Brian Kelly Talks Harold Perkins' Role, Maximizing His Talent in 2024
LSU head coach Brian Kelly sat down with On3's JD Pickell on The Hard Count where he broke down several topics surrounding the LSU program this offseason.
From discussing Harold Perkins' role to keying in on the hire of defensive coordinator Blake Baker, Kelly detailed several pieces of the program.
Here's what the man in charge had to say on Wednesday:
All Eyes on the Defense
“I think all eyes are on the defense. That’s where we didn’t play up to the level necessary to be a playoff team. Our offense was and our defense was not. Clearly, all eyes are going to be on our defense. We are young in some areas, but very talented. We have a great staff that will utilize our players in the manner necessary for us to compete at the highest level. I think all eyes are on what we are doing defensively, what is the improvement from the defensive line, we’ve lost some really good players up front, to what is the maturation level of the back end of the defense where we have played a lot of young players.
“I think it’s easy to always move towards the offense, but I think they are going to be ok on offense. We have enough weapons on offense and I think we have an outstanding offensive line. When you are trying to put together an offense, if you start with the offensive line – and we return a veteran group – I think we will be ok there. The focus, this spring, has to be on playing the kind of defense necessary to get into the SEC Championship Game.”
The Addition: Defensive Coordinator Blake Baker
“I think when you look at college football, not only do you need to recruit, you need to engage. And I think his ability to recruit and engage his players. And then obviously, at the end of the day, have success with the guys that he’s engaging on a day-to-day basis. In my limited exposure to him when I first came on, I was able to spend some time with him and I really liked his ability to relate to the players.
“Matt House is a smart football coach. He was dealt a very difficult situation here, and I needed somebody to come in and really build the confidence back in our football team. And I felt Blake carried himself that way. Extremely confident in what he does and how he does it, and he engaged his players that way. That made him the right fit for me.”
Maximizing Harold Perkins
“Well certainly we didn’t maximize Harold last year, and that’s not, again, a knock on Harold or the coaches. But the reality of it is he’s an elite athlete that we have to get on track this year. Both Harold has got to play better and our coaches have to get him involved more.
“That’s an important piece of what we do in the spring. Certainly where he fits within our defensive structure is going to be job one for us. So again, I think that everybody that watched last year would say that’s a guy that needs to play at a higher level, and that starts with coaching and that starts with Harold really working hard in this offseason.”
The Recruiting Vision: Locking Down The Boot
“I think having a clear vision for what has been good for you historically, and what has been good for LSU is the South, and in particular the state of Louisiana. Pull your base. At the end of the day, kids grow up wanting to be Tigers. They want to play here. I think there are only a couple states in the country that have that kind of passion. I think of Ohio and the Buckeyes and Louisiana and the Tigers. It just makes sense that your focus is on the state. And we can go 3.5 hours to Houston and we can hit all the states down here like Florida and Georgia, and there will always be fliers outside that footprint, but if you stay focused on that, you can have success. And so far, so good.”
