LSU Special Teams Coordinator Brian Polian Seeing Growth in LSU, Talks Recruiting
LSU special teams coordinator Brian Polian is certainly an energetic, passionate coach and it rubs off on his players. Bringing a spirited coaching style day in and day out, Polian gets the most out of his guys consistently, but his role is much more than handling special teams duties, he’s also a major part of this recruiting staff.
Serving the role as recruiting coordinator, Polian has been a key contributor in LSU’s recent success in the 2023 class, but the job isn’t finished yet and this program understands that. The gifted coach had much to say on Wednesday, hitting on a number of recruiting questions while also handling business with special teams.
Here are a few takeaways from what Polian had to say on Wednesday:
Starting Kicker
Polian was extremely complimentary of redshirt freshman Damian Ramos and how sharp he has looked during camp. Impressing coaches routinely and really getting into a groove as the Tigers close out fall camp has him in great position to be the Tigers’ starting kicker come Sept. 4.
Freshman kicker Nathan Dibert, a coveted recruit in the 2022 class, has started to turn some heads over the last few practices, but Polian was still adamant on needing a freshman to continue adapting to the college game.
With Ramos having a year under his belt, he certainly looks to be in the lead. Despite this position battle not getting much attention, it’ll be intriguing to see who follows in the footsteps of Cade York. The legendary kicker received tremendous praise from Polian, even saying LSU fans have been spoiled by his consistency.
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Recruiting Success
Polian has been a key contributor in what the Tigers have accomplished this offseason on the recruiting trail. LSU has seen this 2023 class explode as of late, knocking on the door of becoming a Top-5 class in the team rankings.
The LSU recruiting coordinator joked about how panicked Tiger fans were about this program heading into the summer with only a handful of commitments. Ultimately getting the last laugh, Polian understands the work has just begun, with verbal commitments not sealing the deal.
"We still have plenty of room at the end and we're still working on a bunch of guys and we have to keep the guys that are verbally committed," Polian said. "Certainly in today's day and age, a verbal commitment just motivates other people it seems."
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Polian plans on keeping his foot on the gas this season, hosting a number of elite prospects to campus during game day weekends. The importance of getting recruits to campus and experiencing the atmosphere of Death Valley is a key piece to selling the program to the top guys.
Relationship with Major Burns
If there was one major takeaway from what Polian had to say on Wednesday, other than key contributors to this special teams unit and recruiting success, it was how animated he was when speaking about safety Major Burns.
Polian’s face lit up when speaking of the energy Burns brings to this team in just about every way. Clearly making an impression on the defensive side of the ball, fighting for a starting safety spot, Burns’ overall personality is something that has this coaching staff raving about him.
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“Major Burns, I hope you guys get the chance to be around him,” Polian said with a smile. “Guys like that make coaching so much fun. He is smiling every day. He’s happy to be in the building. He’s got so much great energy. I have so much fun coaching him. I feel like there is a collective buy in from the veterans all the way down to the true freshmen.”
