Greg McElroy gives Brian Kelly a strong 'A' grade for first year at LSU
Brian Kelly and LSU finished the season 10-4 and received quite the good grade from ESPN’s Greg McElroy. The Tigers pretty much exceeded expectations after a wild offseason.
Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU in one of the crazier coaching carousels in recent memory. After a poor start to the season with a loss to Florida State, LSU rolled.
The Tigers made it to the SEC Championship and won double-digit games. That was a big nod of approval from McElroy.
“Brian Kelly finishing the season 10-4 was ridiculous,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “Like a lot of people were poking fun at Brian Kelly a year ago this time. He’s not gonna fit, he’s got (saying) family (with a bizarre accent), all this other nonsense okay, but the guy can flat out coach football and we know this.
“Alright, they were picked to finish fifth in the SEC West in the preseason. They captured the division for the first time since 2019 and beat Alabama at Tiger Stadium for the first time since 2010. So, it’s been a while since they’ve taken care of business against the Tide. And LSU was one of those situations where they were this close and you look at how they finished, they might be poised to repeat this upcoming year with some of the pieces they brought in.
“Some of the guys that decided to return, they might be well positioned. This is not going to be a one year thing Brian Kelly’s about to have this thing rolling, or at least it feels that way. So he of course gets an ‘A.’”
The LSU quarterback situation under Kelly next year is fascinating. Former four-star prospect Walker Howard elected to transfer to Ole Miss.
That left LSU with Jayden Daniels, the returning starter, and Garrett Nussmeier.
Kelly was pleased with the effort in the final game of the season and treated it as a springboard going into the 2023 season.
“This one was really big,” Kelly said. “It obviously was a convincing win. It showed more about how our guys handled distractions, but when it’s time to get back to preparation, how they can prepare, and not be distracted by doing things like being at the bowl game, and that carries on into next year.
“They understand that if they stick with their process and preparation, they’re going to be a really good football team and so we got that accomplished today.”