Everything LSU's Brian Kelly Said With Spring Practice Ramping Up
Opening Statement
“We concluded our second day of spring practice. Our first two days are helmets and spider pads, it’s really about getting them in football related activity, installation relative to your offense and defense.
"We have some new coaches on the offensive and defensive side of the ball so getting them into the flow of things and essentially how we want our practice to look. I think our guys have done a really good job, the offseason's been really good. The attention to detail, the accountability in terms of the offseason workouts has been outstanding and it’s carried its way into the practices.
"I’ve always said when it’s a player-led football team you’re always going to be in much better situation than if the coaches have to lead everything. This is the closest that I’ve had in my time here at LSU that this is a player-led football team. Those are good signs and we’re trying to get the football activities, the technical and tactical work done.
"Giving our kids a sense of what we’re building in terms of an identity. Each year’s a new year so building an identity on offense and defense and the player led team and now doing it within a football organization.”
The New Defensive Staff: Early Thoughts
“I’ve really enjoyed the past six weeks being in constant contact with the defensive staff we’ve assembled. Blake and everybody associated with our staff. For me it’s been very comfortable, great communicators. We’re all on the same page relative to what we’re teaching and how we want to teach it, evaluations in recruiting, it’s been a really smooth transition. I like the way we’re coaching, what we’re demanding, the attention to the real details of playing defense. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves in a sense of understanding the basic tenets of playing really good defense. You can see that early on. I think we’re going to see a defense that’s going to play with a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. Our guys are excited just by the way they’ve been practicing.”
New Quarterback, New Offensive Approach?
“Each year you’re always going to build it around players, not plays. Each year is going to have a little bit of a change. This is still going to be about finding the best playmakers and getting them the ball like it was last year. Garrett is a different quarterback than Jayden so we’ll look to do things that highlight him. The nuances within the offense in terms of attacking, pushing the ball down the field, having balance between the run and the pass, that’s not going to change. But the players involved, we have to be able to highlight what they’re good at and what their strengths are. That’s where you’ll see some changes.”
Joe Sloan The Playcaller: What Went Into The Decision?
“He’s been on a job interview for a couple of years, I’ve gotten a chance to work with him, I’ve been in the quarterback meeting room. That’s where I sit when I get a chance to be involved. I get pulled out quite a bit. You’d love to be able to coach a position but you just can’t with the other responsibilities that you have. So I’ve been around him, I know what that position requires to be the offensive coordinator and I just felt like he had the leadership capabilities, the intellect, the understanding of what I was looking for in terms of our offensive identity and philosophy and felt like it was his time. I just felt like the pieces with all of them in totality made this the right choice at the right time.”
Sophomore WR Shelton Sampson's Growth
“I think Shelton has made progress. The big jump for him is the physicality of the game. He can use his length and size but he’s gotta be able to do it when there’s hands on him. He’s a guy that you don’t want off the line of scrimmage. When you have to compete against him down the field that’s a problem. He’s continuously working on releases, not getting re-routed, not getting driven out of play and a lot of that is the physical end of the game and he’s coming on. He’s getting there, once he puts that behind him, I can see him making great strides really quickly.”
Evolution of the Run Game:
“Certainly you’re looking to make up for those yards that you’ve lost with a Jayden Daniels and you can do it a number of different ways. You can do it with perimeter throws whereas Jayden gave us perimeter runs. You can do it not simply with the running backs but how do you use your offensive line? We think we’ve got one of the best offensive lines in the country and they’re athletic as well. We think our tackles can move and pull. I think a run game that now becomes a lot more diversified in the sense we can start moving our offensive linemen to create an offensive running game that strikes on a much wider front. The running backs will play a part n this but I think the focus needs to be much more on how the offensive line will play a much larger role to enhance our running game.”
Player-Led Team vs. Coaches-Led Team:
“More than anything else when players start pointing out to each other what the standard is and correcting them if they’re not doing it the right way, then that has always led to me the best teams that I’ve ever coached. You can see it in so many different ways from how they show up on time or early to making sure their locker room is clean to how they practice in finishing drills. When you have guys going ‘hey that’s not how we do it, finish the drill the right way’ or ‘we don’t grab the back and tag off’ and coaches don’t have to point that out, you get a sense that those things are going to continue to build. When things get tough out on the field and players need to hold each other accountable on a big drive or the need to come up with a big play or stop, that’s when you get a sense things are moving in the right direction.”
Harold Perkins' Move Back to Inside Linebacker:
“The defensive structure is different so I think you start there. You’ve got a new voice. Blake is coaching the linebackers so that’s the different. And then I think collectively Harold, myself and Blake felt like in all instances this is a place that’s going to maximize his potential. We certainly could keep him out at the SAM linebacker position but I think he can impact the defense in so many ways at the WILL linebacker position and it’s not just playing counter, filling the backside A gap on runaway. This is the ability to get into different looks with him and utilizing his ability to be a multi-dimensional player. He was to the field and you knew where he was. You could gameplan for Harold Perkins and this makes it much more difficult and he knows the clock’s ticking. There’s a sense of urgency and so I think you see a committed player and I believe it’s his best opportunity to make that next step.”
Veteran RB Josh Williams' Importance:
“When you have a guy who’s already been awarded a master’s degree, when it comes to holding their end academically, he’s a model for that. Just the way he attacks the day. He doesn’t have to say anything, you just watch how he handles himself every single day both outside this building and inside this building, he becomes a great role model for our younger players not just the running backs. Anytime you have a chance to hold onto a guy like that and he’s a really good football player to, for me when you put a roster together, he’s a guy you just circle and say you can’t touch him. That guy is so valuable to our football team because he helped set the foundational principles and the standards in the program.”
12-Team Playoff: More Pressure?
“I don’t think so. I think the way it ends up being, there’s going to be more opportunities. I don’t think about don’t making it. At the end of the day I think everyone wants to see the top teams compete in a playoff format. I think whether it’s 12, 14, when you look at the two conferences that have been primarily involved in the SEC and the Big 10, there’s a lot of teams in those conferences. I think it makes sense that number’s gotta be somewhere in the teens because there’s such a following. Then it becomes how many are gonna get in from each one of those conferences. Maybe three, sometimes you get four in. If I was taking this job with the idea of just wanting to be a top three team, that’s not why I took this job. I took it to be the top team. I don’t see that as more pressure, I see it as more opportunity.
Assessment of Corey Raymond:
"I’ve been really happy with Corey’s attention to detail, his interaction with the defensive backs. We’ve got a number of guys and some new players, JK’s out there new, Jyaire is new and then all of the other freshmen who are now sophomores and he had no idea who they were. So he’s got a whole group of guys he’s had to re-introduce himself to and I think he’s done a really good job from that perspective. Everybody talks about his recruiting and it’s really good from the perspective. But what I’ve been impressed with is his ability to engage and connect with the players that are here. Our job is to go out and recruit but we have to build relationships with our players as well. We wanna be able to retain them and retention is huge because we develop and then look towards success. You don’t want this reputation that all I do is recruit because then the guy that’s on campus thinks you just care about the next guy you’re gonna recruit. I haven’t seen that at all with Corey, he’s focused about the guys he’s got on campus and engaged with them really well and built strong relationships with them. That’s a solid guy for me.”
Zavion Thomas: Punt Returner/Added Depth
“We think he’s capable of doing that but that wasn’t the primary reason we went out and got Zavion. We got him because of his speed, his maturity, his ability to bring SEC experience, him and CJ, we wanted to bring two experienced, mature players into a group with Kyren Lacy and some younger players. If he can do the other jobs that’s great too. I’m not going to minimize punt returns, it’s hard. With rugby punting and everybody releasing down the field. In college football the punt return game is virtually non-existent.
"We had some discussions in the SEC and how do you get it back in the game? Everything’s gotta be fair caught because you have a million guys around you before you can return things. Zavion’s gonna be a nice addition to our offense, he will get an opportunity to win that job and if he can do some things for us in punt return that’d be awesome but again the most important thing for us is the impact on the offense as a wide receiver.”
