Brian Kelly Details Balancing SECCG, Recruiting and the Transfer Portal
With the regular season in the rearview mirror for this LSU football program, and an SEC title on their mind, this coaching staff will be juggling a few different challenges over the next few days.
Despite game preparation being the No. 1 priority, the Tigers will also monitor recruiting as Early National Signing Day vastly approaches along with staying up to date on players announcing their intentions to enter the transfer portal.
Along with this, it’s officially flip season, which means players are already decommitting from schools they’ve been linked to for months and announcing their plans to commit elsewhere.
For the Tigers, we’ve already seen both Joshua Mickens and Darron Reed back off of their pledge with intentions to enroll at other schools.
With a full plate, Head Coach Brian Kelly understands the task at hand, but isn’t worried. He believes in his coaching staff and is looking forward to the blessing of playing in an SEC Championship Game.
“Our situation is different because most teams that are not playing in the championship game are out road recruiting today,” Kelly said. “We're preparing for the game so you know we can't be out recruiting at this point, so you lose that opportunity, but recruits know that we're preparing for a championship game, so you gain that back on the other end.”
More on what Kelly had to say:
The recruiting trail is one thing, but the transfer portal is another. With the portal opening on Dec. 5th, many are expecting madness to ensue given this new NIL era. Kelly detailed the programs’ intentions with the window officially opening next week.
“Next week is where it really gets interesting, right? The transfer portal opens on the 5th,” Kelly said. “We certainly want to be able to recruit, but we want to obviously set our own roster as well.”
Setting a roster means a few different things. Whether it be dissecting which players will take their talents to the NFL, guys who plan to enter the transfer portal or locking in the 2023 recruiting class, there are certainly hurdles that need to be cleared.
“Who's coming back? Who wants to go to the NFL? You know who may want to go into the transfer portal? All those things we have to take care of and set our roster here at LSU as well as look at the portal,” Kelly said. “We have to recruit those that are coming in as mid-years, so that’s three balls up in the air at one time next week.”
It’s a busy time for LSU, but that’s why you bring in a coach as polished as Kelly. With organization and structure, he’s changed the culture in Year 1, but now is where the real work comes in as this program looks to continue building a squad for the long haul.
