The night before his first college start, new LSU quarterback Michael Van Buren imagined himself making plays against one of the top defenses in the country.
Van Buren likes to include visualization in his pregame routine. It gives him confidence and helps him feel ready. He was about to play at Texas, so he thought about what he would do while he watched the last bits of film.
"I hold myself to a high standard," Van Buren told The Advocate, "and I'm always making sure I'm prepared."
The Texas game was the first of eight straight starts that Van Buren made this fall as a true freshman at Mississippi State. Van Buren completed 54.7% of his throws for 1,889 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions on a 2-10 team that finished last in the SEC. He also rushed for five scores.
After entering the transfer portal, Van Buren signed with LSU. He will presumably spend a year as a backup to Garrett Nussmeier, then compete for the job in 2026. Van Buren has three years of eligibility.
"You have to look at each position, and if Garrett was to go down, you have to have somebody there," LSU coach Brian Kelly said. "But more importantly, you have to have competition at every position. Michael is going to compete with Garrett. We wanted to bring Michael in because he's somebody that has started in the SEC, and we want to create competition at every position."
LSU needed a quarterback after five-star Bryce Underwood flipped to Michigan, and Van Buren entered the transfer portal to, in his words, "get a new start." He narrowed his choices to Central Florida and LSU. Kentucky also called. Van Buren, who's from Bowie, Maryland, visited Baton Rouge from Dec. 13-14 before making his decision.
"It's the LSU brand and everything they were talking about from a development standpoint," Van Buren said. "I felt like it was the best fit for me."
Van Buren had some encouraging moments after senior Blake Shapen suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4. He threw for 306 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in a 41-31 loss at Georgia in his second start. Two weeks later, he completed 71% of his throws for 309 yards while scoring three touchdowns in a loss to Arkansas.
"That doesn't happen just because you're a good athlete," said Russell Thomas, Van Buren's mentor and trainer. "You can see the pattern of him being prepared to contribute along the way."
Thomas, who also worked with Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, first noticed the byproduct of Van Buren's preparation as a sophomore at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. St. Frances plays a national schedule, and much like he later would at Mississippi State, Van Buren took over after an injury to the starter three games into the season.
His first game was at De La Salle High outside San Francisco in a matchup broadcast on ESPN. If Van Buren felt jitters, Thomas couldn't see them. Van Buren threw four touchdowns in the first half of a 42-28 win. Unbothered by the stage and confident in his preparation, he viewed the game as an opportunity to introduce himself to a national audience.
"He didn't look like he was nervous or scared," Thomas said. "I'm sure he was, right? But he didn't play that way. I talked to him the night before his first start at Mississippi State, and he seemed the same way. Just not flinching."
Van Buren started the rest of his high school career, turning into a four-star recruit and the No. 239 overall player in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports composite.
He committed to Oregon, but St. Frances coach Messay Hailemariam said the Ducks weren't "as confident in him" after a 5-6 senior season. Hailemariam contributed the down year to injuries around Van Buren.
"Mike, by himself, based on his gifts and his skill set, kept us in those national games without enough weapons to play at that level," Hailemariam said. "He can do a lot, especially when he has weapons around him."
Van Buren ended up signing with Mississippi State to play for first-year coach Jeff Lebby. After the injury to Shapen, who will return next year, Van Buren saw certain coverages and blitzes for the first time. He learned "what I can and can't do," and he wants to build on his experience as he tries to improve.
With Nussmeier expected to start, Van Buren said he will "do whatever it takes to help the team win, no matter if I'm on the field or I'm off the field" next season.
"We try not to make decisions based on who's there, so to speak," Thomas said. "It's almost like putting your destiny into somebody else's hands. We watched Nussmeier. He's a veteran guy. It's tough to unseat that, and that's not necessarily the goal or the driver in this situation. Is this going to be a good place for Michael? That was kind of the decision.
"He's gonna go out and compete like he competes all the time. It's a long football season. His number's gonna get called probably at some point, and he just wants to be ready and prepared. Not just contribute, because if he gets behind the sticks, he's gonna try his best to not give up the sticks."
Before he signed with LSU, Van Buren researched the teams that were interested in him. It stood out that LSU produced two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks in the past five years and Nussmeier had success as a first-time starter, both signs of capable quarterback development.
Whenever his chance comes, Van Buren wants to follow their trajectory.
"I can picture myself being able to do the same thing," Van Buren said. "Working as hard as I can, developing myself and being able to do the same or even more."