LSU football still has a lot of questions to answer after the first spring under Brian Kelly, and none more important than at the quarterback position.
The spring sessions were more about installing the new offense than gearing things toward one of the four possible options in the QB room. But there's only one thing the Tigers' new coach is actually concerned about, and it's not the person passing the ball.
“I think the one thing that concerns me a little bit is we’re not very deep," Kelly said on SportsTalk with Bobby Hebert, Kristian Garic and Mike Detillier. "I think we have some talented players on both sides of the ball and you’ve got to prepare your football team the right way, and we will. But you’ve gotta be very cognizant of the fact that we had 39 scholarship players going into the Texas Bowl. We did a very good job as a staff of addressing those needs, but there are some depth issues that we’ve got to be aware of.”
Listen to the full interview with Brian Kelly in the player below. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Those depth issues are a product of a change in coaching regimes and the standard departure of players to the NFL, though the team has added 13 players since the start of the year via the transfer portal. As the Kelly era progresses, the Louisiana newcomer is hopeful to mine the state's talent, and that includes in the portal itself. He says the team has a chart of Louisiana natives at Power 5 programs.
If they enter the transfer portal, he wants to be at the front of the line to pitch a homecoming. Building through the base is priority 1, and an important pipeline to sustain after years of recruiting mastery under Ed Orgeron.
"Will we go outside the state for certain players, maybe a lineman here or there, or some other players? Possibly. But it’s about pulling the state and I mean the entire state, from the south to the north," Kelly said. "Because there is such a passion for wanting to play for LSU. That’s our charge.”
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MORE FROM BRIAN KELLY
ON THE QUARTERBACK COMPETITION
As Kelly explained after the spring game last month, there's still no answer as to who will start between veteran Myles Brennan, transfer Jayden Daniels, sophomore Garrett Nussmeier and 5-star freshman Walker Howard.
But could the answer be a combination of those names? Daniels, in particular, will hold intrigue as a potential runner, with Kelly noting that he was clocked at 21 mph during one spring practice. Here's what the Tigers coach had to say on the prospect of multiple QBs:
"Everybody wants to play one quarterback, but we have four kids that have the traits to be successful. So if we have to put together more than one quarterback, then that’s incumbent on me [and the assistant coaches] to get that done. We’ve got to put the best players in the best situations to succeed. We’ve got to put egos aside and we’ve got to make that work. ... We have to be able to get production out of that position, and if it means playing more than one, then that’s what we’ll have to do to win football games."
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ON THE TE DEPTH CHART
Kelly didn't pull any punches when he assessed the current state of the Tigers TE room. He's a coach that like to utilize traditional tight ends, and often more than one. But that's simply not an area his new LSU roster has much of -- though he mentioned Jack Mashburn and Kole Taylor as hard workers who could have an impact.
“I just think it’s very difficult. It shortens the defensive coordinator’s play calls when you have the ability to utilize tight ends in that fashion," he said. "We don’t have that depth, quite frankly. The young men that we have are going to be doing everything they can to help and assist, but we’re a little deficient so we’re going to have to recruit very hard at that position. I think Mashburn, Taylor have done a nice job. … But we’re going to have to be creative at that position.”
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