Brian Kelly discusses current LSU roster familiarity, recruiting in Louisiana

Wednesday is Brian Kelly’s first official day as the LSU head football coach, which means a lot of introductory meetings and pomp and circumstance. However, once the dust settles, Kelly will be left to figure out a new program just days before recruits can begin signing and a couple of weeks before the 6-6 Tigers head to a bowl game. 

In his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Kelly touched on his familiarity with both the LSU roster and the recruiting landscape in the state of Louisiana. 

“I would be disingenuous to tell you that I know this roster inside and out,” Kelly said. “I know the players, I know what the makeup is, I know some of the areas of concern that we have to address. That’s why I’m standing here. And we’ve got some work to do.”

Since winning a national championship in 2019, LSU is 11-11. This year specifically, the team has been decimated by injuries, having had dozens of players sidelined at some point of the season. Their scoring defense ranks in the bottom half of the SEC, while the offense is the third-worst in the conference.

“We’ll have time to sit down with current members that have been here that have great knowledge of the players, become more educated,” Kelly added. “We’ll make that happen over the next couple of weeks… But we have time, we have time to address those things. We don’t have forever, but we have to address those things in short order.”

The Tigers will learn their bowl destination in the next five or six days following the conference championship games on Saturday.

Kelly is already familiar with recruiting in Louisiana

LSU is the only Power Five football school in the state of Louisiana, a massive recruiting advantage for whomever is at the helm at LSU. Kelly will need to hit the ground running in this area, as the Early Signing Period begins in just two weeks on Dec. 15, and National Signing Day is Feb. 2, 2022.

“I know that when we talk about priorities of decision making, holding on and recruiting the guys that have made decisions, we’ve got to go re-recruit them because this class is important,” Kelly said.

According to On3 Sports’ team recruiting rankings, LSU currently has the No. 14 class in the nation, one which is headlined by four-star quarterback Walker Howard. Howard is a Louisiana native.

Kelly is familiar with recruiting in Louisiana, as he had two players on his roster at Notre Dame who were from the state, and he had a history of pulling players from the area. 

“As it relates to recruiting in the state, the talent is outstanding,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’ve been in the state before. But I will say this: there’s a commitment to academics as well, and that’s why I came down here. And the second piece is you got to go fight for them. They’re hard to get out of Louisiana, which is a great thing. Because when we’re recruiting from another school, you have to work really hard to get somebody to leave the state of Louisiana. So that bodes really well for us moving forward.”

Eight of the 13 commits in LSU’s 2022 class are from Louisiana.