluated the player, he was a really, really good player.
"I'm happy for him. It's a lesson for all of us. If you put your nose down and go to work and do things the right way and have a great work ethic and accountability at what you love to do, you'll find success. He has done an outstanding job. When he first got to Florida, he still had development that needed to occur. He's done a great job of putting in the time and effort. I'm just happy for him and his family. It's fun to see."
As if the Trask story isn't remarkable enough, an interesting footnote is that while Trask has blossomed at Florida under the tutelage of Mullen, Nussmeier is now the position coach for Cowboys star Dak Prescott, who is out for the season due to injury and played for Mullen at Mississippi State. One of Prescott's replacements this season was journeyman Garrett Gilbert, who two years ago was the starter for head coach Steve Spurrier's Orlando Apollos team in the short-lived Alliance of American Football.
Spurrier was Florida's first Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Trask hopes to be the next.
"Really, it's just an honor to be in the conversation,'' he told ESPN Friday.
Meanwhile, Nussmeier sees the same Trask he saw five years ago. Just all grown up and opportunity in hand.
"The credit all goes to Kyle and the type of person he is,'' Nussmeier said. "He's got a wonderful family and just to watch a guy who had a belief in his ability. You could tell that when you talked to him. You knew he had confidence, a quiet sense of confidence. He doesn't have a brash personality but a very quiet, confident demeanor to him. You can see why he's having the success he's having."
