Brian Kelly is done patching tires. He’s opted instead for a new set of rubber. And these puppies are Michelin made.
Read carefully, I didn’t say Michigan made. I never gave credence to the media narrative that Kelly would jilt LSU for the Wolverines after Jim Harbaugh bolted for the NFL.
Why would Kelly leave Baton Rouge, especially with Alabama’s emperor off to Retirement World in Jupiter Island? Kelly, 62, pursued his best interests when he left Notre Dame for LSU. He covets a national championship. LSU offers better access to that goal than the Irish.
With rival Alabama in flux, LSU enjoys better positioning than when Kelly accepted this job a little more than two years ago. Fleeing the SEC’s coop would not serve Kelly’s best interests, and we can extinguish that far-fetched idea after Michigan promoted Sherrone Moore to coach.
Anyway, Kelly is on an offseason heater. Remember that new set of premium tires I mentioned?
Three five-star prospects are committed to Kelly’s 2025 recruiting class, including the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, quarterback Bryce Underwood from Belleville, Michigan. Who needs Michigan when Kelly can snatch a top prospect off the Wolverines’ doorstep?
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As Kelly’s best LSU recruiting class takes shape, he’s dialed back on the transfer portal. He grabbed a few likely contributors – inbound wide receivers CJ Daniels (Liberty) and Zavion Thomas (Mississippi State) should help; so should safety Jardin Gilbert (Texas A&M) – but he’s been far less active in acquiring drop-in players than he was during his first two offseasons at LSU.
This supports Kelly’s stated strategy of wanting to build and develop his roster via a more traditional recruiting approach than the “Portal King” mindset Lane Kiffin successfully deploys at Ole Miss.
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“You can top the tank off (with transfers), but most of the tank has to be through player development, development through freshmen,” Kelly said during his first LSU season. Kelly added that transfers should be expected to assimilate into the program’s established culture, rather than transfers creating the culture.
That’s a fine ideology, and it works for Georgia’s Kirby Smart, but the LSU roster Kelly inherited was too thin on depth for Kelly to turn up his nose at transfers throughout his first two seasons. Most of the transfers Kelly added went more bust than boom. Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels became the obvious exception at quarterback.
Finally, Kelly can stop plugging holes with flimsy tire patches. He’s signed three consecutive top-15 recruiting classes. His fourth class looks even better.
“I’ve said this since I got here: We’re going to build this program on freshmen,” Kelly said earlier this winter. “Last year, we had to bring in a number of transfers, because that was necessary for where we were as a program. This year, we’ve only brought in (a handful).
“You can see the shift in transition towards developing our players and giving them the opportunity to grow.”
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier will be a case study of Kelly’s develop-and-play approach. Kelly inherited Nussmeier from Ed Orgeron, and he persuaded him to stay at LSU rather than transfer in search of a quicker starting opportunity. Now, after three years as a backup, Nussmeier is in line to start. Nussmeier, with two seasons of eligibility remaining, could prove an ideal bridge to Underwood.
While Kelly steers away from the portal, he revamped his staff like a pirate. After LSU’s defense looked a mess last season, he recalibrated by snagging Missouri’s defensive coordinator Blake Baker and Texas’ defensive line coach Bo Davis.
If you watched Missouri and Texas last year, you know these guys were good at their jobs.
Kelly told me last summer he thought his 2024 Tigers should be expected to seriously contend for a national championship. I appreciated his candor and boldness, but Kelly’s timeline may be off by at least a year or two. His Year 3 squad should be good, but not national title good.
Still, Kelly has everything he needs to win big at LSU, in time.
Orgeron and Les Miles led LSU to national championships in their third seasons. I suspect Kelly believes he’s a better coach than either. But, coaching aside, Miles and Orgeron inherited a better roster situation than Kelly. Nick Saban’s LSU national title came in Year 4. Kelly’s timeline is tracking more at Saban’s pace, with the Tigers in the hunt for the big prize come 2025 or ’26.
Kelly once told me that annual clashes with Saban are part of what attracted him to this conference, but with Saban retired and Alabama in transition, a power vacuum exists.
Georgia is going nowhere, but there’s room for multiple SEC forces.
With a new set of premium tires, forget Michigan. Kelly is preparing to roar in the SEC’s fast lane.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Forget Michigan. Brian Kelly nearly ready to roar with LSU football
