BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – I’m sitting inside Brian Kellyoffice on an April afternoon, asking about the LSU football coachexpectations for Year 3, before invigorating the conversation.
With my tongue in my mouth, I tell Kelly that I’m surprised we’re doing this interview here. Kelly looks at me questioningly, as if she’s saying: Why wouldn’t we be doing this interview here?
I let it sink in and joked that I thought maybe we would have this conversation in Michigan.
Kelly jokes for a moment.
“Yes,” he says sarcastically. “Right.”
Training carousel rumors positioned Kelly as a possible heir to Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. The rumors, however, are not reliable.
Kelly had no interest in leaving LSU for Michigan, he told me.
No interest?
“No. No way,” Kelly says. “I committed to (LSU).”
Coaches rival rumors and politicians on the veracity meter, but Kelly makes a compelling case that LSU remains where he wants to finish his career. He loves coaching in the SEC and believes he can pursue an elusive national championship – the only achievement missing from his career resume – with the Tigers.
Kelly coached against Michigan. He respects Michigan. He does not want to be Michigan.
He lived the Midwestern life. He’s not eager to turn back. He would rather challenge himself against Alabama and Georgia and now Texas and Oklahoma.
“I don’t want to train anywhere else,” Kelly said.
Maybe you’re scoffing because Kelly once said something similar about Notre Dame before defecting to the bayou, but the truth is Kelly can get anything he wants at LSU. Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron have won a national title here in four seasons.
Kelly, 62, is gaining momentum. He won 20 games in two seasons. Saban never racked up so many wins in his first two seasons at Michigan State, LSU or Alabama.
What if Kelly is just starting out?
Reflect on Kelly’s career and you’ll see that his stints at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame reached a crescendo in his third season. That included a national championship appearance in his third year at Notre Dame.
So when will Kelly’s Tigers be able to compete for a national championship? Now.
Brian Kelly’s quest for an LSU national championship
When I interviewed Kelly last summerhe identified 2024 as LSU’s timeline to seriously fight for a national title. I revisited this topic with Kelly in April. He made no guarantees or bold predictions. He didn’t back down either.
Kelly reconfigured his coaching staff in the off-season, hiring some top assistants to pursue defensive improvements. He sees more roster depth and player leadership than LSU embodied a year ago.
“I think the program is now built on the foundation that they can compete for a championship,” Kelly said.
How, you might ask, is LSU supposed to fight for the national championship after losing three games last season despite having the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback?
Start by finding the pulse of the defense.
“If we could have played anything on defense (last season), we would have been in the playoffs,” Kelly says bluntly.
Kelly whispered warnings last summer about defensive deficiencies. He proved prophetic. LSU’s defense was closer to Vanderbilt’s than Georgia’s. LSU’s reliance on youth and transfers hasn’t worked. This year, juniors and seniors populate the LSU defense, and Kelly has made fewer transfers.
Kelly still doesn’t discuss his defense as if it were Georgia’s, but he does talk about development and seeing more of the “core principles” of the defense under new coordinator Blake Baker, who previously transformed Missouri’s defense.
“It won’t be elite yet,” Kelly said of LSU’s defense, “but I think it’s getting to the point where it can complement our offense. It didn’t complement our offense last year.”
Kelly is counting on growth in the secondary, which opponents destroyed last season. He likes LSU’s linebackers and edge rushers. If he had his way, it would be another high-level defensive tackle or two.
Additionally, LSU needs Harold Perkins to play like Harold Perkins after he struggled as a sophomore transitioning from edge rusher to inside linebacker. He will play weakside linebacker this season rather than returning to edge rusher.
“We’re going to need our best players to play their best football,” Kelly said. “Harold Perkins will have to be an impact player.”
In LSU’s spring game, its defense did a good job hiding any potential improvement. Garrett Nussmeier cooked the Tigers’ defense.
If Kelly has concerns, the starting quarterback isn’t among them.
‘Players love’ LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier
Kelly identifies just one missing piece for Nussmeier: more playing time.
In other words, Nussmeier has the necessary skills, mechanics and know-how. The fourth-year Tiger quarterback just needs more snaps. Consider Carson Beck, who spent three seasons as Georgia’s backup before passing for nearly 4,000 yards last season in his first season as a starter.
Jayden Daniels led all quarterbacks last season with 1,134 rushing yards, en route to becoming LSU’s third Heisman winner. Kelly doesn’t expect Nussmeier to repeat that dual-threat production, so LSU must rely on its veteran offensive line and running backs to get the ground attack back on track.
Kelly endorses Nussmeier’s arm. Nussmeier completed all seven passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns in LSU’s spring game.
The window to buy Nussmeier’s shares on the dip is closed.
“He just sucks it up,” Kelly said. “He eats, drinks and sleeps. The players love him. He is committed. He has leadership capabilities. More than anything else, you have a guy who loves the big moments.”
That’s fine, but how can LSU replace the departure of star receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.?
This solution is multifaceted. Kelly identifies Kyren Lacy as a rising star. Additionally, he likes LSU’s wide receiver depth.
“The sum is going to have to be greater than either part because you’re not going to individually replace three first-round draft picks,” Kelly said in reference to Daniels, Nabers and Thomas.
What Nick Saban’s Retirement Means for LSU, Brian Kelly
Kelly might be the only Baton Rouge resident who would prefer Saban still coach Alabama.
After Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU, he said the desire to face elite SEC competition influenced his decision. Saban personified that challenge. Kelly beat Alabama in his first season at LSU before the Tide turned things around last season. Saban retired with a 3-1 all-time record against Kelly.
“I’m sorry to see Nick go,” Kelly said.
I’ve been wondering if Saban’s reform creates a power vacuum in the SEC — or at least leaves room for a new twin power to emerge alongside Georgia.
Kelly does not contextualize Saban’s retirement thus.
“Kalen DeBoer is an excellent football coach,” Kelly said of the Saban heir. “Your success is real. They hired someone who I think creates the same kind of expectations at Alabama.”
However, Saban no longer directly impedes Kelly’s championship quest.
Who is the new face of the challenge?
“It’s Kirby Smart,” Kelly said.
Imitation is a college football coach’s highest compliment, and Kelly’s program-building plan for LSU resembles Smart’s method at Georgia. Kelly doesn’t covet Lane Kiffin’s “Portal King” throne. He plans to sign and develop recruits and use transfers to fill gaps.
This formula requires not only retention and development, but also signing top-tier prospects. Smart, like Saban before him, is a master of recruiting.
For this purpose, LSU boasts the SEC’s top-ranked 2025 recruiting class, albeit more than seven months until the day of signing.
“We had to get some things right systemically, and I think he did that,” LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said of Kelly’s first two seasons. “Now, it’s a matter of recruiting at an elite level. That’s what he’s doing.”
Never mind Michigan. LSU keeps Brian Kelly’s attention
While in New York City in December for the Heisman ceremony, Kelly looked at the digital billboards around her on 42nd Street. A billboard featured Daniels. Another featured LSU gymnastics’ Olivia Dunne, while another featured women’s basketball star Angel Reese.
“I thought, ‘OK, you got my attention,’” Kelly said.
That scene in New York provided insight into why Woodward says LSU has the most popular college brand in America.
LSU Gymnastics won the national championship in April. Kim Mulkey won the women’s basketball national championship in his second season as LSU’s coach. Tigers baseball coach Jay Johnson also won a national title in his second season.
Woodward doesn’t have Kelly under control.
“I love where the program is going,” Woodward said. “The third year is not the last.”
As for the Michigan rumors, Woodward says he “wasn’t too worried about it, but I was paying attention.”
“Not to belittle Michigan,” Woodward said, “but through Brian’s path, I think he wanted to compete in the best conference and I think he wanted to compete at the highest level, and I think that’s why he took on the challenge here.”
Either way, Kelly never leaves her job until her third year. That’s when he really starts cooking.
This article originally appeared in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Brian Kelly and LSU ready for national title without Jayden Daniels
