![]() No wonder expectations are soaring for LSU. Oh, and I’ve buried the lede: With Nussmeier’s decision, LSU retains two starter-caliber quarterbacks, and a line of quarterback succession is apparent, with Nussmeier positioned to become Daniels’ heir in 2024. That’s almost a certainty at LSU, no matter the coach. The Tigers will be armed with playmakers on the perimeter. Kelly fortified an offensive line that was in shambles when he arrived. John Jancek will be tasked with ironing out the special teams after Kelly elevated the veteran assistant into a role coordinating those units. Kelly addressed the latter by signing a slew of transfers to shore up the defensive backfield. Special teams were messy, and LSU’s defense got picked to shreds in losses to Tennessee, Texas A&M and Georgia. The Tigers won 10 games while Kelly rapidly re-established a winning culture.īut, more polish was needed, or as Kelly puts it, a second coat of paint. More importantly, Kelly’s debut flashed the potential of his achieving his goal to win a championship. “I’m a lot more relaxed,” Kelly, while wearing boat shoes and shorts, said this spring during a Barstool Sports podcast about how he’s adjusted to his new digs. Yes, I’d say a man who had never previously coached south of Cincinnati has assimilated to the bayou. Saban bemoaned the inequality of the SEC's earmarked rivalry assignments. Kelly and Saban struck contrasting tones earlier this offseason when discussing their possible assigned rivals – Alabama, Texas A&M and Ole Miss for LSU LSU, Auburn and Tennessee for Alabama – in a proposed nine-game conference schedule: The audience apparently ate it up, and that steam you see rising above Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is coming from Nick Saban’s ears.Īnd why not talk tough? The offseason speaking circuit is made for one-liners to fuel boosters and attract recruits, and, anyway, Kelly came to LSU to win championships, not to be Saban’s footstool. “I love beatin’ Alabama,” the Houston Chronicle quoted Kelly as saying this week during a speaking engagement at the Houston Touchdown Club. He dropped the faux accent, and he’s having no trouble speaking the Tigers’ language. SURPRISE STORIES: Which teams can mimic TCU's unlikely playoff run?įact is, a year and a half into Kelly’s tenure, he’s smashing it. LOOKING AHEAD: Georgia, Michigan lead post-spring Top 25 ranking ![]() SPRING POWER RANKINGS: Big Ten | SEC | Big 12 | ACC | Pac-12 ![]() If you have doubts now, you’re stubbornly heeled in the haters-gonna-hate camp. I had some reservations then, too – less rooted in Kelly’s cultural fit and more centered on Kelly’s career-long inability to win the big game. ![]() If you harbored doubts in December 2021 about how Kelly would transition from haughty Notre Dame to an SEC full of crocs, I get it. The product Kelly is assembling appears worthy of this commendation. Sure is fun lately at LSU, and purple-and-gold preseason Kool-Aid is in ample supply, delivered by a springtime hype train transporting flattery into the Baton Rouge station. “Football is Fun!” Nussmeier tweeted after LSU’s spring game, when he joined starting quarterback Jayden Daniels in putting on a passing clinic. Talented backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier quietly endorsed the direction of Kelly’s program when he elected to stick with LSU instead of transferring to another Power Five program where he could have become a starter this season. This week, he stowed another feather in his visor. Meanwhile, Kelly astutely mines the transfer portal as if he’s an NFL-trained general manager. Three of the state’s top five prospects for the 2024 recruiting class are committed to Kelly’s Tigers. The narrative that a native New Englander wouldn’t resonate with Louisiana prospects dried up next. The mockery of Brian Kelly’s phony Southern accent fell out of style around the time LSU defeated Alabama in overtime on a November night using a brilliant 2-point conversion play.
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