Saturday will mark Brian Kelly’s third spring game as head coach of the LSU Fighting Tigers. History tells you year three is when Kelly’s teams take a big leap forward.
At Central Michigan, Kelly went 6-5 in his second season, the following year the Chippewas went 9-4, winning the MAC Western Division title.
At Cincinnati, the Bearkats were 10-3 in Kelly’s second season, but the next year, they went 11-3 and finished first in the Big East, eventually losing to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
At Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish were 8-5 in Kelly’s second season. But year number three, saw Notre Dame go 12-1, losing to Alabama in the BCS National Championship game.
Even though the Tigers are losing a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback and two first round wide receivers, Kelly likes the composition of his roster heading into year three.
Maybe we should have seen the disaster on defense in 2023, with LSU trying to fill several spots with players from the transfer portal. Kelly expects better results in 2024 because of the number of returning players.
“There is a lot more continuity on defense, we’ve lost some players on offense, but it’s pretty clear that with an offensive line, tight ends, a quarterback and deep receiving corp we are going to have some success on offense as well,” said Kelly.
Related
The spring game format will be offense versus defense, and they’ll have a scoring system that will allow the defense to score points for forcing turnovers, three and outs and punts.
The players who are expected to be stars in 2024 won’t see a lot of time, but key back-ups will, and they want to see the running game have success.
“We need to see the two running backs, (Josh Williams and Kaleb Jackson) and in particular we need to see the offensive linemen that are going to play key roles,” said Kelly.
Garrett Nussmeier heads into 2024 as the starting quarterback. But Kelly says the battle at backup QB between redshirt freshman Rickie Collins and Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann is very competitive. Kelly says expect to see a lot of Collins and Swann on Saturday.
The quarterbacks will be throwing to several different wide receivers.
“We are going to be in a pretty good spot at the wide receiver position,” said Kelly.
Kyren Lacy, Chris Hilton and Aaron Anderson have been the first-team wide receivers in the spring. Transfers Zavion Thomas and CJ Daniels are also expected to see playing time. Kyle Parker and Shelton Sampson, both 2023 signees, are also in the mix. Kelly says Sampson has had a good spring and is someone who has begun to emerge.
But after last season’s disappointing performance by the defense, there will be a lot of focus on the defensive secondary on Saturday.
We’ve heard Major Burns and Sage Ryan have performed well. Burns is now playing nickel back. Ryan is back at safety after playing at corner last season and has been a ball hawk. He had three interceptions in one of the practices viewed by the media. Texas A&M transfer Jardin Gilbert has also been a good fit at safety.
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Allen from Lafayette Christian High School also provides depth at safety.
“You have some veteran safeties back there that are playing with a lot more experience and confidence,” Kelly said.
At cornerback, Zy Alexander is still not back from his torn ACL, but is expected to be ready from preseason camp. Alexander’s absence has allowed early enrollee PJ Woodland to move up the depth chart quickly and get snaps with the first team opposite of former Rummel star Ashton Stamps.
Linebacker is the position group Kelly has the most confidence in. Harold Perkins, Greg Penn III, Whit Weeks and West Weeks. Kelly says West Weeks has a great spring camp.
The spring transfer portal opens on Monday and the Tigers will be searching for defensive tackle. Jacobian Guillory can be solid run stuffer, but they’ll need a couple more DTs.
They’ve already received a commitment Gio Paez from Wisconsin.
LSU is at 88 scholarship players and the limit is 85. So the Tigers will also lose a few players when the spring transfer portal window opens.