Spring check-ins: ever-talented LSU
Brian Kelly enters year three in Baton Rouge after losing some NFL talent but probably bringing back plenty more.
In college football’s annual offseason “what’s the best job in college football if you want to win a title?” debate LSU is always listed somewhere in the mix. Championship programs generally come down to institutional commitment, access to talent, and donor resources and LSU is up there with anyone on the first two and not far behind on the third.
Nick Saban helped build modern LSU in the early 2000s and won a National Championship in his 4th year. Then Les Miles took over and somehow won a National Championship. Then Ed Orgeron took over and somehow built the greatest college football team I’ve ever seen.
That 2019 squad was really something. After obliterating everyone in their path to the title they had 14 players selected in the next NFL Draft and then seven more (five returning starters) taken in the Draft after that. Athletes grow out of the swamps in Louisiana and it’s not that far to Houston or DFW or to talent-rich south Mississippi or Alabama either.
By all accounts Brian Kelly was enticed by LSU’s access to skill talent after years of Notre Dame squads that were loaded on the O-line or across the trenches but would get outclassed every time they made the playoffs by a lack of NFL wideouts or cornerbacks. Last year he got to taste what it’s like having multiple NFL receivers and the result was a Heisman Trophy for the quarterback and 45.5 points per game. They did not yet have the same advantage on defense though and surrendered 28 points per game and their shot at another SEC East Division title, the SEC title, or a playoff bid.
Much of the firepower from 2023 is gone now, so how are things shaping up for 2024?
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