2023 LSU Football Recruit Keldric Faulk Proving to be One of the Premier Defensive Players in Class
Keldric Faulk is just a rising sophomore but is already a high priority prospect for the Tigers. The Highland Home, Alabama native has already established himself as one of the 2023 classes must watch defensive end prospects, earning offers from LSU, Alabama, Florida, Florida State and Michigan thus far.
When Faulk first learned of the offer from the Tigers, he was awestruck as he didn't think programs would be taking an interest in him at such a young age.
"LSU is just straight vibes, when you get there you already feel like you’re home," Faulk said. "It's just a great atmosphere to be around. I didn't think I'd get a big SEC offer that early in my career. My relationship is real strong with those guys."
Faulk said that he's spoken with coach Ed Orgeron on more than one occasion and with Orgeron being a defensive line minded coach, the conversation always steers towards that side of the ball.
“He's really good people and he's told me I can be a great pass rusher for their team one day and so that's what I've been working on," Faulk said of Orgeron.
Already standing at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, it's easy to see why Faulk is receiving high interest from a number of top programs across the country.
The rising sophomore has room to further fill out that frame, which is one of the many areas he's focused this offseason trying to do.
"I've been working on my base defense, my explosiveness,” Faulk said. “I'm already pretty explosive but I want to get to the point where I hit somebody and they feel it all over."
He's been on LSU's campus at least three times he can put to memory, the last time being in early March for Junior Day. While it's great getting to see the trophy rooms and the top notch facilities, that's not the first thing that comes to mind for Faulk when he steps foot in Baton Rouge.
"It's the people you meet, hands down," Faulk said. "The people you meet there just instantly become like family. They'll give you straight up answers about your game and I take those and learn from it."
"It's really amazing once you get there and you get to see all the history. You learn things about past teams and past records that really show the type of program that LSU has."
Faulk was invited to the "Under Armor Elite Underclassmen Camp" this past weekend in Vicksburg, Mississippi and said it was a great learning experience to see where he stacks up with other defensive linemen from other classes. One of Faulk's main goals heading into the camp was to drastically improve his 40-yard dash time.
While the results don't come in for a few days, Faulk said he felt lighter on his feet and feels he blew his previous 4.7 time out of the water.
"I think I did better than what I intended to do, my 40 time got better and overall I've gotten bigger and faster," Faulk said. "It was a great teaching moment and I appreciate being invited and coming out to participate."
For most young high school stars that dominate every time they put on the helmet, it's hard not to think about the future and what it'd be like to make it to the NFL. While that's certainly the ultimate goal for Faulk, he's mature enough to understand that a fall back option is important and won't commit anywhere he doesn't feel comfortable academically.
"To me football is what I want to do when I get to college but at the same time, I gotta think about what if I don't go pro?" Faulk said. "I wanna have something to fall on so if the education isn't the right fit for me, then the football team isn't the right fit. I'm looking for a good education wherever I go.
"I'm interested in a lot of things like business or staying in football through coaching. I've learned a lot throughout my football career already and if I can't make it to that next level, the least I want to be able to do is give back to my community and try to make someone else's dream come true."
