Brian Kelly is entering his 32nd year as a college head coach, but that doesn’t mean he’s done learning, particularly when it comes to how he leads his new program after a decade at Notre Dame.
Kelly was spotted walking around with a notepad on the first day of LSU’s spring practice. He was jotting down items he’d like to refine, many of which have to do with the mechanics of practice, there are certain things he’d like to have run a certain way, there are certain ways he’d like the staff down through grad assistants, medical staff and student workers. It’s all a process.
“Generally I’m moving around the practice. I tend to probably go 70-30 offense to defense and that’s just the way I’ve always kind of coached is a little more on the offensive side,” Kelly said.
One of those offensive notes came relative to freshman quarterback Walker Howard. The highly touted recruit underwent offseason hand surgery, and while he’s ready to throw, the hand is still a bit tender.
Clapping, for instance, still hurts that area — and that’s how the LSU coaches had planned to have the QB get in and out of his cadence. That had to change, of course, and the staff shifted him to a vocal key for his cadence. Process. Process. Process.
“We made that change, today, he was verbal after he said ‘coach, that really hurts.’ So he’s done a really good job of coming back,” Kelly said before joking, "and we’re not that smart.”
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Kelly noted Howard and freshman offensive lineman Will Campbell as two players who have stood out as being physically ready in their first year, though that’s only one element of that process. The team has “created some great competition” at quarterback, but it’s an uphill climb for a true freshman as he works alongside veteran options in Myles Brennan and Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels.
“We’re talking about championship-level football, and you need a little bit of experience for that,” he said. "So when I talk about some of these guys, they’re very, very talented, but you’re comparing them to Alabama, A&M, great football teams with experienced players. So that’s the difference.”
But one thing Kelly was sure about on Day 1: The conditioning is on point, and he credits his training staff for that fact. The team ran high-tempo drills, which will usually leave players sucking wind. Not the case with this group of Tigers.
The team practiced for 90 minutes, which goes by Kelly’s methods. He seeks “intensity through repetition.” Practices don’t need to stretch on forever, but they do need to be high energy and the work has to get done. Kelly manages the practice schedules, which allows the position coaches to focus on their position groups.
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Only two scholarship players missed practice — Kayshon Boutte and Major Burns. Both players are expected to be back in action soon.
“I love the energy, the enthusiasm, there’s an incredible want-to. Look, I’ll tell you, they want to change the narrative,” Kelly said. "They want to be a championship team and they know it takes hard work. It takes a commitment and this was one practice towards that.”
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“He doesn’t overcomplicate it. You’ve got to be great in third down, you’ve got to be a great situational defense. … But you still have to get energy. You have to get guys running to the football and there has to be a simplicity to that. So the way he teaches, the way he communicates, he can get to that line quickly with the kids. On Day 1 you can see that if you’re out there for any of the practice, you can see there’s a great energy. His record speaks for itself, he’s been able to do it everywhere he’s been a defensive coordinator and I saw it today.”
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“Every championship team that I’ve been on, everyone that I’ve coached, they’ve all had the same tenets. … We’re talking about the same things every day. Our mission, our standards, it doesn’t change. They it every single day. And these tenets are, every championship team I’ve ever had has had these tenets. We didn’t just read a good book over the summer and say ‘hey, let’s lay these tenets down.’ They’ve been part of every championship that I’ve had, and that’s why they’re so important to what we talk about and then the standard to what we demand on a day-to-day basis.”